texts for private tutoring?

<b> Forum for the discussion on ESL/EFL textbooks </b>

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kscuteflute
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Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:56 am
Location: indiana university

texts for private tutoring?

Post by kscuteflute » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:08 am

Hey all,

I've enjoyed reading through some of the more recent posts and have found some of the suggestions very helpful.

I have a degree in Linguistics/TESL and am currently pursuing a master's in TESOL. I've been tutoring ESL students for a few years now, and still am struggling to find good texts for a more intensive, one-on-one setting - I usually end up making everything up on my own, but that is incredibly time-consuming.

I tutor anything from conversation to grammar, reading, listening, writing, you name it. I started out doing a lot of conversation and slang/idiom tutoring, which wasn't too hard to handle, but now recently I've started getting more kids and absolute beginners (visiting scholar's wives and such). I've spent a lot of time at the university and public libraries and a lot of time online, searching for good sources but haven't come up with much.
I've gone to some of my linguistics professors for help, but none of them had much in the way of current texts. I went to our TESOL department's reading room, and found basically nothing in the way of current, applicable texts - everything was old and outdated. I've taken so many classes on teaching ESL, but no one has ever mentioned any good texts, everything is mostly focused on theory, and the problems with current textbooks and philosophies.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks a bunch~

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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:23 am

Do you belong to TESOL? http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp There are affiliates in every state, and I know in California there are also regional conferences. All of the major booksellers come to these conferences, and you can order examination copies and look around and see what's available. Perhaps there is something in your area?

kscuteflute
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:56 am
Location: indiana university

Post by kscuteflute » Wed Jan 04, 2006 11:13 pm

I don't, but that's a great idea. I've been wanting to join, but have been waiting until I get some extra money... hard to come by when I'm in school... but I'll try to scrape some up anyway..!

Superhal
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Post by Superhal » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:29 am

There's no one textbook that can do everything. Few even do a little bit well. If you are on a budget, there's no real choice but to get a coursebook that comes with reading, writing, listening, speaking, tapes, video, etc. etc. Interchange appears to be the best at this. Otherwise, you are stuck with 5-10 different textbooks. Coursebooks also have the advantage of being in a series, so you are bound to get something for the level of any student you meet.

I like conversation strategies by kehe and kehe, as it is useful for both low and high level students (although many of the exercises are pair work and it sounds like you only have 1 student.)

kscuteflute
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Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:56 am
Location: indiana university

Post by kscuteflute » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:59 am

thanks for the advice - i'll check those out. i'm definitely not getting paid enough to just try out several textbooks, so i appreciate all the tips i can get!

sbourque
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Location: USA

Post by sbourque » Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:54 am

I'd recommend the Language to Go series. They're graded from beginner to upper intermediate, and each unit is only 2 pages--easy to get through in a 90-minute session. A good mix of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with some grammar as well.

charless47
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ellie's english

Post by charless47 » Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:51 am

For something very different take a look at www.elliesenglish.com - the idea is to provide entertaining text and audio for intermediate level upwards. The material is intended to complement formal grammar training. The site has just started (officially from Monday 14 August) and (based on feedback) will be developed extensively over the next year.

harmony
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Location: Oman

Post by harmony » Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:42 pm

This may be a bit late, but here are some thoughts anyway.

I agree with superhal about the limitations of texts and the usefulness of Kehe. As a beginner, a text is a great resource because there is always something that you can do!

Ultimately, however, I found that the most effective one on one lessons happen without a text and result from doing a needs assessment. Find out what the student is interested in, why she/he is learning English, what for, etc and then begin providing the language yourself that meets those specific needs. This can be done by talking with the student about these activities/interests/needs. It can be done by assisting them in creating dialogues that use the language that would occur in such situations, and it can be done by finding articles or other materials that are related for reading (this is often difficult for lower levels)

A good example of how this might work that I have done was with a Japanes high school student in Japan at a low intermediate level who wanted to go to America to meet an American girl on the beach! We imagined the girl being there. Talked about what she was wearing, what he was wearing. Described the place, the weather, came up with a name for the girl, and then wrote a dialogue on the board (If you don't have a board a notebook works fine). I did the dialogue by first putting his name down and eliciting from him an opening line. This resulted in some fun! I then had him imagine what the girl would say. Went back to his response, etc. and ended up with a really cool conversation that we then practiced together. 8) The dialogue and descriptions created lots of authentic language and vocabulary, provided opportunity to practice pronunciation, intonation, tone, and more. The next lesson I go over all of that again to reinforce the learning and this can often take up a lot of well spent time for your next lesson (if you don't review what you have taught, it will soon disappear). After this kind of lesson, students generally don't want to go back to the book.

Hope this is helpful and good luck!

harmony
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Post by harmony » Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:56 pm

Oops! Somehow I missed the part about absolute beginners. For kids there are many games resources that can be found. There are many matching games with cards. Have them draw and color their own pictures on cards to use for vacabulary. I used to play a game where we rolled a ball across the table for points if you hit the eraser there and knocked it over, before the kid could try, however, he had to say the word or sentence. Kids like playing pictionary too.

For visiting professors wives it is easy to meet their needs and make them very happy. They need to learn how to introduce themslves, give basic information about themselves, and respond to various questions from their husband's colleagues and others that keep coming at them over and over again.

How long have you been in...?
Do you like living in...?
Where did you meet your husband?
What do you do in your free time?
Have you been to/visited...?
Where are you from?
Do you have any children?
How many children do you have?
How old are they?

Introduce these questions and the apporpriate answers and role play with them until they get it. Repeat them often enough until they can answer without hesitation with correct grammar and understandable pronunciation. It is a lot of work, but they tend to be quite motivated and appreciate this because it makes an immediate and measurable difference in their lives.

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