Tom Foti

A handsome bearded man, smiling and turning his face toward the right.

Find all of Tom's lessons by clicking here.

Location: Pennsylvania; USA

What is your connection to the spelling community?

S2C Practitioner

How would you describe your lessons and lesson-writing style?

I love to tell stories, and I think people - as a whole - love to hear them. Why else do we have movies, TV shows, and books? So I try to make my lessons reflect that passion for storytelling. Whenever I sit down to write a lesson, I pretend that I'm relaying the information to a friend. For me, it helps bring the story to life.

What makes you see a topic and say, "I want to write a lesson about that?"

I love to learn about things. I'm a self-proclaimed nerd/dork. (I'm not kidding. One of my favorite podcasts is about architecture and design.) So, naturally, my mind wanders a lot. Often times, a great indicator that something is "lesson worthy" is something that makes you go, "Huh. That's interesting." Or "How did they do that?"

I wrote "Jurassic Voice" because I was watching the original movie one night, and found myself saying, "How did the producers know what sounds dinosaurs made? They've been extinct for millions of years." My lesson about the Titanic was based on a story I stumbled upon that revealed that the ship was found during a top secret Naval mission.

What's your best advice to someone new to spelled communication?

Keep a journal of the victories you achieve along the way. Go back to that journal whenever you're feeling down. Those victories are a reminder of how far you've come.

Animals are the original nonspeaking beings. If you could communicate fluently with one species, which would it be and why?