Tutor Spotlights

Congratulations to Janet, May 2025 Tutor of the Month! 

Janet has been tutoring since 2019 and enjoys interacting with her students by learning about their cultures.  She starts each session by allowing her students to talk freely about their previous week, activities and families. Janet also has her students keep a daily journal so they can review grammar and sentence structure. When her current student was able to confidently communicate with her doctor without using a translator, Janet was especially proud!

Learn more about Janet:

LVSC Journey: I first became an LVSC tutor in 2019 and was matched with a student who had emigrated from Turkey with her family. She was a Chemistry teacher in Turkey and with my background in Biology and Chemistry we spent many hours discussing science-related topics. She and her family moved to Texas, so I took a short break until 2024 when I was matched with a student from Costa Rica.

What motivated you to become an LVSC volunteer? I love to teach and to be able to share my knowledge with students. Furthermore, I like to interact with people by learning about their lives and helping them to feel more confident in using their new language skills.

Proud LVSC Moment: My student from Costa Rica told me that she was able to efficiently and confidently communicate with her doctor without needing a translator. The ability to give her this autonomy made me feel so proud of her accomplishments in learning English.

Day Job:  My “day job” is retirement!! I retired from a high school science teaching position two years ago. I taught Honors Biology and Medical Laboratory Techniques at Hillsborough High School.

Hobbies:  I love to read and dance. (Not at the same time though!) I also love taking care of my beautiful one-year-old granddaughter.

Favorite Quote: My favorite quote is attributed to Albert Einstein (who, by the way, I share a birthday with) “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, and giving birth to evolution.”

Favorite Food: Well, there are very few types of food that I don’t like! I love to experience regional types of cuisine, e.g., my current student is from Costa Rica and we usually spend part of our time together discussing her native dishes. I am also a huge fan of kettle chips!

Favorite Book: It’s difficult to list just one. Since retirement I am reading one or two books a week, usually murder mystery books. Some of my current favorites in that genre are: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and The Maid by Nita Prose.

R&R Spot: I love spending time at the NJ shore, dipping my toes in the ocean and sitting on the beach reading a murder mystery!