Hey everyone! My name is Michael Thies and I am an American Secondary English teacher now living in China (in Suzhou) and am teaching high school students how to write, the "write" way. ;) Credentials: I have two published books and am working on two more that I hope to publish later this year (2019). I have two bachelor's degrees: one in creative writing and advertising and another in Secondary English Education. I have a TOEFL certificate; I am a registered AP instructor and I been teaching writing, specifically, for five years. Don't let my qualifications intimidate you, though. I absolutely enjoy learning about my students and finding ways to incorporate their lives into their learning. Also, as I get to know you and your ability, I'll also push you to incorporate much of our everyday lives into your writing as well. Many times, I find students have a hard time coming up with examples, or they have trouble getting their ideas from their brain to the paper in an efficient manner and I want you to know that those problems are typical, but I'm here to help. Some of the basic activities we may do is vocabulary building, paragraph structuring, idioms, collocations, and knowledge-building by talking about what is happening in the world. Why should you choose me as your teacher? First and foremost, I bring experience to the field of writing. I will push you to grow as a writer and give you tips and tricks and expressions that you can use during your writing. Second, I do not want to waste your money nor your time so that is why I find the best type of class (for writing specifically) focuses on your completion of the homework and then us discussing your writing over the phone. For writing, specifically, our classes will be more of a question and answer session along with some routine drills in expression and vocabulary building. Third, as a native English speaker, I can help you focus on the pronunciation of your words and your speaking will grow to be more fluent with every class taken as I will correct you on your mistakes as you make them. Audio/Video policy. Although I prefer video calls, I am also available for audio calls as well. My preference for video calls is because I want to make sure you are understanding my advice, and body language can show me whether or not you are truly grasping the information being presented to you. Plus, it helps us get to know each other better. :) I am available on multiple platforms including WhatsApp, WeChat, Skype, etc. Let me know what is most convenient for you and let's start connecting today. Talk to you soon!