Conversational english dilemma (ESL teachers, help!!)
By aixshaonline
@aixshaonline (600)
Philippines
October 1, 2009 5:38am CST
I am starting my first job as an english tutor tomorrow, at 2pm in the afternoon. I was merely handed two books to browse through, from which I'll be basing my lesson for tomorrow.
The thing is, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO START. The books merely contain stories and sets of questions. I don't know how to pull this off! Or I'm just too stressed out due to too much thinking. I was hoping I'd start next week as I was only interviewed yesterday, but they told me I'd be starting with the trial classes tomorrow.
Any ESL tutors/ teachers out there? Help me please!
Thank you!
1 person likes this
3 responses
@jb78000 (15139)
•
1 Oct 09
ooh, remember this feeling. start off by talking a bit about yourself - there's different ways to do this - then plenty of activities where the students are doing most of the talking - this will relax you a bit and is good anyway. i can be a lot more specific but i'd need to know what country you're in, how old the students are, what you are expected to teach them and quite a lot more. if you tell me a bit about the books and what's in them i might have some suggestions.
good luck
2 people like this
@aixshaonline (600)
• Philippines
1 Oct 09
I'm from the Philippines, and I'll be handling Korean students. I saw students ranging from teenagers to adults (around 18-25). The books only contain stories from which I'll be basing the lessons on, along with questions to ask the students :)
The first story in the 1st book is all about a dog falling in love with another dog in another island :) The first story in the 2nd book is based on medical mistake by a doctor. It has matching drawings too :)
Thanks! :)
@jb78000 (15139)
•
1 Oct 09
ok, well i haven't taught that many korean students although i have noticed they tend to be very quiet. so the first one is about love and loving someone from overseas? i think the best think to do (if the students are quiet) is to take things quite slowly at first. lets see - you could prepare by copying the start of the story onto a few cards. then once you've introduced yourself divide the class into groups of about four and give one card to each group and ask them to discuss how the story might continue.
you go round the groups encouraging a bit but not correcting - take notes though of any repeated mistakes to come back to later. the pressure of speaking in front of everybody is taken off you and the students.
really depends how shy they are but you could finish this by asking groups to report back on how they thought the story ended. then the original story is read aloud by everybody taking turns to read a few lines (here you could correct pronunciation). then do the questions etc.
hope this helps.
@aixshaonline (600)
• Philippines
1 Oct 09
Wheee! Thank you very much! I do appreciate your help :) I'll be handling 3 students starting tomorrow, for 2 weeks (trial classes). At the end of 2 weeks, that's the time they'll be assigning me if I can conduct regular classes.
@QueenDeborah (5)
• United States
1 Oct 09
I was wondering do the student have any base knowledge of English? If they did, I certainly would of course start with the basic introduction type of exercise. If all the students are starting with he same 1st language, you could try--say it in first language then translate to the english language. If there is no base knowlegde of english--unfortunately you might have to start out like you would for children with flash cards and charts representing the letters, basic pictures, and phrases.
1 person likes this
@jb78000 (15139)
•
1 Oct 09
sorry, but that is not how children learn to speak - it's how they are taught to read. generally i find there are more effective ways to teach absolute beginners, although these can certainly play a part. i'm assuming that the OPs students have some knowledge of english given the material she has. [patronising teacher trainer now runs off before she gives real offence).
@aixshaonline (600)
• Philippines
1 Oct 09
I heard that there are children who will be arriving around December, and hopefully if they're placed under my tutelage, I can use this :) Thanks!
