Certified English & ESL Teacher - 14+ yrs. experience teaching adults & adolescents 12+ yrs. of age.
Teaches
English
Native
Speaks
Spanish
Native
Other
Certified English & ESL Teacher - 14+ yrs. experience teaching adults & adolescents 12+ yrs. of age.
About Me
Me as a Teacher
My lessons & teaching style
Resume
From United StatesLiving in Saigon, Vietnam (05:38 UTC+07:00)
About Me
italki teacher since Apr 29, 2022
Interest topicTravelArtSports
Hello! Welcome to your first step in achieving your language goals. I am a native Californian with a mission to to help others improve their lives.
I teach because I get satisfaction from helping others make individual positive changes which can lead to broader positive change.
Me as a Teacher
Everyone can learn -- no matter your age, education level, or personal history. I adapt my lessons and instruction to your own personal needs and goals. I structure my instructional time around providing as much real world application as possible of the skills you’re learning. Practice, practice, practice is the key to success!
Don't wait! Now is always the perfect time to begin or to continue your journey of self improvement.
My lessons & teaching style
Every student learns differently. I have over 13 years of experience teaching both in the classroom and online. Over that time, I have learned and refined different methods to instruct different types of learners. My methodology is to craft and adapt my instruction based on your goals, skill level, and learning style.
My teaching material
PDF file
Text Documents
Audio files
Image files
Video files
Flashcards
Articles and news
Quizzes
Test templates and examples
Graphs and charts
Work Experience
2009 - 2014
English Teacher KIPP Heartwood AcademyKIPP Heartwood Academy - San Jose, California, United States
2014 - 2022
ESL Teacher East Side Adult EducationEast Side Adult Education - San Jose, California, United States
Education
1996 - 2001
Bachelor's - History and Global StudiesUniversity of California Santa Barbara
File uploaded
Certificates
Teaching English as a Foreign Language International TEFL Academy 2022
Certificate uploaded
Single Subject Teaching Credential - English California Commission on Teacher Credentialing 2022
Certificate uploaded
5.0
Rating
170
Students
738
Lessons
100%
Attendance
100%
Response
5.0
Rating
170
Students
738
Lessons
100%
Attendance
100%
Response
English Lessons
Trial Lesson
112 lessons completed
USD 8.50+
Everyday English for Beginner Students
A1 - A2General86 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
Everyday English for Intermediate Students
B1 - B2General376 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
Everyday English for Advanced Students
C1 - C2General73 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
English for Higher Education
B2 - C2Test Preparation84 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
English for Job Interviews
B1 - C2General5 lessons completed
USD 10.00+
Availability
Based on your timezone (UTC+00:00)
55 Reviews
Emily
26 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
Mr. Mena is a very kind, patient, thoughtful, and helpful teacher, not just on improving English level but also on expanding perceptions of life. His teaching style is flexible, like formal, informal, or mixing them together in one class. After lessons, he arranged homework, including vocabulary learning, reading comprehension, and writing task, and then discussed and corrected my answers carefully. He also offered some short videos as material for discussing in next lesson. He always patiently typed out each word, which I don't know, with related definition. I appreciate Mr. Mena's great help and would like to keep having his lessons.
Jan 12, 2023
Hao
42 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
After taking over ten classes, I am writing this comment for Mr. Mena. He is a patient and professional English teacher. He knows how to personalize learning plans at a student’s level with teaching experience in ESL. By using materials, he provides me with chances to talk fluently, corrects each common mistake, and gives me positive feedback. Before every lesson, he prepares articles, videos, and tasks for each student and helps me learn to use words better in English. In conclusion, Mr. Mena is a competent and responsible teacher on italki. I recommend him without hesitation.
Dec 14, 2022
Letizia
11 English lessons
Teacher’s pick
Gerardo is an excellent teacher, very knowledgeable and patient. He has always been available and open to my needs. He tailors the lessons to allow you to reach your goals. We do a lot of conversation, his approach is based on dialogue to be able to become more fluent and this makes the lesson very pleasant and profitable. In a few lessons I'm managing to increase my level with new terms and to use English in real contexts. Gerardo's strengths, in addition to being openminded and patient, are collaboration and adaptability. He helps you with tips, articles, videos and other materials to help you learn to express yourself better in English.
He is competent and ineresting to work with. I recommend Gerardo without hesitation.