Tutoring English Students on Speaking Skills? Set Clear Expectations!
Why setting clear expectations as an English tutor is important “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” ―Tony Robbins (1960- ), American motivational speaker Are you tutoring English students on speaking skills? How do you effectively teach speaking skills to a English language learner as a private tutor? What will you actually do for 60-120 minutes together?...
Read MoreJourneys in Film promotes use of movies, documentaries to teach
How films can explore and examine cultures in classrooms Source: PBS.org “Film has the power to educate the most visually literate generation in history.” ―Liam Neeson (1952- ) Irish actorNeeson speaks specifically about Journeys in Film, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 from the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, and its mission to educate at the middle and high school level...
Read MoreVolume Matters – Even in Personal Conversations
Why volume matters, especially in difficult student-teacher conferences “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” ―Rollo May (1909-1994) American author and psychologist Student conferences, especially those involving shy students worried about their grade or academic performance, can often be a bit awkward for both the professor and student. ESL...
Read MoreLearning by Doing and Making “Good Mistakes” in English classes
Why English learners must practice and make “good mistakes” in order to grow “A man’s mistakes are his portals of discovery.” ―James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish novelist and poet How can English language teachers create a rigorous, tolerant and focused classroom atmosphere? One effective technique is encouraging English students, especially ESL students, to “learn by doing” and to “make...
Read MoreProceed with Caution: Gender-Neutral and Plural Pronouns
How to approach pronouns in English class “The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it.” ―Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) American journalist How unfortunate it is that English has no gender-neutral pronoun, one to use when saying “he or she” is either too tedious or ambiguous. John McWhorter of the New Republic argues in this article that in fact...
Read MoreHomophones Can Confuse: A Minor Mistake in Miner Valley
Why it is so important for English learners to tackle homophones in the classroom “For me the greatest beauty always lies in the greatest clarity.” ―Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), German writer English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!) for many reasons. For instance, the gap between a word’s spelling and its pronunciation often presents a...
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