Michael Derek

I am a recent graduate of Princeton University in the United States, with a degree in Comparative Literature and certificates of proficiency in African Studies, Environmental Studies, and Creative Writing. I have just returned from a nine-month period conducting ethnographic research on oral poetry in Kenya, during which time I perfected my fluency in the Swahili language, which I had previously studied for four years. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, I have recently relocated to Cambridge.

Willing to travel: 15 miles

Experience: I have extensive experience in teaching and tutoring. In high school, I tutored younger students in a variety of subjects, including math and writing. As a university student, while spending a summer term studying Swahili at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, I tutored members of a woodcarvers` co-operative English as a foreign language. I have also spent time teaching English as a Foreign Language to primary school students in Kenya. I am eager to help you master either Swahili or English as a Foreign Language. My philosophy of language teaching is to keep the student speaking the language as much as possible—language is something we learn by using it, not just talking about it!

I am also a writer with a keen editing eye. For my undergraduate thesis, I wrote a collection of my own poetry, and received two different university awards for that body of writing. I have participated in many workshops in which I gave fellow writers and students critical feedback on their work in both creative writing and nonfiction. I can help you not only improve individual essays or creative pieces, but also look at broader techniques that will help your writing soar.