Steven is a passionate teacher and a mathematician by training. He teaches primarily mathematics and physics. Besides being an IB/AP/AL/IGCSE tutor since 2012, he has taught high school and, since 2017, he has also been teaching various (ranging from beginning college level to advanced undergraduate level) mathematics classes at university level.

On becoming a teacher:

A simple yet honest reason: I love teaching. Mathematics provides solid foundation for all the STEM subjects. For instance Newtonian mechanics would not have existed without calculus and mechanical engineering would not have survived without mechanics. As a teacher I always find pleasure when explaining the relationship between math and other subjects to my students. I hope my students, instead of being merely able to achieve top grades in exams, will be able to find my classes beneficial to their future study and work.

I really enjoy sharing my thoughts and insights with my students. Mathematics is usually stereotyped as a boring subject that only involves tons of tedious calculations and exotic symbols. Nevertheless, if one finds a suitable point of view, then the equations will appear to be beautiful and not exotic anymore. Those eureka moments of my students are certainly the best moments I could have during teaching.

Other interests that reflect my personality as a teacher:

I enjoy hiking. I find a lot of similarities between teaching and hiking. Those eureka moments of students are definitely the most breathtaking views for a teacher. However, in order to appreciate these breathtaking views, we always need a lot of patience, persistence and hard work.

An admirable person:

Alexander Grothendieck is one of the mathematicians I admire the most. His vision and philosophy have influenced the evolution of mathematics in the 20th century. His influence in algebraic geometry has been revolutionizing our understanding towards the foundation of mathematics

Top tip to younger self:

“Few, but ripe.” - Carl Friedrich Gauss