Hello! This is my first post to this forum- I'm an ALT in Japan and I mostly teach in the classroom, however, one night a week I tutor a student at his home. He is going to America on a homestay in July and I wonder if anyone has any suggestions on what I should be teaching him and also, how do I keep his interest for two hours? He is in high school, and has studied english for five years, but his speaking and listening abilities are pretty minimal.
Thanks for reading!
one-on-one
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Hi crow,
I think that you just really need to focus on what he needs, which is lots of speaking and listening. If he's been studying English for a while his reading and grammar are probably OK.
So practise with lots of questions about him, his family, hobbies, sport, travel experiences, English learning, future plans and expectations, and repeat them on a regular basis wth lots of work on pronunciation. These questions are exactly what he's going to be asked by his host family, colleagues and teachers so he needs to be fully prepared to understand them and respond in a confident manner. Also, you can build up some good roleplay situations, maybe one each evening, e.g. In the bank, in the supermarket, asking directions, in MacDonalds etc, and illustrate the importance of polite language like 'May I', 'Could I' etc.
The emphasis needs to be on using and understanding complete expressions rather than analysis of grammar, and teach lots of useful American vocabulary. He needs to speak a lot in the lessons but so do you as well for his listening.
All the best.
Hanka
ps What's an ALT?
I think that you just really need to focus on what he needs, which is lots of speaking and listening. If he's been studying English for a while his reading and grammar are probably OK.
So practise with lots of questions about him, his family, hobbies, sport, travel experiences, English learning, future plans and expectations, and repeat them on a regular basis wth lots of work on pronunciation. These questions are exactly what he's going to be asked by his host family, colleagues and teachers so he needs to be fully prepared to understand them and respond in a confident manner. Also, you can build up some good roleplay situations, maybe one each evening, e.g. In the bank, in the supermarket, asking directions, in MacDonalds etc, and illustrate the importance of polite language like 'May I', 'Could I' etc.
The emphasis needs to be on using and understanding complete expressions rather than analysis of grammar, and teach lots of useful American vocabulary. He needs to speak a lot in the lessons but so do you as well for his listening.
All the best.
Hanka
ps What's an ALT?