Ideas for ESOL Tutoring

Tutoring Comments

1. What does Jack do before the reading and why?
   • He puts the reading in context so Joanne and Boris can relate it to their own experiences.
   • He then reads an overview and discusses some vocabulary that is new to Joanne and Boris so they will be able to follow the story.
     
     
2. What approach does Jack use to determine if the students understand the vocabulary and comprehend the story?
   • He asks them questions about their own experiences leaving home (problem posing approach).
   • He reviews a suggested list of vocabulary words to ensure they understood the meanings and how they are used in the story.
     
     
3. Is there anything you would do differently?
   Two possible changes are:
   • Along with reviewing the suggested list of vocabulary words, ask if there is anything they did not understand.
   • When reviewing the vocabulary, give them more time to try to recall the meaning themselves before providing it. If they are able to recall the meaning, or figure it out from context, the word will become "theirs" sooner.
     

Tutoring Comments

1. Why does John open the session by discussing Eden's weekend and his plans for the upcoming week?
   • Free discussion provides great practice speaking and can supply the tutor with ideas for future lessons.
   • John assigns Eden's homework based on that free discussion so he knows the writing will be of interest to Eden.
     
     
2. How do you decide when to correct your student's pronunciation?
   • In parts of this session we cannot understand Eden, but John can and he doesn't correct him. That is common. You will become familiar with your student's accent. When deciding when to correct your student's pronunciation consider:
     • Can the average person understand him? If so, you may want to let it go.
     • What is the focus of this part of your lesson? You may want to stay focused on reading comprehension for example. If so, note the problem words so you can bring them up at another time and work on pronunciation.
       
       
3. How does John determine the number of vocabulary words for review?
   • The objective is to keep it interesting and at an appropriate length for your student. Through some months of tutoring John has gotten to know Eden and what level of difficulty challenges him without overwhelming him. That helps John determine the number of words to include in each list.
   • In this session John had two lists of ten words each, which some tutors would say is too many for one session. However, by grouping the words into categories (opposites and past tenses) John covers them all without it being tedious or confusing.
     

Tutoring Comments

1. How does Maree accomplish multiple repetitions of the words with the long-e sound?
   • Reviewing the cards (simple repetition)
   • Asking Shuping to pick up each picture (physical response)
   • Having Shuping give the instruction (reinforcement and practice speaking)
   • Reviewing each item one last time, asking a few additional questions
     
     
2. What does Maree do when Shuping struggles?
   • She gives Shuping plenty of time to recall the words or sentences herself.
   • When Shuping struggles with the rooms in the house, Maree backs up to a simpler repetition drill to help her learn the words and to boost her confidence. At one point she uses backward buildup to help Shuping with the phrasing and pronunciation.
     
     
3. What happens when Shuping doesn't understand Maree's instructions?
   • Shuping is able to figure out what's happening because Maree's pattern is familiar to her. She will pick up the meaning of the instructions over time.
     

Tutoring Comments

1. What happens when John and Chuanjian review the clock?
   • For one, they enjoy a good laugh because Chuanjian is much more literal than John intended when he set the clock near 12:15.
   • Second, when Chuanjian is stuck on 12:45, he patiently backs up and leads her to the answer.
   • Later, when she has trouble with the current month, he reviews all months and then repeats the original question, which she successfully answers.
     
     
2. Why is the calendar exercise not as smooth as the work with the clock?
   • Chuanjian has only recently started to work on the calendar so it will take more repetition before she does as well as she did with the clock.
   • Chuanjian has been meeting with another tutor. Since she and John just met it will take a few sessions for him to learn what she knows and for her to become familiar with his approach.
     
     
3. In these four videos, how are Maree and John M.'s materials for tutoring beginning students different from John L. and Jack's materials for teaching advanced students?
   • Maree and John M. have survival kits with many visual items to help Shuping and Chuanjian learn new vocabulary.
   • An extensive survival kit isn't as important with John and Jack's advanced students because they can use known vocabulary to teach new material.