Tutoring English Second Language Students

vichy · Number of posts: 918 Location: Northwest US Registration date: 2008-07-26

I work with English second language students at my school, mostly Karen-Burmese students, in English grammar, speech and comprehension. Does anyone have any recommendations about working with ESL students, especially east-asian ones?

Stewart · Number of posts: 1186 Location: Boston, MA Registration date: 2008-04-03

Punch them whenever they get a word wrong. I hear that works wonders in the French Foreign Legion.

NonEntity · Number of posts: 2598 Registration date: 2007-11-08

And then turn up the voltage. The more missed words, the higher the voltage. For specific instructions on this method go to www.Milgram.com.

- NonE

jawol(48) · Number of posts: 93 Registration date: 2008-11-16

vichy wrote:

I work with English second language students at my school, mostly Karen-Burmese students, in English grammar, speech and comprehension. Does anyone have any recommendations about working with ESL students, especially east-asian ones?

Hi Vichy,
You haven't specified an age group that you are dealing with but if it is of any help and your students are new to the English Language I would start with the basics for speech. We use a method called 'Phonics' which is simply saying it how it sounds.
This method was used in the UK quite successfully for infants to learn from but was removed from practice a few years ago. I understand that modern methods have not reproduced such good results and teachers are resorting to the Phonics method again.
Just google the word, there are plenty of results.
Hope this is of some help or at least may point you in the right direction.
Regards,
Jawol(48)

nelle · Number of posts: 485 Registration date: 2009-02-09

Have you used the International Phonetic Alphabet? That is a great resource for international students.

vichy · Number of posts: 918 Location: Northwest US Registration date: 2008-07-26

I usually use phonetic emphasis when talking with them. I think this is especially essential with English (as opposed to German or Swedish) because the pronunciation in English makes literally no sense - there isn't much of a real relationship between our letters and their alleged phonetic companions.

Have you used the International Phonetic Alphabet?
No, I'll take a look at it.

I'm working with 20-something kids, two guys and a girl, both come from refugee camps in Thailand (originally Karen-Burmese and Burmese) within the last two years. Their reading comprehension is much better than their spoken English and sentence composition.

T.E.M. · Number of posts: 230 Location: 'ol Virginny Registration date: 2008-12-05

Check out Anthony Burgess' A Mouth Full of Air, and Language Made Plain. I've only read the latter, but the former is probably better as it includes most of the info from the latter and deals more with English I believe.

It goes into phonetics a lot, stuff like where exactly to place you tongue when making particular phonemes; I imagine that might be useful for kids with poor pronunciation.