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Q: Advice wanted for teaching English privately
I am not a qualified teacher but started to help a post university student with their spoken English. I have now been asked to privately help two school children improve their English which I am willing to do. One is a boy of thirteen and the other a girl of twelve. The boy knows a little and is willing to learn, the girl only knows the text passages from school books but with no real understanding of what it means. For example the text says "Sally rode a red bike" but if you ask her what colour is Sally's bike is she cannot answer. It is really like trying to teach English right from stage one. I guess this is what is meant by learning by rote.
I have found a few websites which give free teaching materials, such as the BBC, but I have not found one with teaching aids that start from square one. Does anyone know of a good source for such materials, free would be prefereable as I don't want to pay out yet if the students might pack up in a month or two. I guess I need materials for children starting from the age of two or three.
Do any of you teachers out there know of any suitable materials or have any other advice to offer.
14 years 4 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Try this website: http://www.genkienglish.net/start.htm
The creator of the site is popular in Japan where he built his brand. You can get free material from there such as games, lessons and get a couple of good ideas.
i started this with a class last year. they loved it and they learned real english. (this only applies if you are teaching conversational english) show them tv episodes (seinfeld friends etc) play it through once then go back through and play/ pause to break down the language. i was surprised how much language i was able to teach them from 1 22 min episode. and it is real everyday english.
tomcatflyer:
Great idea Crimo, once I have her up to a basic standard I will do this, although to start with I will try it with kids programs, many thanks.
I use the Genki English songs from time to time. They are effective
The British Council have some great stuff on their website, also look at eslprintables and the ubiquitous Dave's cafe.
Kids tend to respond really well to games. The simplest textbook lesson can be spruced up by challenging your students to find a certain word before you, or race you at something.
My private student loves the simplest game, where we have a bunch of words, pictures etc in front of us and we toss a coin. If I win, then I ask her a question using the the week's language and she has to answer. If she wins, she gets to ask the question (and she thinks she's getting out of the hard work, it never occurs to her that she's still speaking English when she asks the question!)
The only thing I would add to the above, is if the students are REAL beginners, then flashcards are about as basic as you can get. A picture you look at it show it, say it in English, they understand. Turn it into memory games helps too.
