Private Lessons

[pleshie]

I'm desperately looking for some advice on what to do with an 8 year old student whom I'm giving private lessons 3 times a week. He's a real beginner with limited vocabulary. Today was my first lesson with him and while he knows some basic vocabulary (days, months, colors, a couple of animals) that's about where it ends.

It's hard to gauge because while he reads well, he isn't yet a totally fluent reader in his first language (French)...yet he isn't a baby, either. Plus he is in an intensive ESL class during the school day, so I would like our time together to feel less like school and more like fun.

I searched all through these threads and I saw some great stuff--but it seems to be for groups or more advanced students.

Anybody out there work in this capacity? Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Suzanne

[bigjohnox]

How about taking him out to different areas around his house and asking him to describe what he sees/knows. Take a notebook and a pencil and perhaps you might get an idea where he needs more guidance. Worked in China for me. Cheers

[mscuevas]

With an 8 year old, I think it's important to keep in mind his developmental needs. I don't know how long your tutoring sessions are (an hour?) but I would suggest that you plan your activites together in 15-20 minute chunks.

Also, in order to differentiate tutoring time from school time, you could build your lessons around acitivites and subjects that have specific interest to him. For example, if he likes insects, bring in some picture books or magazines with insects and look through them together, which gives you an opportunity to teach basic Q&A phrases like "What is this? This is a ___" "What are these? These are ___" "___ have eight legs." etc.

Good Luck!

[patsensei]

I'm desperately looking for some advice on what to do with an 8 year old student whom I'm giving private lessons 3 times a week. He's a real beginner with limited vocabulary. Today was my first lesson with him and while he knows some basic vocabulary (days, months, colors, a couple of animals) that's about where it ends.

It's hard to gauge because while he reads well, he isn't yet a totally fluent reader in his first language (French)...yet he isn't a baby, either. Plus he is in an intensive ESL class during the school day, so I would like our time together to feel less like school and more like fun.

I searched all through these threads and I saw some great stuff--but it seems to be for groups or more advanced students.

Anybody out there work in this capacity? Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Suzanne

Hi I come across this in Japan all the time.
I find this a real challenge but I find the best thing to do is to try and establish a routine of the basics he is in need of and mix that with what he is interested in. Start slow maybe stuff he already knows so he can gain in confidence.
So find out what he's interested in and mix that into your lesson plan. Try and keep it in that format till he gets used to it and then change it around a bit. Sounds like he needs to practice making sentences. Try the old battleship routine but instead of letters and numbers change it to yes and no questions.
Best of luck!

www.teachjapanforum.com

[xuefei]

I taught an 8 years girl a year ago. She was very clever but really very naughty. She would do something else once in a while. I tried to be strict with her but it was of little use. Later I consulted this with my teacher who was an expert in teaching children. I used her way to vary my teaching method and it turned out to be successful. For example, after she answered my question, without saying “right”or“wrong” I would say “green light” if it was correct and say“red light” if it was wrong. This is only an example, you can have a try and think out your own creative ways.