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[Volver]

I have a tutoring gig with a 9 year old who spends 1/2 year in China and the other half in Texas. Her English level is very high and her parents do not want her to lose it. They pulled her out of the local EF franchise because all she was getting was "drill and kill 'em" exercises. I and another teacher will alternate teaching her 2 or 3 times a week. I am also supposed to work with her on science just so that she doesn't fall too far behind her TX classmates. The parents got a science text that seems to be appropriate.

The problem I am having is what English materials to choose. She really isn't an ESL student and the point of the tutoring is to simply maintain her current English level. We read the first few pages of "Charlotte's Web" and she did OK. She also liked the book so that is a good sign. I contacted her English teacher in TX, but she didn't give me a lot of specific help. She did say that I should buy and use an age/level appropriate dictionary. I am near BJ, so I can shop at the Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore.

Any curriculum ideas? Teaching method ideas would also be most welcome as I usually work with high school and older learners.

Thanks.

V

[LarssonCrew]

If her English is good I'd be looking to print off some questions for you guys to discuss.

First 10 minutes of the class can be daily activities. What did she eat, how is school, what does she want to eat, will she see her relatives etc.

Maybe you can then bring in open ended questions to try and push her English and remember that if she is attending a school in China her creativity is getting put down. I'd be tempted to try other things that let her create, let her draw and present. For instance, if she likes fashion let her design a few dresses and explain, or she can invent a new disney princess, or a new drink, and then explain to you.

But open ended questions are important and you should be hitting alot of 'why is that?'. If she's not ESL then push her to explain everything. Also remember to let her remember that often in English we have 5-6 words for each Chinese equivalent.

[nomad soul]

A lot of US k-12 teachers have teaching websites for sharing lesson ideas, worksheets, and activities. WebQuests are another possibility for building her learning confidence and critical thinking skills. Assuming your learner is at the 4th grade level, do an Internet search on 4th grade lesson plan ideas. You'll find plenty of links.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

My take and my experience: Go a little above her perceived level of verbal ability.

Reading assignments are always good. She read "Charlotte's Web"? Good Choice. Next stop: Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince".

I'd include a heavy dose of Latin and Greek prefixes. It's never too early. The student can create her own flash cards. As the student's pile of flash cards grows, she will develop a real sense of accomplishment. Teaching prefixes to anyone of any native language (including English) will increase word comprehension. I have used the flash card method on most levels in both the U.S. (E1 and E2) and in China to great success.

Another exercise is to use analogies. This assists in critical thinking. One excellent source is any prep book for the Miller Analogies Test. It'll usually have 100-200 tests in it. (Yes this is college level, but you may be surprised how well your young learner will develop the ability to make the judgments required to successfully make an analogy. You may have to gear some tests to the student's vocabulary level).

Vocabulary: When used in conjunction with prefixes and suffixes, this can be a very effective combination.

Spelling. See above.

Vocabulary: Skip the IPA for demonstrating pronunciation. Very little of it is used in American schools. Your student has already had a good dose of it. However, if your student prefers that method of denoting pronunciation, good luck. Use it. The internet is full of level-appropriate word lists.

I'd also throw in idioms. I've found that exposing students to idioms ranked by topic ( food, relationships, movement, etc.) is appealing to both native speakers and E-2s. The student may already be familiar with many. That's okay. Have her use them in sentences.

The parts of speech. She must know these and be able to distinguish them.

Writing:She may be too young for this, but the good old five paragraph essay model still works. If she isn't ready for the essay or the paragraph, then teach the different sentence structures. If you are familiar with diagramming, see if she enjoys that. I've found that younger students take to it faster and more willingly than do older students. You can teach the various sentence structures when you teach the parts of speech.

Verb tense and mood (mode): unfortunately, the best way to learn the tenses is by rote memorization rather than reasoning.

American History. Teach this using a time line so that the student develops a linear visual concept of when things happened. At nine years, you need only touch upon the big events of the U.S.'s 200+ year history.

This is a heavy load, I know, but it's always better to have more ideas than you need. The degree of difficulty and complexity which you apply is solely up to you.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

One more thing: you might want to get a copy of Texas' Core Curriculum so that you cover all bases.

[Volver]

Very good ideas and thanks for the input.

V