Meet Our Silicon Valley English Tutors

I initially wanted both my daughter and son to take lessons at Improve Your English because my daughter’s best friend has taken the lesson with Nat Crawford for years and turns out to be quite advanced in reading and writing. However, Nat’s schedule was quite booked at that time so he was unable to take my daughter. In contrast, my son, a 5th grader, is very lucky to have Nat being his tutor since this April. My son is a talented boy who is good at STEM but is not very good at reading and writing. From the moment my son walked into Nat’s private lesson, Nat’s teaching methods won over my son. Nat helps him to improve his basic writing skills by asking him to read series of Oz books, summarize chapters and memorize vocabularies out from the books. Nat has also systematically taught vocabulary, grammar and reading. Nat has instilled positive values of reading in my son. I often heard he say after class “Nat is the best!”. I have spoken to other parents and realized that Nat is able to recognize each student’s difference and apply different approaches to work with individual student. We can’t wait to work with Nat for the next few years to help guide my son read classics literature works and build analytical ability for the essays. I highly recommend their tutoring service.

—L. L., Redwood City
Student later admitted to Yale

Both my son and daughter have been taking lessons at Improve Your English for many years. Both have made great progress in reading and writing. They have received very systematic training in vocabulary, grammar, reading classics literature works, and building their writing skills. They’re very lucky to have Nat Crawford being their tutor during the recent years. My daughter enjoys reading classics. Nat guides her to explore the English literature work by Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and other modern authors, and helps her to understand and analyze the characters and plots. She really enjoys working with Nat. My son, on the other hand, is kind of boy who is not very good at reading and writing. Nat helps him to improve his basic writing skills by practicing sentence variety exercise and doing many targeted writing practice, which prove to be effective. While my two kids are quite opposite in their reading and writing habits and skills, Nat is able to recognize their difference and apply different approaches to work with them individually. Both have learned a lot and been benefited from Nat’s tutoring. I highly recommend their tutoring service.

—Jenny Z., Palo Alto
College Counseling Outcomes: One student admitted to Columbia, the other admitted to MIT

I got Nat’s contact info less than two weeks before my daughter’s college application deadline. He set up sessions to review her essays almost right after I contacted him. Nat was very knowledgeable, professional, and meticulous. He knew exactly where the problems were and gave very effective advice on how to convey her true personality and thoughts. I felt my daughter learned more about writing from him in two weeks than from many years of public school English teaching. The parent who shared Nat’s info with me also strongly recommended him. It would be so wonderful if there were more teachers like him.

—Xy D., San Ramon
College Counseling Outcome: Admitted to MIT

My son likes and respects his tutor Mr. Nat Crawford very much. Unlike some other classes he attends, he treats Mr. Crawford’s class very seriously, same as his high school class. Mr. Crawford must have some kind of magic. 🙂 After every class, Mr. Crawford’s follow-up/homework email comes shortly with all the details, not only to the student, but cc the parent too. His class covers vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing. So the improvement won’t happen in a few weeks, but after one year or longer, I have seen a huge difference. My son has been with the service for a year and half, now with good score at school, and confidence in his literature class. Highly recommend!

—Shuyi T., Cupertino
Student later admitted to UIUC for Computer Science

Nat Crawford is the President of Improve Your English. He received his BA in English Literature from The University of Chicago and holds a PhD (ABD) from Stanford. For four years, he taught writing and Honors English at an elite preparatory school in Los Altos. As a teacher and tutor, he has helped students develop better writing skills, improve scores on standardized tests, and earn admission to top colleges, including Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Berkeley, and many more.

My daughter is an avid reader. She really enjoyed having Dr. Mary Lynn for 3 years during high school. This is after she had tried 3 other private tutors. My daughter does not have a shortage of ideas, but organizing her ideas into a powerful essay can be a challenge. Dr. Mary Lynn was very patient, asking clarifying questions and leading my daughter to think critically to focus on her thesis, to organize her thoughts and to produce great essays.

As parents, we love to see how well my daughter responded to Dr. Mary Lynn’s teaching method and her artful integration of many historic events into teaching English writing. My daughter has received A’s in her honors English and AP English classes. We trust Dr. Mary Lynn so much that we made special requests to Dr. Mary Lynn to proofread my daughter’s college application essays as well as post-graduate application essays! Dr. Mary Lynn is the best English tutor we’ve had and we highly recommend her.

— Ro H., Sunnyvale

We truly appreciate Dr. Mary Lynn’s wonderful support for my son. His English skills—including writing, reading, comprehension, and speaking—have improved tremendously. He is earning an A in his high school English class and now enjoys reading books in English. Thank you so much for teaching him, Dr. Mary Lynn! Over the years, his English skills have improved tremendously. He has worked hard to expand his vocabulary, and he now truly enjoys English and History at his high school.

— Kumiko M., Palo Alto

Dr. Mary Lynn is great! She is very friendly, easygoing and very focused. My daughter enjoyed her lessons very much! She always talked about her IYE lessons to me with joy! We can see she has improved a lot since starting her lessons with IYE. We both appreciate Dr. Mary Lynn very much!

—Xiaoting W., Berkeley

My daughter had ACT test early this year at 7th grade. (It’s required by a summer camp application.) Her English score is 35, and reading score is 36. Very proud of her, and thanks to Dr. Mary Lynn’s tutoring.

—Shuyi T., Cupertino

In the past six months, with the help of Dr. Julie, our daughter has developed a stronger interest in both reading and writing. She enjoys reading different types of materials, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, news and so on. Writing has become an important aspect she feels proud of, and she loves exploring different styles and topics in her writing.

We have seen not only improvement in the quality of her writing, but also an increase in her writing speed. As parents, we are very happy and touched to see her progress and her growing love for writing. Our daughter’s vocabulary has also been improving steadily. People around her are often surprised that she can use more advanced words correctly to describe things and express her ideas.

Dr. Julie teaches English in a very systematic way. With her guidance, our daughter  has made steady progress in vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing.

Dr. Julie put a great deal of time and care into reviewing our daughter’s writing. She patiently reviews her essays and gives detailed suggestions, not only during class but also in her own time after class. Through this process, our daughter has also learned how to treat her own writing more carefully. She has become more patient and more focused when revising her work.

In reading, Dr. Julie always looks for books that are suitable for our daughter’s level and interests, so that our daughter can keep her love for reading. She not only recommends books, but also takes the time to read them herself to make sure they are a good match for her reading ability.

Dr. Julie knows how to give our daughter the right level of challenge in both reading and writing. The challenges are always appropriate and encouraging, so our daughter is very willing to accept them and try her best.

Dr. Julie also encourages our daughter to participate in writing competitions. Both our daughter and us as parents are very interested in giving it a try, and we truly appreciate Dr. Julie’s thoughtful suggestion.

Overall, Dr. Julie shows great care and attention to every aspect of our daughter’s English learning. We truly feel that she is always thinking about what is best for her English learning. She really likes Dr. Julie, and Dr. Julie has been a great help to her. As parents, we are very satisfied with Dr. Spark’s teaching and truly grateful for everything she has done for her.

We would also like to thank IVE for matching us with such a wonderful teacher. We appreciate the well-structured curriculum and good management, which give our child a stable and supportive environment to learn English in the long term.”

—Ruby L., San Jose

Our daughter is willing to take advanced English courses which are helping her GPA. She had developed good reading habits (so on long flights instead of watching TV she reads books). We have been with Dr. Julie since a very long time. She tutored my older daughter who is in college already and now Dr. Julie is with my younger one. We like her style of teaching and how she works with kids to tune her teaching methods.

—Rahul S., Pleasanton

For over 25 years, Dr. Julie S. has taught English at the university level while also tutoring a wide variety of students, always with a focus on helping them excel at writing essays and understanding literature. While earning her Ph.D. in English at Penn State University, Dr. Julie tutored in the PSU writing center and taught classes in freshman rhetoric and composition, junior-level business and technical writing, British literature, and an honors class in utopian and dystopian literature. She has also taught world literature, modern and contemporary drama, and Shakespeare. After Penn State, Dr. Julie returned to her roots in the Bay Area to teach various classes in composition, critical thinking, and literature as a lecturer at San Jose State University for over 14 years. Her philosophy of both teaching and tutoring can be summed up in a line from the great Irish poet W. B. Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”

My son become responsible for his own study now. He took the initiative to work with Dr. Scott on his essay and submitted it to the IYE newsletter. The reward he received really encourage him to read and write more. I also noticed that he would spend money purchasing New York best seller books and share with me what he learned. It’s very impressive to see a boy growing towards the right way!

Dr. Scott has been my son’s tutor for a few years. My son loves his teaching style and is engaged in every lesson. It surprised me to know how close they were when hearing my son share their conversation. Dr. Scott’s personalized teaching strategy changed my son’s learning attitude. So lucky to have him as our tutor!

—N. G., Cupertino

My son really enjoys his tutoring time with Scott every week. Scott’s great at helping him dissect his essays, pointing out logic leaps that does not make sense or assumptions that need to be better spelled out. The specific pointers help him see exactly what he needs to improve on and he can course correct immediately. Scott also brings great depth to his explanations during their readings. They most recently read the Frederick Douglass autobiography and the additional biblical context helps my son appreciate the text more deeply.

—Will P., Sunnyvale

Dr. Scott S. is an experienced and versatile tutor, teacher, university lecturer, and examiner, with over a decade of teaching experience and a PhD in English Literature from University of London (United Kingdom). During over a decade as an English tutor, Dr. Scott has taught English to hundreds of middle and high school students. He has taught individuals and small groups, both face-to-face and online. His tutoring experience includes teaching for four years at the Royal Holloway in the UK. In his role as Assistant Professor of English at Chongshin University in Seoul, South Korea, he has designed, taught and examined courses for undergraduate students.

My child had some struggle with essay writing in English class. Through a friend’s referral we signed up with IYE and retained Dr. Diane to help with improving essay writing skill. Throughout the entire course we checked with our child a few times and were very happy with the tutoring process. Dr. Diane is a very nice lady with a strong passion about English teaching. She has deep knowledge of modernist literature and guided my child through discussions to come up with points and structures of the essays. Dr. Diane is very responsive in email communications. After each session she sent an email to her student and parents to summarize the class contents as well as homework before the next session. We can see the result of the tutoring at the end of the school semester.

We will definitely recommend IYE and Dr. Diane to our friends for English tutoring.

—Thomas, Cupertino

My daughter almost always got 4 in her school tests. Her writing and reading improved a lot. The best thing is that she never complains this class and loves to continue the study with Dr. Diane. That is not easy for her since she usually doesn’t like extra class outside school.

—Yifei Z., Mountain View

Dear Dr. Diane,

Thank you so much for your continued support and encouragement. Our son has been gaining confidence in his writing, and we truly appreciate all the guidance and care you’ve given him. Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a wonderful start to 2026!

—Xinghua Y., Cupertino

My daughter enjoys the classes with Dr. Diane and insists to continue even during summer holidays.

—Feng L., CA

Dr. Diane’s style is a good fit for my son. I really appreciate how she encourages him, seems to care and wants to draw him out. She’s a great tutor.

—S. K., Palo Alto, CA

With a PhD in English from Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Diane G. has over 30 years invested in teaching Composition and Literature courses at the high school and university level. She started her career in education by teaching for four years at the Hawken Private School while studying for her PhD. After completing her degree, she moved on to teach for over 10 years at Allegheny College. She then taught for five years at the prestigious Ransom Everglades School in Florida, where she helped to send nearly all of her students to top American colleges. Her faculty evaluations describe her as a teacher who cares tremendously about her students and works hard to give them the best chance of success.

My son topped his school in SBAC. His writing has improved across various subjects. His understanding of math questions have also improved. He finishes his homework sooner than what he used to before.

My son is very comfortable with Dr. Noah. We have seen that he retains all the subtle tips, hints, and advice Dr. Noah gives him with regards to his writing, reading, and comprehension. I believe Dr. Noah has a kid friendly approach that lets kids feel motivated to learn without feeling judged.

—Ganesh B., Morgan Hill

My son has developed the habit of doing his IYE assignments, including reading, on a regular schedule, and he has reduced his gaming time. He enjoys Dr. Noah’s classes.

—Tao D., Saratoga

Dr. Noah earned a PhD in English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago, where his research focused on African American and Caribbean literature. He has worked as a Graduate Student Instructor and Humanities Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, and Lecturer in Ethnic Studies at California State University Monterey Bay. Noah loves fostering an appreciation for the subtleties and nuances of language as well as the social and historical significance of literary texts. He is committed to helping students grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers.

My son’s vocabulary has improved. I see him reading books now. I appreciate Mr. Silverman for his teaching skills. 

—Namitha K., Fremont

My daughter has gained more confidence, is more vocal. Mr. Adam gives regular homework updates, reading suggestions, and is easy to communicate with.

—K. S., Cupertino

Adam S. has a BA from Yale and an MA from USC. He is currently a PhD candidate at Yale. He has nearly ten years of experience teaching students from middle school through the undergraduate level. At both Yale and USC, he has taught courses across a wide range of subjects including literature, history, film, and screenwriting. As a tutor, Adam focuses on building strong reading and writing skills through close engagement with texts, guiding students to think critically, write analytically, and develop their own voices.

Hi Mr. Daniel, I want to start off by saying thank you. No amount of words can amount to how grateful I am, nor measure the profound impact you’ve had on me.

Back in middle school, I hated English class, every last bit of it. However, you changed all of that. You cultivated my interest in writing and English; no other person has ever been able to turn something I hated so much into something I love to do. If you told my 6th-grade self I would enjoy literature and writing, I would have laughed at you and given you an explanation of why Math was more useful. You really did the impossible.

None of what I have done in terms of academics and extracurriculars could have been done without you. You’ve really helped me in so many ways, some of which you might not even know. The whole reason that I found writing enjoyable was because you would laugh at my satirical pieces, the ones about raccoons, or the robotic squirrel one. Those crazy stories you laughed at gave me the fuel and encouragement to continue writing.

It’s been a long journey, from The Marvelous Land of Oz, to The Secret Garden, to Treasure Island. I still remember the first time I met you, when I was in the IYE diagnostic exam. And I still remember the first assignment I did. I don’t even remember what teachers I had last year, but I can remember the first assignment I did with you almost 6 years ago. That says a lot.

As a last note, I just want to say you’re a real teacher. Not just a teacher who instructs, but a teacher who encourages and cultivates students to have a genuine interest. You are a one-in-a-million teacher. If every teacher was like you, the world would literally be a better place. Without a doubt, any student is infinitely lucky to have you. It’s honestly a shame that not every student in the world will have a teacher as good as you.

Be proud of what you’ve done for me. You turned a C-average English student who hated English into a student who had one of his pieces published in The Wall Street Journal. That’s the power you have. That’s the kind of teacher you are.

I will keep you updated on my college admissions, and hopefully we stay in touch. Truthfully, you have been one of the most amazing people I have ever met.

Thank you,

The Chi Family

Daniel S. holds a B.A. in History and French from Amherst College in Massachusetts, the country’s top liberal arts college. He went on to earn a master’s degree in French literature at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school with an acceptance rate of 9.3%. Daniel started tutoring for IYE part-time in 2018, where he has tutored students from all academic levels. He loves to read classic literature and to share with students the joys of focused reading and stronger comprehension of the English language. Since his graduation from University of Pennsylvania, Daniel has worked as a 5th grade teacher for three years in San Jose, developed his ESL teaching skills by teaching English abroad in a small town in the French Alps, and taught at Challenger School.

My daughter usually doesn’t like any extra academic classes now states that she will be Ms. Julie until her high school is done.

—N. K., Sunnyvale

We are very happy with our tutor Ms. Julie. Our daughter enjoys working with her and I’ve seen great improvement as English isn’t her strongest subject.

I think she is more confident to start writing, be it a homework assignment or essay for high school applications. Ms. Julie is very patient with our daughter and is doing everything she can to keep her on track but at the same time continuously assesses her progress and adjust the plan accordingly

—Ashley L., San Francisco

I feel that my child’s improvement has been with respect to her writing. Her regular school does not involve much writing, so I appreciate the writing assignments and the close review and feedback that Ms. Julie provides. My daughter enjoys working with Ms. Julie, and I think it’s a good assignment. I believe they enjoy seeing each other every week.

—Andrew S., San Francisco

Julie S. holds a Master’s Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Jose State University, where she taught freshman composition and tutored in the writing center while earning her degree. She has also taught grammar and essay writing to a range of K-12 students and has led creative writing workshops, as well. She loves helping students learn how to best express themselves and their ideas, in both essays and in stories. When she’s not teaching, she can often be found reading or spending time with her own teenagers before they head off to college.

My 6th grade son has been taking online lesson from Mr. David for several months now. We are hesitant initially. First, IYE’s class focuses a lot on fundamentals of English as a language, so I am not sure if my son will be able to commit himself without being bored. Secondly, I am not so comfortable with online class due to age of my son and the fact that I can’t sit next to him to supervise.

However online class is the only option available to us due to commute issue. We decided to give it a try anyway.

So far I am very happy with the outcome: my son is glued to his lesson with Mr. David. His school teacher gives high review of his writings comparing the comment several months back. I noticed my son is confident in writing and really enjoys reading.

What I like about IYE is their principal of teaching English fundamentals and how serious Nat is towards his service. I have used other reputable/popular writing tutors, all didn’t work out. In one case the kid got too bored and refused to go to class any more. In another case the teach made kids hook up to the class but really didn’t teach much. So I feel lucky one of school parents recommended IYE to me and it works well!

—Ying S., Palo Alto

Mr. David has been able to motivate my son, which is a major accomplishment.

—Y. L., Sunnyvale, CA

My daughter was pretty proud to have written her first short story. It was to write a story from the perspective of an animal and she enjoyed taking a different perspective. She wrote another short story about Anne of Green Gables. Here she got to use lots of descriptive words from the perspective of Anne, forced her to be more thoughtful in her writing.

She is also proud of her long vocabulary streak. This is also helping her in her high school English class, often knowing the words in advance before they’re taught to the class.

Mr. David is great at helping my daughter develop more variety in her writing, which is something that I’d requested in our prior discussion. He offers different word suggestions, essay structure, and just great feedback to help her see different possibilities.

We also continue to be impressed by Mr. David’s passion for their readings, often conducting the role plays and reading out loud. This helps my daughter better appreciate the content and the emotions at play.

—Will P.  Sunnyvale, CA

My son did well in his AP English Literature class and AP world history class. I think he had built his skill set over the years with Mr. David’s teaching.

—Y. Qiu, Saratoga, CA

Mr. David is excellent. My son shows improvements in reading and writing, identifying grammar, and reading more books. He has increased confidence in English language.

—Divya B., San Jose, CA

We are happy the way Mr. David teach our daughter. His techniques, understanding of child’s strengths and weaknesses are strong and that truly help child to grow without any pressure or unwilling force. Thank you.

—L. C., ​​Sunnyvale, CA

1) The biggest change we’ve noticed is that my son no longer feels intimidated by writing essays. 2) Also, my son joined his first debate tournament in October.

Mr. David is very punctual for class. After each class, he quickly sends out the class summary and homework. Whenever we, the parents, have questions, he also responds promptly. He thoughtfully adjusted the lessons when my son was busy with schoolwork, which helped protect and nurture his love for literature. He also made the content engaging and fun—so much so that the IYE class is the last one my son would ever want to miss. My son truly enjoys Mr. David’s class, and our family especially appreciates the customized curriculum.

—Crystal G., Atherton

David M. earned a B.A. with a double major in modernist literature and American history from U.C. Santa Cruz, from which he graduated with honors. He began his ten years of work in education by teaching U.S. history in college classrooms, where he often transformed ‘C’ students into ‘A’ students. He is currently in the process of writing and editing several novels in preparation for publication. Since 2012, he has tutored elementary and middle school children, with a particular emphasis on encouraging an early appreciation of classic and world literature.

Ms. Carol has been great about working with my daughter with her English lessons. She provides insights and structure to thinking about complicated text and has given my daughter clarity and more conviction with her writing.

—Roberta C., Palo Alto, CA

Ms. Carol is a very positive tutor. I often heard her to give very positive comments when my son answer the questions. She also responses quickly when we need to contact her.

—Hao C., Palo Alto, CA

We really like Ms. Carol as she understands what a high school student needs in English learning. For example, her lesson is well structured and use the time effectively. She is willing to listen and help to improve my daughter’s weaknesses. We are looking forward to working with her.

—Monica C., San Jose, CA

Ms. Carol who is my child’s teacher is excellent and very helpful. My daughter’s journey has been very successful with her.

—Y. M., Sunnyvale, CA

With 18 years of teaching experience in the Bay Area, Carol S. is an experienced and accomplished educator. She began her studies with a degree in English from UC Davis and continued by receiving a Masters in TESOL from San Jose State, as well as a teaching credential from Notre Dame de Namur. Reflecting her strong subject knowledge, Carol is to date the only IYE tutor applicant to have received a 100% score on the IYE tutor grammar test. In addition, as a teacher in the Silver Creek school district, she received high commendations for her classroom management and rapport with students. Carol also enjoys music, having performed in a variety of local choirs.

My son enjoys Ms. Judy’s IYE class, he cut all the other academic classed outside the school except Improve Your English which is helpful. He now has confidence on literature. He said the class and Ms. Judy help him a lot.

—Y.  Z., San Jose, CA

We just had a great experience with Ms. Judy at IYE. She helped my son improved his ACT score by 3 points in only 4 months! We are very lucky to get the help from her before my son’s junior year ends. The most important thing is that Ms. Judy taught him test taking skills that we were looking for years for my son. My son took SAT and ACT boot camps at some other training organization before, but his SAT/ACT scores kept at the same level for almost two years without any improvement. After the disappointing test score from earlier this year, my son started ACT training with Ms. Judy. It helped: my son got 3 point higher in his June ACT test than the one he took in February. We are very happy we found the right help at the right time!

—Tina P., Sunnyvale

In the past six months, our daughter has become more responsible with schoolwork, improved their writing, and cut back on screen time. I’ve also seen her confidence grow through participation in school activities. Ms. Judy has been very supportive with my daughter’s school assignments and always listens to my concerns with patience. Her teaching is clear, encouraging, and helpful, and overall we have had a very positive experience.

—Tania C., Milpitas

I really appreciate Ms. Judy’s patience and thorough approach to tutoring. She is a knowledgeable expert in English and has an appreciation of fine arts that my daughter connects to on a personal level.

—N. X., San Francisco, CA

Judy W. graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a B.A. in English Literature. After obtaining two teaching credentials, she went on to graduate study in English, in education, and in ancient languages and literature. Her experience includes private schools, public schools, supplemental education, and homeschools. She has taught reading comprehension, literary analysis, grammar, writing, and the structure of language to all ages, including adults. She has additional expertise in Gifted Education and in the writing aspects of college admissions, having also worked independently as a college admissions counselor.

My child is able to learn more vocabulary. Reading comprehension forces him to read, as he doesn’t have time to read for recreation during school time. On the other hand, he spends less time watching YouTube. I noticed excellent interaction during the class between my child and Mr. Matthew.

—Lily L., San Francisco, CA

My son’s writing has improved, and he is way less worried about his English tests and homework! He looks forward to the English class, so Mr. Matthew must be doing a great job!

—S. K., Mountain View, CA

I think my son’s writing skills have improved, and I appreciate the close focus on writing. Mr. Matthew is very patient with my son, and I think they work well together.

—Andrew S., San Francisco

Our son has become more confident of English writing, reading, essays. His class grade is consistent and very good. Mr Matthew is very patient, thorough. He provides adequate feedback on where things can improve and communicate to me.

—Bhaskar P., Cupertino

Mr. Matthew is a very dedicated and responsible tutor with patient, and provides my son with help and advice.

—Kelly Z., Los Gatos, CA

Mr. Matthew is very professional, responsive and on task. I appreciate his commitment and seriousness to my son’s improvement.

—Christian C., Palo Alto CA

Matthew H. graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in comparative literature, concentrating in English and French literature. After college, he took a degree from The New School for Social Research, where he obtained a MA in liberal studies. His coursework for his MA consisted of classes in both literature and philosophy, and his MA thesis focused on 20th-century American poetry. His fifteen years of work in education comprises tutoring students in reading comprehension, grading assignments for and collaborating with community college instructors, and working full time as a classroom teacher for four years. At Improve Your English, he enjoys cultivating a love of reading in his students while helping them raise their grades and test scores.

Before my daughter started her lessons at IYE, she would bring home biweekly envelopes filled with assignments graded C, D, and even F. She often had meltdowns while doing homework because she found the questions extremely frustrating and needed help with almost every one. My husband and I became concerned that she might not pass her grade and realized she needed additional support.

My daughter has been attending IYE for the past five months, and the change has been remarkable. Her attitude towards homework has improved significantly, with no more meltdowns. Her grades have soared, with nearly all assignments now marked A+, A, or B+. Her writing structure and spelling have also seen significant improvements. Enrolling her at IYE has been one of the best investments in her education, and I am excited to see her continue to progress in the coming months.”

“I have absolutely no changes I’d like to make regarding Mr. Daniel’s teaching! He has done an amazing job with my daughter since the beginning. When I initially filled out tutor preferences for her enrollment at IYE, I selected a female tutor. However, all female tutors were booked, and Nat reassured me that she could switch to a female tutor if one became available. About 2-3 months into her lessons, I asked my daughter if she wanted to switch to a female tutor. She simply replied, “”No.”” When I asked her to elaborate and confirm, she said, “”Yes, I am sure. I really like my tutor. He not only gets me but also understands what types of books I would like.””

My daughter is always giggling and happy after her lessons with Mr. Daniel, which shows how much she enjoys learning from him. Mr. Daniel makes learning fun for my daughter, and I wouldn’t change a thing!

—Lynna C., San Jose, CA

My daughter’s confidence in AP World History and English has grown. Her assignments are coming back with great grades and she seems less stressed about them. (Thank you, Mr.Daniel!). Just today, she unexpectedly had to write an essay in her English class, even though her teacher initially said she could use her “pass” coin to waive one assignment. She said she felt she should be more upset than she actually was, and went on to write four pages—and that’s after she had to run to the book room to get the book (she left hers at home) and missed some of the writing time. She also didn’t prepare for it since she thought she didn’t have to do it!

My son said he really likes Mr. Daniel because he’s kind and easy to get along. My daughter said she appreciates that Mr. Daniel finds her funny and that he’s insightful. It’s great that the kids like Mr. Daniel and understands him well. I also appreciate him connecting with them by asking them about the going-ons in their lives.

Dealing with tween/teenagers is challenging. I appreciate Mr. Daniel’s patience. Looking back, one of the best decisions we ever made during the pandemic was asking my friend about English tutoring, who then referred us to Mr. Daniel, who said he worked for IYE. Imagine if I never asked my friend that one question. Thank you, Mr. Daniel.

—Stacey L., San Jose, CA

When my child first started out, my child wasn’t really good with language arts. He struggled with his grammar in his 4th-grade year. When a friend told us to enroll in Improve Your English and told us how good it is, we decided that we should give it a shot. Our first class went really well, and Mr. Daniel was extremely nice to us and helped my child with his grammar. My child did not have a big vocabulary. So, Mr. Daniel gave my child 10 words a week to memorize, and my child’s vocabulary expanded like never before. We HIGHLY recommend Mr. Daniel at Improve Your English!

—Q. C., Cupertino

My daughter definitely got better at writing but the best thing is that it used to take her 3 or more hours to finish her homework before. Now she can finish it in an hour! Which is amazing! My daughter is very comfortable with Mr. Daniel. They always have a lot of fun at class. He is very understanding, supportive and thoughtful, which makes my daughter like her IYE classes.

—Buket D., Mountain View

Daniel H. received his B.A. in English from Santa Clara University. He has several years of experience with assisting students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels while helping them make significant strides in enriching their literacy and comprehension skills. His life-long love of reading and writing, supplemented by the study of literature in college, has given him a passion to impart a similarly ardent appreciation to others. His dedication, along with superb organization in lesson preparation and progression, inspires students to strive for excellence.