ESL Tutoring

So I’ve been doing a lot of ESL tutoring lately.  I should call the students ELL (English Language Learner) instead of ESL (English as a Second Language) or even EFL (English as a Foreign Language) since the kids I tutor know so little English.  I’ve been getting more ideas and figuring out techniques that will help, but I have a long way to go in figuring out how to teach each student what they need to learn, especially since I don’t have a program or guidelines, and the students are all at varying levels and ages.

Here’s a glimpse into my day as an ESL/ELL tutor.

The basics

8:45:  A ten-year-old Chinese boy (I'll call him Tiger) comes in for tutoring.  He is energetic, a boisterous kid who runs around doing karate chops.  He can speak some English, and understand more, but not enough to participate much in class.   So he uses his energy bothering other students—poking them, pushing their stuff, making heart shapes with his hands to tease them about being in love with someone.  It’s hard to engage him since he needs to be moving or playing games.  I’ve been playing a memory game with cards that have pictures of food and household items.  Today Tiger surprises me by acting interested in filling out his alphabet notebook with words for each letter.  We’ve gotten to E so far.  He even tells me some details about Chinese New Year in his broken English.  He says they ate octopus, got new clothes, and there are fireworks.  I’m glad he’s trying to talk.  I help him start a notebook entry about it.  

10:00:  Two students from 4^th grade—an 11-year-old Korean boy (I’ll call him Sparky) and a newly-arrived Chinese girl (I’ll call her Lotus).  The boy is energetic, talkative, but can’t always find the English words for things, and can’t do most of his schoolwork.  He’s always telling me about Korean customs (for example, he is considered 12 years old in Korean years, and he loves kimchi) and lately he’s been wild about magic tricks.  He loves to show me some coins -- “See Ms. Hillary, 2 coins this hand, 1 coin this hand,” he shuffles them around in his hands, hiding the extra one.  “Now 1 coin this hand, 2 coins this hand.”  Then he slaps them all together. “Fwwaaah!” he makes sound effects. “4 coins!”  

In fact, Sparky likes doing magic tricks more than concentrating on his spelling words, which is what he’s supposed to be learning.  But he’s not a bad magician…  Meanwhile, Lotus knows hardly any English, and is very quiet.  She is like a deer in headlights, and is probably missing her home.  But she is sweet and has an excellent memory.  Today Sparky brought in a little device like a mini laptop that can translate languages into English, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.  We had fun with that, but it’s hard to tell what they’re doing when he types something in, shows it to Lotus, and they giggle.  Hmm…

11:00: Tiger is back, and this time he actually cooperates in reading a Dr. Seuss book.  He seems to understand it to some degree, and we point at the pictures and laugh.  Finally we’re connecting…I’ve been praying, but should have more faith that I can get through to these kids.

12:30:  A Chinese girl from 3^rd grade (I’ll call her Butterfly), plus Lotus, come in.  The Butterfly is more advanced, but doesn’t know what most words mean.  She has some English assignments to complete, so I help her by drawing pictures and explaining what each word means so she can fit them into sentences.  She also translates them for the other girl.  They seem to get along nicely, and they actually exchange phone numbers during our session.

1:00:  Two Taiwanese kids from 1^st grade (I'll call them Squirrel and Chipmunk).  The girl, Squirrel, talks a lot and can read English, but still struggles knowing all the words.  The boy, Chipmunk, is much quieter and understands less.  We read a couple of storybooks together and then play Simon Says.  They love coming in.  The girl is trying to practice my name and uses it a lot.  

“What’s your name?  Ms. Hirraly?”  

“Ms. Hillary,” I remind her.  

“Ok, Ms. Hillary.  Ms. Hiarry.  Ms. Hirrary.  Ms. Hirraly.”  

“It’s Ms. Hillary.”  

“Ok, Ms. Hillary.  Bye, Ms. Hillary.  Ms. Hirrary.  Ms. Hillary.  Ms. Hirraly…”

2:30:  A 14-year-old Chinese girl from 7^th grade comes in (I’ll call her Apple).  She doesn’t do anything but math at the school, and sits all day writing Chinese in her notebook and being shuffled from class to class where she can’t participate.  I feel bad for her.  She seems to be getting better about communicating and learning English words, but doesn’t know nearly enough.  She is sweet and cooperative, and the best sessions are when we try to talk together.  What do you like?  Do you have a pet?  Did you visit China during Christmas break?  Do you have a boyfriend?  (That last one she asked me.)  It’s a struggle to communicate, but I really want to see her succeed.  It must be so dull to be in school all day and do next to nothing. 

So those are the kids I’m spending time with each day.  I’m getting to know them better and it’s fun to start seeing their personalities.  I hope to see them progress a little in their learning, but I guess the most important part in the end is that they know I care, their teachers care, and that they can learn and succeed if they do their best and keep moving forward.  I’m praying God will help me reach them even in small ways.