Mark Vaill Benton

For the past three and half years, I have taught everything from kindergarten to 12th grade with English as a 2nd language in Vietnam. For six months of that time. I was a volunteer, getting to know the ups and downs of teaching a language without the benefit of knowing the student's native tongue, including a month of teaching young professionals in Morocco. Since that time, I have immersed myself in the teaching strategy of IELTS with a focus on upper high school students' skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I especially love the practice of planned and spontaneous concept-checking of new vocabulary lists. I believe in student-led vocabulary based on listening and reading exercises. Only the student really knows what they know or not. As a Mid-western US citizen, I have been told that my accent is fairly neutral and pronunciation is a major focus in my curriculum. Most importantly, I want to know what the student thinks. Getting to know each one of my students is a main priority and this is best done through discussion and prolonged conversation. A certain level of applied grammar is expected in my student's speaking but clarity and pronunciation is paramount in our communication.