Professional IELTS, CELPIP and Conversational English Tutor. CELTA-certified with 10+ years of teaching experience.

I took five CELPIP lessons with Derek in a short period, and I had an outstanding experience. He was always well-prepared for the classes, quickly spotted my mistakes, and helped me fix them in a way that made learning easier. The lessons were engaging, and I actually enjoyed the process. I truly appreciate his teaching style and would highly recommend him to anyone preparing for CELPIP!

Mr. Derek is my CELPIP tutor. He taught me in a unique way how to write sentences without grammatical faults, run-on sentences, and common sentence errors. He also showed me how to properly use articles and comma splices. Furthermore, he supported me in improving my speaking skills for the CELPIP speaking section by providing useful strategies based on my ability. I found the classes very helpful.

I had an excellent experience with Derek. He has helped me in getting the 8 band in writing. I really liked the practice techniques and methods. I strongly recommend Derek as the best mentor for ENGLISH coaching.

Derek is the best English teacher I ever had. I have problem with hearing so for me is very important to have a teacher with great pronunciation and clear English skills. Derek fits perfect for mine expectations. He is very communicative and positive person as well. I highly recommend him for other newcomers and people who want improve their English skills.

Derek is a very professional teacher. He knows what your problems are within several minutes and gives you relative trainings step by step. He has very qualified suggestions including what homework you should do, what podcast you should listen and what materials you should read. I would say he is the trustworthy teacher you can turn to.

I would wholeheartedly recommend Derek. He is a brilliant tutor and most importantly he understands the needs of his students. Derek recognizes his student’s weak points and works with them to improve.
Derek’s patience and eye for details are very helpful as well. He has a trove of practice tests and exercises that made me ready for the exam. His experience and expertise make him a great teacher.

Derek is an amazing tutor, he kept our classes on a light and easy note, at the same time I was getting better and better in my English. Derek made me a self confident speaker and a person curious about the language itself. He is also this king of unique teacher that always has a time for you and is ready to answer any of your urgent linguistic questions.
He is a pleasure to work with!

Derek is a highly-qualified teacher who helped me with CELPIP to achieve a band 7, my desired score. He will point out your mistakes and tell you specific ways on how to improve your score. I recommend Derek to everybody as he is friendly, flexible and has excellent communication skills.

Derek is a fantastic teacher, he always has patience and tries his best to help students. His teaching philosophy is pretty good, he encourages students to speak and express themselves, and correct mistakes when necessary. Your English will be improved unconsciously.
If there are any disadvantages, he is too nice, he should give more pressure on students and be more strict with the students.

Derek is one of the most professional English tutors you will ever meet.
I struggled a lot with the writing part for the IELTS and CELPIP exams, and I kept searching for solutions until I found Derek.
Derek helped me understand what the examiner wants to see on the English exams.
He also made everything simpler and easier to follow.
Derek has a friendly way of dealing with his students. He makes you feel comfortable and less stressed during classes and he answers any question you may ask, even if it was very silly. He gives you all the time you need, not like other teachers.

He kept pushing me and encouraging me. After I finished his classes, I got the score I want in CELPIP.
A high score on English exams is a critical thing in the immigration process to Canada. Without Derek, I wouldn't be able to immigrate to Canada. I am really thankful for all his effort to help me to achieve my dreams.

Have been a student of him for 8 months now as I wanted to improve my speaking and chat with native speakers without barriers. All I wanted was learning English in a natural and native way and he delivers just that. Great teacher, professional delivery and pleasant classes.

I took CELPIP lessons with Derek for about 2 months.
He responded right away to me after I inquired about classes, so I was able to begin my studying immediately. He is so friendly and cares a lot about his classes. Sometimes I had a hard time understanding new phrases, but he explained it to me again and again until I got it.
Thanks to him, I got the score I wanted. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart!

I worked with Derek in 2019 and his teaching methods and strategies helped me achieve the desired result in IELTS exam.

I have tried a lot of different tutors (including tutors from special web-platforms) and Derek was the absolute leader! He understands your needs and works on your weaknesses by making them your strengths. I had only 4 months to improve my IELTS writing from 6 to 7, and I ended up having 9 for Listening, 8.5 for Reading, 7 for Writing and 7.5 for Speaking! Derek gives you some tips that you cannot find on the Internet. If you just follow his instructions, IELTS will be a piece of cake for you! Initially, I planned to take classes only for IELTS preparation, but then I decided to continue practicing with Derek and use him as my language mentor! Even though I have been living in the US for the last 2 years, I find his classes very useful and see significant progress in my language skills.

I was looking for a native English speaker to help with my IELTS exam preparation, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet Derek. He is a fantastic English mentor, not only for the IELTS exam preparation but also for all those who want to hone their English skills with a customized approach. Derek offers a robust English learning methodology that every English learner must experience. And if you get stuck on grammar, he has supportive methods to help you with your language needs. I have been studying with Derek for a couple of months now, and it is noticeable how many improvements I have made. He also focuses on pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and local expressions for speaking training. Finally, Derek has a neutral accent, is easy to understand, and is always available to answer questions. He has a flexible schedule and offers online classes. I have made massive progress in English proficiency since I started lessons with him for the IELTS exam and my daily communication skills. Therefore, I highly recommend Derek as a native speaker English mentor.

I started my IELTS preparation lessons with Derek two months ago. Definitely, I improved my language skills, such as speaking, listening and writing. Derek is very experienced about IELTS and he can quickly help you to know and solve your language disadvantages. I want to note that Derek's schedule is very flexible. He speaks very clearly. Additionally, for me, it is essential to study using Skype, it saves my time a lot. Moreover, Derek really wants to work, each of our lessons I felt that I am an important customer for him. And as a bonus, he is a nice guy, cheerful and always corrects you if you are making a mistake in a nice manner. Finally, I decided to do CELPIP and get my score 8 8 8 8

I have been taking speaking lessons with Derek for a couple of years now. He has taught me many new English phrases and expressions that I try to use in my daily life. Derek is an excellent teacher who gives me the confidence to speak English as my level has improved greatly these past two years. He is a very friendly and passionate tutor. I highly recommend him to anyone wanting to improve their conversational skills.

Derek has been extremely helpful and friendly during our classes together. He is extremely organized and often provides me with meaningful advice that has been helpful in my everyday interactions. After my lessons with Derek, I have noticed that I have become more fluent in my speech, my vocabulary has expanded, and that I have become far more comfortable as I communicate with others in English. I would highly recommend Derek to anyone that is learning the English language or wants to improve their ability to communicate at a higher level.

I've known Derek since 2010 when we met in South Korea, mutually beginning our Teaching careers. Derek has spent a significant portion of his life developing and nurturing his love of teaching, across students of all ages, in various continents, and a multitude of countries.

Derek's main characteristics of his personality - positive, energetic, passionate, diligent - are even more so visible in his approach to how he builds rapport with his students, and in how he dedicates himself to his craft.

I have had the joy of observing Derek in the classroom, picking up some pointers on how to craft both an informative and entertaining lesson. Derek takes great pleasure on improving his student's skill sets, and due to his vast experience, is able to assist students with different learning styles.

I highly recommend Derek if you are looking for a teacher - the field of teaching is fortunate to have Derek among their ranks.

Derek plainly and simply CARES about your results and it shows in the energy he puts into the lessons.

His lesson style usually goes by start reviewing the last lesson for feedback, then reading while he listened and tried to catch my mistakes to comment on them and give me material to keep working on those.
Any time invested with Derek will get you closer to your goals, mine where ESL tests for immigration purposes

I also found his patience very helpful to help me with pronunciation, even when you have a strong (and sexy) Hispanic accent!

Ricardo B.

I did many IELTS preparation lessons with Derek over the past 2 years. I improved my English language skills including speaking, listening and writing. Derek is highly experienced with IELTS and he can quickly help you to solve your language weaknesses. Two other things I really liked were that Derek's schedule is flexible and he speaks very clearly, which is difficult to find. Additionally, for me, it is essential to study online to save time during my busy day, so Skype has worked great!

Thanks a lot!