ello, my name is Sara Smith, and here is a little bit about myself:

     I'm a pretty normal person. I was born in Michigan at the beginning of the baby boom and moved to California in 1970.

     I have always been interested in languages. I studied Latin in junior high (I can't say I liked that, but I learned my grammar!), and German in high school. After high school, I spent a year in Germany as an exchange student. I then majored in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, where I studied German and also a bit of Mandarin Chinese.

     Now I have forgotten most of my German, though I still understand a bit, and all of my Chinese. I speak Japanese fairly fluently as I need it as a tutor to communicate with my Japanese students' families and to explain English grammar, etc. I also attended graduate school at the University of Michigan and UCLA and got two certificates in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).

     I have been self-employed as a tutor, mostly English as a second language to Japanese children here in Southern California, for over 25 years and have had many successes in the area of education. For ten years, I ran a tutoring service which involved, at its zenith, 17 tutors and over 85 students. I am still a tutor, though now I also tutor other nationalities and subjects. I am a member of Applied Scholastics. (For more information, see the link on My Favorite Sites.)

     I wrote about 15% of a book (published in Japanese) on the school systems in Southern California, and I publish an occasional newsletter with information and advice for parents. I will gladly send anyone a copy if they are interested.

     I am not married, and I have no children. Not that I wouldn't like to have gotten married; the most optimum years for this were spent being very busy with my tutoring service - helping other people's children!

     I don't have pets now, but I consider myself a cat person, because I had two cats (Pretty Girl and Pretty Boy) who lived to 14 and 20, respectively. I have a very small garden with freesias and other bulbs and a thriving small tree (now home to a pair of sparrows).

     I enjoy reading - historical fiction, science fiction, and children's books and watching TV - favorites have included M*A*S*H, Thirtysomething, L A Law, Quantum Leap, Little House on the Prairie, E. R., Chicago Hope, Star Trek, DS9, (not Voyager), etc.

     I like to help people.