Introducing Bob Br: IT Professional by Day, Engoo Tutor by Night
From all the time we've spent talking to tutors, we can tell you that you're in the company of some amazing individuals.
And given the enthusiastic response we received on our last interview, we figured it’s time to feature some more members of our community.
Today, we’ll be hearing from Bob Br, a tutor who's actually an IT professional and polyglot ... all while being blind (his preferred term).
Bob will share his tips for learning languages as well as his experiences at Engoo, where he’s taught students not only English, but also computer programming and other languages!
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Bob. I’m 30 years old, and I'm Serbian American, currently based in Serbia.
My main job is in cybersecurity, which means I defend servers from cybercriminals. I can work remotely, so I packed my bags and moved from LA to Serbia, and I'm hoping to live in more places after the pandemic.
Students are often surprised to learn that I'm completely blind. This is due to "incubator blindness," which means I lost sight because there was too much oxygen inside the incubator.
Can I ask how you conduct lessons?
I use a screen reader, which reads aloud text on the screen. I use it for lessons, for my main job, and anything else I do on my computer.
I can use this screen reader for most Engoo materials, especially Conversation and Daily News.
When I need to read out a paragraph for the student to repeat, I'll first listen to the screen reader (which the student can't hear) and then read it out myself for the student.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work for materials like Describing Pictures, which rely heavily on images, so if a student chooses a material like this, I have to ask them to pick another material.
What has your experience at Engoo been like?
Before joining Engoo, I mainly taught students from the Middle East and Africa. Now at Engoo, I teach students from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Teaching students from this part of the world made me realize how direct Americans are. We always say what we think. We don’t really care about the consequences.
On the other hand, East Asians are not direct. At first, I was confused, but it seems they don't tell me what they are really thinking about. For example, if I ask a student at the end of the lesson if he has any questions, he would say no when, in fact, he does.
From this, I learned that in the case of some people, you need to read their mind.
What's the most memorable lesson you've taught?
Well, one of my students is 109 years old, and I once asked him “Are you not a little old to learn English?”
He replied, “I run 10 kilometers every day. I'm not old!”
So I told him, “Then you're definitely younger than me, because I don’t even run 50 meters a day. And I’m 30. “
I have been teaching him for over a year, and now he wants me to teach him how to make programs for computers. Thanks to him, I learned that age doesn't make us old. As long as we're willing to learn new things, we're not old.
What do you keep in mind when teaching?
First, I keep in mind the level of my students. I can't talk about US foreign policy with beginners and I can't say “This is a dog” to advanced learners.
Also, I keep in mind their learning needs, like whether they want to improve their accent or just read the article.
In addition, I also need to adjust my speaking speed and volume for each student. Some of my older students have hearing problems, so I need to speak more loudly. And some prefer a peaceful atmosphere and ask me to speak like I'm whispering.
And some students want to sing together!
Are there any materials you prefer to teach with?
Well, my favorite type of lesson is actually free conversation. Actually, even though a lot of students request to use Daily News with me, we end up having free conversation.
But out of the materials, I like Conversation Topics the best. Unlike other materials, where there’s a lot of read-and-repeat, Conversation Topics just gives you a statement, then "agree" or "disagree." So students are forced to use their mind and their knowledge of the language to the max.
By the way, we heard you speak 10 languages. Which languages are these?
So, obviously I speak English, and the language of my parents, Serbian, and then Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, old Greek, Modern Greek, Latin and Aramaic as well.
The fun thing is, I do get some lesson requests for these other languages too! I have even had some students who asked to learn Aramaic so they could read old books.
What's your method for learning languages?
Step 1 is listening as much as possible. I'll download audio courses and repeatedly listen to them.
Step 2 is talking to people. This is the most important and most difficult step. By speaking, I learn to understand more and that gives me confidence.
Once I gain confidence, I move onto the next step: testing myself. I test myself by watching movies, TV, and the news, or listening to songs.
I find this to be a better test of my skills than speaking, because when you talk to someone, you're in control of the topic. In other words, you talk about things you're comfortable with and sooner or later, you'll know all you need to know to talk about those topics, and be under the illusion that you understand that language.
But in fact, you only know how to talk about those topics. Whereas if you watch movies for instance, you can’t control what they talk about, so that’s the perfect way to test yourself.
Then the final step is writing, reading, and grammar. So that's how I learn languages.
Besides learning languages, is there anything else you like to do in your free time?
I also play piano. I started when I was four, because I just loved the sound of the piano! My parents thought I was crazy at first, but they agreed to let me try and were very supportive.
Playing the piano relaxes me. When I am doing anything else, I need to focus on other people, but when I play the piano, I'm playing it just for myself.
👋 That’s it for now!
We hope you enjoyed getting to know Bob Br! For some relaxing piano music, check out this video of him improvising a piece:
