After a long absence I am back to the blog. In fact, I am piecing together a series of articles for the new esl teacher or tutor. I plan to offer practical advice and information for the rookie tutor or teacher to handle their new esl students individually or in a classroom setting. There is more to teaching than putting together a lesson plan, as you may have or most likely will soon find out. Anytime you are mixing more than one culture together and trying to communicate, there will be complications. These do not have to be negative complications, but a new tutor or teacher would be wise to be aware of them and have a plan to overcome them.

General themes of the articles that you can expect to see here in the coming days and weeks will be “What they didn’t tell you when you signed on”, “Classroom management”, “How to teach”, “Happiness is when we all get along”, and Resources and Checklists.

Hopefully you will tune in to see what I am sharing and please feel free to add your own experiences and advice in the comments.

Talk to you soon!

Technorati Tags: classroom management, esl teaching, esl tutoring, teaching resources

By now you may have taken a peek at the You Tube videos and other brief questions and answers that have been posted on this blog, and many of them deal with the topic of teaching and managing children. (If you haven’t looked at some of the other posted materials, I highly encourage you to do so.) A lot of esl tutoring is about teaching children, so it is very important that you prepare yourself for doing this.

Many times people who try their hand at ESL tutoring prefer to work with adults. Especially for the many that have no children of their own yet, the fear of working with energetic and easily distracted students keeps them from realizing the incredible rewards that teaching children can offer.

Once again, ESL guru George Stocker, in his article “Teaching ESL to Children” offers some great tips for that very subject.

When working with children, it may seem that they have no attention span at all. It is important to be patient, playful, and remember that children are NOT simply short adults. Stocker recommends to:

1. Involve children in hands-on activities. From my own personal experience working with children, I agree that the best learning takes place by getting the student up and out of their chair—singing songs and playing games.
2. It is also important to avoid talking for long periods of time. This is a sure way to put the kids to sleep. When sleeping, they do not learn.
3. Keep the children talking to you and others, working in groups is a good idea. If you are in a private ESL tutoring situation, you can still make this work by actively engaging the student in conversation.
4. Review. Do this in many ways and forms. Quizzes, games, and other activities can make review seem like fun.
5. Make sure that the student feels safe to make a mistake without judgment. This is especially true with cultures that do not allow a student to make a mistake without feeling shame.

If you are a new ESL tutor or one with experience, it is still a good idea to review these tips and analyze your own tutoring techniques to see if anything needs to be adjusted.

Working with children who speak your language is already exhausting, so it is even more of a mental and physical drain to take on ESL tutoring jobs with children. In my own personal experience, however, I have found that ESL tutoring and teaching with children has made me feel rewarded and loved, and made the whole career worthwhile. No one can show enthusiasm and love for your efforts like a child, and you are certain to see amazing progress along the way.

You can read more of Stocker’s article at http://EzineArticles.com/?Teaching-ESL-to-children&id=99735 and get more ideas from his website www.esl-storybooks.com .

Technorati Tags: esl teaching, esl tutor, esl tutoring