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My name is Gary Alexander Wilsterman, but please call me Alex. I am from Chicago, Illinois USA and I've been teaching ESL in Istanbul for almost 5 years in schools, privately, and to upper-management in well-known businesses such as Philip-Morris and Goodyear. I mainly enjoy teaching business English and general English, but I do have experience training students for both the academic and general IELTS exams.
If you are interested in taking one of those exams I am more than happy to help you.
My style of teaching focuses on increasing a student's range of speaking by turning vocabulary lessons into speaking topics.
Besides teaching English, I also study Japanese in my spare time.
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- This passage from Henry Cope's Levels of Living, in my opinion, uses this line at a specific point to express the absolute nature of having "character". To maybe paraphrase that paragraph, he says that every physical asset humans care about is volatile. Money disappears, governments change, the value of one product or resource can completely change overnight and the only thing that can be trusted to remain constant is a human's character. This is different from reputation. Reputation is how others perceive you. A person's reputation can always change and people may hate someone's reputation based entirely on wrong information, thus also making it unreliable. Whereas a person's character is a constant. It's very unique to the individual and is the one and only constant that, when all else disappears, will always remain and can be trusted.0 votedJanuary 21, 20240
- It's an idiomatic expression which means to hurry up and make the decision to stop doing X in order to pursue Y. For example, there are MANY situations in The Walking Dead in which characters are in the middle of trying to save someone. However, danger is coming and they don't have enough time. So, sometimes those characters have to just "cut bait" and let that person die and move on to the next goal/mission. Think of it like hospital triage. Don't spend an hour trying to save someone who is definitely going to die, cut bait and save others who have a chance.0 votedJanuary 20, 20242
- Inflation is when supply exceeds demand in the market. It often relates to the government's actions on their economy. Market fluctuation is quite unavoidable. So, I think on this point there is no way to ensure your property. All you can do is accept it and adapt to the changes which/that are happening. Compared with physical property, we can invest more in ourselves to approach inner peace or we will/can just easily lose ourselves in this impetuous society. My rewrite: (send me a direct message any time if you have questions) :) Inflation is the result of an increase in demand counter to limited supply and can often be the result of a government's actions upon the economy. Market fluctuation is quite unavoidable, so it is my opinion on this particular point that ensuring one's property cannot be completely guaranteed. All an individual can do is accept and adapt to the changes in the market. However, a more beneficial investment when compared to those of more material possessions is the concept of investing in oneself to pursue goals and reach inner peace. Otherwise, we may just easily lose ourselves in this impetuous society.0 votedJanuary 18, 20241
- "The book offers a ton of profound principles" = main clause "on which to base your decisions and actions." = dependent clause (this dependent clause acts as an adjective clause because it's acting on "principles". The book offers a ton of profound (principles)<(on which to base your decisions and actions.) With this sentence, you can see the main clause more easily if you try to find where it would naturally stop. (The book)sub - (offers)verb - (a ton of profound principles)obj "The book offers a ton of profound principles." << As you can see, when adding a period, you can see this is a complete sentence. Everything after the period will be the dependent clause acting upon it.0 votedJanuary 18, 20240
- The term "hit or miss" / "hit and miss" is used when describing things which might be successful or might not be successful or are disorganized and have no predictable results. Example: 1. A: "How was the food at that new Italian restaurant down the street?" B: "It was kind of hit or miss. The appetizers were excellent, but the main dish wasn't great. I should've gone to Monteverde on Madison Street." 2. A: "I don't trust this car dealership. I heard buying a new car here can be kind of hit and miss."0 votedJanuary 16, 20240
- "Sites" is correct, but did you perhaps mean "boring"? Maybe you could say, "These sites (Red Square and The Bolshoi Theatre) aren't popular among Muscovites due to the fact that living near historic places for one's whole life can often desensitize a person to the awe of these locations." Or more simply, "...........................because they've become jaded to these locations having seen them countless times." I had a similar experience in Istanbul. I used to see the Hagia Sophia every day when I'd be working and after just a year, I was already jaded, haha.0 votedJanuary 14, 20240
- In my country, people celebrate the new year has each different way in different places because my country is very big, the amount of people is enormous and there are many different race and diversity cultures. --In my country, people celebrate the new year in many different ways due to the enormous population and variety of diverse cultures. However, we have a common activity to celebrate the new year that is having a family reunion dinner, watching the Spring Festival Gala, and playing the firecrackers. --However, common activities to celebrate the new year which we all share are having a family-reunion dinner, watching the Spring Festival Gala, and setting off firecrackers.0 votedJanuary 13, 20241
- It's just a word used for emphasis. Simply meaning, "Yes, it's definitely really cold." Other examples of words used this way could be... A: "Man, I tell you, it's hot." = "It's really, really hot." (filler = "Man, I tell you") Or A: "Can you believe what happened to Mary?" B: "I know, right?" = "Right" in this example is rhetorical. This means that we aren't expecting an answer back. With this phrase and certain tone of voice, it makes "I know, right?" sound more like, "No, I absolutely can't believe what happened to her!"0 votedJanuary 12, 20240
- Yes, they both sound natural. By the way, here's a useful tip for you. If you're ever unsure about a collocation sounding unnatural, go to Google and search the collocation within quotation marks and see how many EXACT results you get of that example. For example, searching "safeguard the environment" yields almost 4.9 million results. However, if you're still unsure, I like to check the "news" tab in Google to see it used in publication. Searching "safeguard the environment" under the News tab will show about 9,000 results of that phrase or near it. The only thing I would change is the very end. "These two methods can easily be made a part of most people's daily routines." Just to make it sound smoother.0 votedJanuary 10, 20241

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