Greg R Tutor Interview

Q. Hi Greg! Would you kindly give a brief self-introduction to the Cafetalk community?: A. Hi Cafetalk Community! For over 25 years I was a teacher of foreign born adults and younger students in Minnesota. In October 2014 I decided to retire, I didn’t want to spend another winter in Minnesota where the temperatures in January could get down to -29 C. Two days before Christmas, I packed up a few belongings and my dog and I moved to Venice, Florida. For three months, I enjoyed the life of leisure, relaxing in the sun, spending time at the beach. However, I got bored, I missed teaching. This is when I got very lucky, I found Cafetalk!. I tell anybody who will listen that I now have the best job. Every day I get to talk with the nicest people in the world – you! (This is why I moved from Minnesota!)
Q. Tell us a bit about where you’re from. You are from the US and currently reside in sunny Florida. What is it like there? How does it compare to where you've lived before?: A. Summers in Florida are much like summers in Tokyo, hot and humid with lots of rain. As I write this, there has been about 35 cm of rain in the last two days. But, I would much rather be hot in the summer than cold in the winter. In Florida, the winters are beautiful, the average temperature in January is 24 C with very little humidity. (This is why I moved to Florida. Here I am on Sanibel Island with my niece and nephew.)
Q. When you’re not teaching on Cafetalk, what are you usually up to? What are your hobbies and interests?: A. Living in Florida gives me lots of time to enjoy outdoor activities including taking walks on the beautiful Venice beaches.(One of the many Venice beaches available to explore and enjoy)
Q. A lot of students are probably curious about the atmosphere in your lessons. What can a student imagine a lesson with you to be like?: A. I want my lessons to be fun! My students work very hard at their job, they work long hours and then come home and do the cooking, cleaning, housework or more work they have brought home from their jobs. I do not want learning English to be another “job” that students need to add to their list of things to do. My goal is for students to be able to forget about the world for a few minutes and enjoy learning English. In the best lessons, we talk, we laugh and together we learn.(This is how I usually look when I am not teaching a lesson.)(My dog Mazi has occasionally been known to join our conversations )
Q. You also offer lessons on problem solving. Can you tell us a bit about where your psychological knowledge comes from?: A. For 25 years, I taught psychology to my students as well as counseled then when they need someone to talk to. This is the most rewarding part of my job at Cafetalk, being able to help students who want and need someone to talk to, but who do not feel comfortable sharing their concerns or problems with other people.
Q. Your most popular lessons are your conversational lessons. What do you feel makes conversation lessons with you educational and fun for the students?: A. My most popular lesson is my “Let’s Talk! English Conversation for all Levels”. My goal for those lessons is for them to feel casual and comfortable, and for us to have a natural conversation. I never know what we will talk about in any given lesson, the conversation just flows as if we were sitting in a café drinking coffee. Through these lessons, I want my students to gain confidence in their ability to speak English. I tell many of my students, “Your English is better than you think it is”. My job is to get my students to believe me. Once they do, once they gain confidence in their English, they begin to increase their English ability without even realizing it is happening.
Q. Other than your English lessons, you also offer lessons for advice with relationships or other personal problems. Can you tell us a bit more about these lessons and how you work with students to help them?: A. When I first started teaching on Cafetalk, all my lessons focused on basic conversation practice. However, as I talked with my students, occasionally a personal issue would come up in the conversation. The students were grateful to have someone they could talk to about these problems or concerns. I began to realize that many of my students have personal issues they would like to be able to talk to with someone. Because of these conversations, I created new lessons such as, Help with a Relationship, Sad or Lonely, Let’s Talk, and Personal Conversation. The students who take these lessons usually have two things in common, first they are they are usually emotionally hurting, they have great sadness in their heart and second, they are very brave! The sadness comes from many aspects, they may be in a bad relationship with a loved one, they may be lonely and lost or they may feel they are too old to find happiness. (As a side note, no one is too old to find happiness.) They are also very brave because they are willing to open themselves up and talk about what is making them sad. I’m not able to fix a broken relationship, but I can help the students to heal their broken heart. Communication – talking is the key to recovery. The conversations are not always easy, the questions I ask are often personal, but the results are hopefully, that the student can begin to move on to the next chapter in their life. Healing doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time, but it does occur.
Q. Do you maybe have some advice for Cafetalk students struggling with personal problems?: A. Talk to someone! Find someone you can trust and be willing to open yourself up. It’s hard to do at first, there may be tears, in fact I may cry with you, but at the end of the lesson the student will feel better having been able to talk about something that they have been keeping inside them for a long time. In these lessons, talking brings freedom and relief.
Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for your current and future students?: A. For my current I would simply like to say, Thank You! I appreciate each and every one of you. For anyone considering talking one of my lessons I would say, Believe in yourself and know that I believe in you.