Mwalimu Tina

We all lead busy, hectic and at times shallow lives. But what better way to live rather than exist than to practise 30 minutes a day to becoming fluent in a foreign language. I choose Swahili mainly because my wife works for Kenya Airways and hope to spend some downtime in Kenya. I choose Mwalimu Tina because as well as being a fluent Swahili speaker she is a native English speaker. She is able to explain the nuances and complexities even to a blockhead like me. Of course there are times when I am tired and wish the lesson would be delayed but as soon as the lesson starts her knowledge, humour and enthusiasm motivates me to study harder. I highly recommend Mwalimu Tina to others.

Mwalimu Tina is the best Swahili teacher on italki, and I’ve worked with multiple teachers just to confirm. The major difference is that she has learned Kiswahili as an adult!Most others instructors that learned as children cannot relate to being an adult learner. She uses lots of different learning aids to teach with. Other people are just trying to have a conversation with you, or worse, asking you to lead the sessions… That’s what the teacher is for! They aren’t proactively providing teaching plans customized to your level like she is. Mwalimu Tina gives textbooks, reading assignments, recordings for pronunciation practice and even chats in between sessions to help make sure you have all parts of the language learning toolkit at your disposal. The materials really aid study and enable the student to be self empowered between sessions. That really gives you a sense of control as a student so you can feel like you’re actually making progress and not just randomly chatting.

We worked on my writing in 90-min session. I learnt a whole lot of things just in one class. Such a worthwhile lesson. I would recommend her writing class if you are keen to develop your writing futher.

I just finished my first lesson package with Tina and bought another immediately. Tina's lessons have exceeded my expectations. Rather than going with a $5 tutor like I usually do, I paid more after reading Tina's reviews. Her style is unique and she tailored my lessons according to my goals. She brought a guest speaker to one of my lessons to practice real life conversation with an unfamiliar face. She provides me with relevant resources and takes my feedback into consideration. Ukitaka kujifunza kiswahili, umepata mwalimu wako!

Another great lesson with Mwalimu Tina! Her lesson structure has really aided me in improving my pronunciation and speaking ability. Looking forward to the next lesson.

Amazing teacher. We work on writing now. Her advice is spot on. Also, she gives me lots of great insights into the way academic writing should be. I would love to continue to take her lessons.