LONG POST- Tutoring Mandarin Exchange Student - Suggestions
Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 6:35 pm
Hi,
Forgive the length of this post, and the typing errors, as I'm writing from a tablet. I have ESOL certification, but it being one of those "quicky" courses, it does not cover this.
I'm part of a tutoring service, and a man reached out to me to tutor his exchange student who has been placed in a catholic school -about two months ago - for the remainder of the school term. The young man is eighteen and in the 11th grade. He's extremely pleasant, and polite. I'm told he's doing well in math and the sciences, but failing contemporary lit and history of religion- badly. He's reading and listening on tape, studying from the time he gets home till bed, yet, out of 40 questions, he'll get five right.
The teachers don't seem to understand the wide chasm between American and Asian grammar/linguistics, and frankly, don't appear to care, or else they would have reached out a but more and a lot sooner. For instance, last year, they taught the students about the MLA and essay-writing. I assume each student in this class now owns their own MLA. My student has knowledge of the book, but doesn't own one, and apparently hasn''t been told to get one! Yet, his first paper - littered with errors - received a bad grade, and no adults were notified until,....
The next paper assignment, where this student was brought under the threat of being expelled due to plagiarism.That's right, this student wrote a paper that was measured against some software that determined he copied more than responded to a book he read.
He didn't get into trouble - they recognized he didn't understand the book, the assignment, what was expected, etc., - but the incident is noted in his file. This bothers me, since it seems the school is responsible to make sure the child is capable of the work, or they take the child with the understanding that they will make all tools are available to help him understand. I mean, this is a private catholic school-what are they being paid for??
So, now this is where I'm contacted.
I go and visit the student, and he's hardly able to string a sentence together, which tells me he is not being asked questions unless absolutely necessary. I determined he is operating on a 6th grade level, but am not sure if this due to the language barrier or if he has other issues with comprehension that have not been disclosed. After talking and assessing him, I decide his situation calls for a pre-academic esl" approach. This kid needs to pass these two courses, and then make sure he knows what to work on if he intends to continue going to school here. The need is immediate, and there is little time for anything else.
Fortunately, I was able to find one of his assigned books in ESL format, and I found on the web summaries, questions, and other helps - no cliffs' notes - that level the playing field, but I'm still not sure he is grasping content.
Your input is greatly needed. I'm only seeing him 2 hours a week, but I feel like I should see him almost daily to get him through this.
What should I be providing him? I can help him write a paper, but what he needs is to improve his reading, writing and listening comprehension or else anything I do is immediate and short-lived.
I'll know for sure next week, as I told him to email me with questions ( When we met he was on the sixth chapter of a book that I now have him reading from the first chapter again, using the helps I gave him), and to expect me to write him asking questions on what he's read.
I also have him writing down unfamiliar words and looking them up, something that would be horrible to do in the book given to him by the school, but it should be easier now. This kid doesn't have a real dictionary, relying on the computer. Well, right now, we're working from a place where pencils, paper, dictionary ( I directed him to the Longman dictionary) are his major tools.
If anyone has ideas/opinions on this, please share. Should we be meeting more? Am I right to do the "pre-academic esl" track with him? How much of his intelligence/ignorance should I assume here, and how do I respond or work with it for the benefit of his getting through the school year?
Finally - how common is it to send an Asian student with practically NO literacy skills or comprehension, as an exchange student? What kind of standards are being met to make this possible, where the child doesn't even know to own a dictionary?
Forgive the length of this post, and the typing errors, as I'm writing from a tablet. I have ESOL certification, but it being one of those "quicky" courses, it does not cover this.
I'm part of a tutoring service, and a man reached out to me to tutor his exchange student who has been placed in a catholic school -about two months ago - for the remainder of the school term. The young man is eighteen and in the 11th grade. He's extremely pleasant, and polite. I'm told he's doing well in math and the sciences, but failing contemporary lit and history of religion- badly. He's reading and listening on tape, studying from the time he gets home till bed, yet, out of 40 questions, he'll get five right.
The teachers don't seem to understand the wide chasm between American and Asian grammar/linguistics, and frankly, don't appear to care, or else they would have reached out a but more and a lot sooner. For instance, last year, they taught the students about the MLA and essay-writing. I assume each student in this class now owns their own MLA. My student has knowledge of the book, but doesn't own one, and apparently hasn''t been told to get one! Yet, his first paper - littered with errors - received a bad grade, and no adults were notified until,....
The next paper assignment, where this student was brought under the threat of being expelled due to plagiarism.That's right, this student wrote a paper that was measured against some software that determined he copied more than responded to a book he read.
He didn't get into trouble - they recognized he didn't understand the book, the assignment, what was expected, etc., - but the incident is noted in his file. This bothers me, since it seems the school is responsible to make sure the child is capable of the work, or they take the child with the understanding that they will make all tools are available to help him understand. I mean, this is a private catholic school-what are they being paid for??
So, now this is where I'm contacted.
I go and visit the student, and he's hardly able to string a sentence together, which tells me he is not being asked questions unless absolutely necessary. I determined he is operating on a 6th grade level, but am not sure if this due to the language barrier or if he has other issues with comprehension that have not been disclosed. After talking and assessing him, I decide his situation calls for a pre-academic esl" approach. This kid needs to pass these two courses, and then make sure he knows what to work on if he intends to continue going to school here. The need is immediate, and there is little time for anything else.
Fortunately, I was able to find one of his assigned books in ESL format, and I found on the web summaries, questions, and other helps - no cliffs' notes - that level the playing field, but I'm still not sure he is grasping content.
Your input is greatly needed. I'm only seeing him 2 hours a week, but I feel like I should see him almost daily to get him through this.
What should I be providing him? I can help him write a paper, but what he needs is to improve his reading, writing and listening comprehension or else anything I do is immediate and short-lived.
I'll know for sure next week, as I told him to email me with questions ( When we met he was on the sixth chapter of a book that I now have him reading from the first chapter again, using the helps I gave him), and to expect me to write him asking questions on what he's read.
I also have him writing down unfamiliar words and looking them up, something that would be horrible to do in the book given to him by the school, but it should be easier now. This kid doesn't have a real dictionary, relying on the computer. Well, right now, we're working from a place where pencils, paper, dictionary ( I directed him to the Longman dictionary) are his major tools.
If anyone has ideas/opinions on this, please share. Should we be meeting more? Am I right to do the "pre-academic esl" track with him? How much of his intelligence/ignorance should I assume here, and how do I respond or work with it for the benefit of his getting through the school year?
Finally - how common is it to send an Asian student with practically NO literacy skills or comprehension, as an exchange student? What kind of standards are being met to make this possible, where the child doesn't even know to own a dictionary?