Job Discussion Forums

[Lynn]

I've been teaching for about 6 years, and today I came across a first: a very advanced German student. He's a getting his PhD in Biology here in the states. He has hired me as his tutor because he wants to improve his English. The problem is, his English is already very good.

I've been doing private lessons a lot lately, and through trial and error, I've come up with a pretty good method for private lessons. However, this student is just too advanced.

Any ideas for what to do in this situation? I asked if he wanted to do literature or read non-fiction(newspapers, magazine articles) but he said he really wanted to improve his conversation skills and vocab.

By the way, his conversation skills are excellent. I don't even feel like I'm talking to an ESL student; he's near native.

Any ideas helpful. I think I might have to go with mag articles after all. I just don't know how to really make a good lesson out of that.

I feel like I'm robbing him.

[Glenski]

Can you talk science with him? Have him make a presentation, and you correct it. Style and/or grammar. Maybe he could "dumb down" a heavily technical talk for a layman.

His grammar is nearly perfect? How about his debating skills? His analysis skills? Bring in an article (scientific or otherwise) and pick apart its weaknesses or strengths. Debate something controversial and see if he can do it diplomatically so as not to offend the other party.

[guest of Japan]

Glenski's ideas are quite good. You ought to find out a little more specific info about his interests, and in what situations he feels timid or confident about his English skills.

[mjed9]

Regarding vocab, is it a specific lexicon he is looking for or more advanced everyday words.

With my higher level adults, article analysis always worked!

You may even try high level colloquial language or English idioms and sayings.

[shmooj]

How are his phrasal verbs and collocations. Doesn't he have issues with some prepositions? What about the article system? Is he really that good with the, a, an, zero article etc? Third conditionals?

How about pragmatics? Can he apologise, make offers, requests, complain, etc in both written and spoken English? What about written English? He can probably write a research paper but can he write a postcard from a vacation? Can he write a quick note to someone? What are his telephoning skills like? How does he display body language?

Can he defend and justify his opinions on the ball while speaking? How does he bear up under repeated questioning? Can he cope with getting flamed on this forum?

These are just some of the things that came to mind when I read of your unenviable task

[Lynn]

Okay I got some great responses, let me try to response to some:

[Lynn]

[nomadder]

You gotta love those perfectionist Germans.

What about doing like the natives? What would a native speaker be studying say in University? Like above maybe analyzing things, opinions, discuss world events, philosophy etc.

Hey I've heard of native speakers even learning a thing or two from these types of students.

[Glenski]

[shmooj]

I like the idea of Far Side cartoons. Humour (esp for Germans ) can be really tough to grasp and yes, Glenski's right, there are plenty with a scientific bent.

A couple of things I have tried with advanced students but which require cooperation from an outsider or more time yourself. Firstly get someone in to chat with them - the stranger the better. Get someone with a really broad accent or even someone who is a little bit on the slow side - someone who will make communication a little unusual for the student. Just ask them both to find out about each other for twenty mins or so. GIve them coffee and then sit back and watch the show - taking notes of course for further feedback to the student when your volunteer has left.

Another thing is my encouragement to give things time. I've had one or two students who, at the outset, seem to have nothing wrong with their English. Then suddenly we come across a black hole in an area of vocabulary where they were left speechless (describing crime and illness/injuries often require specialised vocabulary for example). I'd pounce on my pencil and get some notes and come up with a class or two focussing on this area. In time, and with a lot of reflection on your part (tape record a class or two and listen to it a couple of times), I'm sure there are weaknesses in his English that you can work on.

If none of the above suggestions by me or anyone else are going to work then either tell him he's finished English and would he like to start studying Chinese instead or continue to rob him blind - your choice

[FGT]

Pronunciation (in its broadest sense) might be an area to focus on. Many (fluent) German speakers of English inadvertantly sound very didactic to our (native speaker's) ears. Intonation, tone etc may be worth looking at.
This goes hand in hand with body language, humour and idiom. It's what makes the difference between a foreigner speaking excellent English and someone being mistaken for a native speaker.
Good luck!

[guest of Japan]

I did private lessons with a brilliant opthalmologist for two years. He taught himself English as a child by reading comic books voraciously. He seldom made mistakes and if he did, he was unlikely to make the same mistake again. I used to used newspaper or magazine articles of varying topics as gateways into the lessons. I would create about 10 thought provoking questions as the basic structure for the class.

We would usually start class in a free conversation mode, then move into explanation of difficult vocabulary or expressions and then go over my questions. One problem with my student is that he would answer a question so perfectly and succinctly that it was difficult to make the discussion tangent. His main weakness was that he was not very skillful at asking questions to help the conversation along (he wasn't in Japanese either).

For the first 6 months my brain would hurt from a one hour class with him. It was very difficult to constantly think of new angles to expand upon. As time went on however, he started to share his personal experiences more and he became much better attuned to the dynamics of conversation.

He really enjoyed my class and I think the main reason was that I was very interested in hearing him talk. He taught me how to do various eye surgeries, diagnosed me to have food poisoning, helped me with computer struggles and taught me the history and metaphysical theory behind martial arts and a lot more.

I wasn't a great teacher for him in the usual way. But I believe that I was successful nonetheless. When I quit my job, he quit the school.

[jud]

You could check out the speaking, listening, and reading material for the Cambridge Proficiency Exam. Even my highest-level students find the material challenging. Even I find it challenging.

[Lynn]

Just a little update.

So, for the second lesson we went with an article about the new gay marriage law in Massachusetts. I know he enjoyed the lesson, but as the teacher, I was pretty disappointed. I had underlined the words I knew I couldn't explain and made a printout with the definition. For example: sanctity; judiciary, statute... I had also underlined 'scrutiny', but I had forgotten to look it up. I felt like such a fool when I couldn't explain it. He didn't seem to mind and just looked it up in his German dictionary.

When reading the article the word,"scrutiny" didn't interfere with my comprehension of the article, but when it came to giving a definition of the word alone, I was speechless. This was almost a week ago, and I still shudder when I realize how unknowlegable I really am.

Teaching this student has been a real wake up call for me. I realize I need to start reading more. I've neglected my own language. I'm so good at taking ideas and putting them into very simple English so that my low level students can understand, that I can no longer speak at a high level in English. I'm just so ashamed.

[guest of Japan]

I know that feeling. That's one or the reasons I post on this forum. If I didn't post so often here, I'm sure my English skill would be abysmal by now.

As for missing one word, I don't think you should kick yourself too hard for it. It happens. Just keep a dictionary handy just in case. You might want to practice making sheepish grins.