About Sean Savoie and RELT, Inc.
In
Flushing,
Queens, in 2002, Sean Savoie founded the Reflexive English Language Training
(RELT) School, which serves the Chinese-speaking community by teaching students
English at various levels and for various purposes. Hundreds of students have attended RELT. Sean
Savoie also enjoys the challenge of developing
curricula for ESP (English for Special Purposes). In other words, Mr.
Savoie specializes in developing programs, learning material, and courses that
cater specifically to the students and clients that he serves.
Mr. Savoie teaches
high school students college-writing skills and advanced grammar in preparation
for, among others, the New York State English Regents Exam, SATs, TOEFL tests, college
application essays, all with an emphasis on utilizing grammar and understanding
literary techniques and modes of development in expression. He also teaches adults multiple levels of conversational
English for a variety of purposes, ranging from business English and job
interview techniques to argumentation styles, accent reduction and understanding American
culture through the lyrics of influential music.
In 1990, Sean
Savoie received his B.A. in Music, Cum Laude, at the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston after receiving a history
minor at
Providence
College, where he studied Classical
literature, philosophy and psychology.
Mr. Savoie is an accomplished drummer of all
music styles and has performed live from 1988 to the present day in three
different countries. His philosophy is
that music shares a synergistic relationship to language and that the
techniques used to master skills such as visual arts, martial arts, and
literary arts can and should be applied when learning a new language. Much of
his teaching pedagogy is expressed in his essays published from 2003 to 2008,
many of which can be viewed in the articles section of this website.
From 1992 to 1998, Mr. Savoie performed music and taught
English in
Taiwan and
Japan and, through his own
intense language studies and English language teaching experience, developed an
understanding as to the differences between the ways that the Chinese and
Japanese become proficient in English.
Mr. Savoie has developed a pedagogical method specifically tailored to
the Chinese-speaking community and has applied these techniques in RELT. In short, he has developed a “talking-slide”
system, capitalizing on the visual nature of Chinese characters and the direct
relationship this has upon learning. Sean Savoie employs slides
depicting English words which serve as mnemonic devices
enabling students to directly associate nouns, verbs and adjectives with the
corresponding English words. This repetitive visual training, which is the
result of Sean Savoie's endeavors into the
disciplines of music, visual art, modern drum set playing styles, martial arts, and other
system-intensive skills, helps students to bypass translating words from
Chinese to English, allowing them to directly respond in English as a reflex.
While in
Taiwan, as a full-time student of
Mandarin Chinese, Mr. Savoie taught English conversation techniques to medical
students at Tzu Chi Medical School in Hualien,
Taiwan.
He also operated an English school for
students of all ages and levels, with a focus on high school students’
preparation for the dreaded college entrance exam in
Taiwan.
In 1997, Sean Savoie
was the writing teacher for the student who took first place in
Taiwan on this college entrance
examination. Additionally, he taught children of doctors teaching at Tzu
Chi. Mr. Savoie also coached English
presentation techniques at IKEA’s international
office in
Taipei.
He has also
taught children at the
VIP
English
School in
Taipei, where he helped recreate
the school’s audio learning tapes.
While in
Fukuoka,
Japan, as a full-time student of
Japanese, Mr. Savoie helped develop, gave seminars to promote, and taught a
government program called the International Interchange Program, which prepared
teachers to travel to English-speaking countries to teach about Japanese
culture in American, Canadian, Australian, and English public schools. Mr. Savoie also taught
English, interview techniques, and English conversation at the
International Stewardess
Academy.
It was these experiences, combined with an
obsession with music, art, and rhythmic patterns, that
provided the impetus for Mr. Savoie to found RELT.
In addition
to teaching, Mr. Savoie writes weekly newspaper columns, Street Speak and Writing
Effectively, which appear in the New
York Community Times, a Chinese community newspaper distributed throughout
New York City. Street
Speak presents a typical English conversation dialogue, using numerous
idiomatic English phrases, and provides a translation. The Writing Effectively series instructs students on how to develop
better writing skills for college. Other articles written by Sean Savoie address cultural concerns for immigrants to the
United States and promote literacy in the
community.
Prior to
founding RELT, Mr. Savoie was the Academic Coordinator of the ESL program, and
taught grammar, writing, and speaking to international students at the InterNexus
Center for Language Studies at Berkeley College of Business in New York City,
where he further developed his understanding of the varying needs of students
from different language backgrounds. More information regarding Sean Savoie's
teaching style and philosophy about learning read the
articles section of this website or
contact Sean Savoie directly.
