International Tutoring Association

Hi, everyone -- this next ESL idea also doubles as an answer to a question that Micki got just last week! So Ella P. from St. Paul, MN, this ESL tip is especially for you, and for all of the other ESL tutors out there who work with children.

A great idea to pass a little time in class, implement some new ESL learning techniques, and add a quick vocabulary building exercise to your session is just a pencil away!

Vocabulary Doodling This is an easy, inexpensive, fun thing to do if you have 10 minutes or so left in a class or tutoring session. Best of all, you only need some paper and a pencil to do it.

To start, decide what you will be drawing. I like to ask my tutees for ideas, and pick one that they can all agree on for the game. Let's take "Home" as an example.

You may start by drawing a basic house (a square with a roof), then you'll hand the paper to the first tutee.  Say a part of the house, "window" for example, and have that tutee draw a window. He or she passes it to the next tutee, and you may say "door," "flower garden," or "dog sitting outside."

The idea is to have your tutees turn vocabulary into images on a page. It is a cooperative, entertaining game that gets tutees working together and having fun while they learn. And good news, if you only have one tutee, this is still a fun way to pass the time at the end of an ESL tutoring session.  Just list off some features of the home, and let your tutee's imagination go wild!

After getting back from an especially fun ESL tutoring session today, I realized that I haven't yet mentioned something that is fun, inexpensive, easy to do, and (oddly) lacking in most ESL learning environments -- casual conversation.

Sometimes, no matter how hard we ESL tutors try, we can't help but overlook conversation. Funny enough, for the sake of "getting to the material," and teaching English, chatting gets put to the side.

The thing is, conversation not only livens up ESL tutoring, but it is an important part of learning a language. Learning how to converse, and make lighthearted topics come to life, is a crucial part of communicating.

When I traveled overseas last year, for example, I would have given anything to go back in time and learn how to hold a bit more of a conversation in the native language of my vacation spot.

Conversation also puts a human spin on ESL learning, and makes it much more applicable and enjoyable!

So, the next time you are tutoring ESL, try one of these conversation starters, and get everyone chatting in a friendly, relaxed environment:

1. What is the funniest thing you have seen this week? 2. What is the most interesting thing you have ever done? 3. What is your favorite movie? 4. Who is your favorite actor/actress? 5. What is your favorite hobby? 6. What is your dream job? 7. If you could travel to any country in the world, where would you go? 8. If you had a time machine, what part of history would you want to see most? As your ESL tutees advance in the language, you can start bringing in more advanced topics, or providing newspaper articles to talk about during tutoring.

Hello, everyone! Today I'd like to get back to basics. It is on my mind lately since I have just started working with a new group of tutees who are starting from the very beginning. One of their favorite games to play as a warm up is the alphabet game.

This is a fun English learning game either as a group ESL or one-on-one with a student. It is also easy and inexpensive -- two great things for a learning game!

So how to play? Start by going around the room, each person yelling out the next letter in the alphabet. I start with A, the tutee to my left yells out B, to her left the student yells out C, and so on until all the letters have been said aloud. Yes, I know this sounds simple, but when you have tutees who are starting from square one, this game is a fun way to reinforce foundational learning.  I remember learning a foreign language, and it was really helpful to repeat the alphabet daily.

The next step is the fun part --  start playing the game. Remember those long car trips with the "I'm going sailing, and I am taking..." game? Where each person in the car yells out a different item, and each item is consecutively represented in the alphabet, A-Z.

Example: You say: "I'm taking an apple." The next person says: "I'm taking an apple and a banana." The next person: "I'm taking an apple, banana, and chocolate."

This is is similar to that game. You start with "A," and give a word that starts with that letter.  The next person then does the same for "B," the next person does "C," and so on until you all reach "Z."  No need to remember the other people's words in the early learning stages, as that would make the game a bit too difficult.

Question: I am wondering if there are any cheap and easy science projects or learning tool type things that I can do with my tutee. He is just a kid, and is not getting into science at all. Any way to make it fun enough for him to learn something? Thanks! Signed, a science tutor emailing in from Madison, WI Answer: Hi, science tutor, thanks for the question! Science can be a great subject for kids, because there are so many fun ideas for learning. You didn't mention exactly how old your tutee is, so I'll toss out a lot of ideas for you here, and you can pick the ones that seem the best for him. 1. Static Electricity There are a lot of cool experiments you can do with static electricity. Rubbing two inflated balloons against fabric, and then watching them push away from one another is a classic. You can also rub a spoon against wool, put the spoon near running tap water, and watch the stream of water bend. Then there is always the simple but fun shuffling your feet on carpet, holding a key in your hand, and zapping a metal object. If the light is dim enough, you can even see a little arc of electricity form between the key and the metal object.

2. Nature If he is studying environmental science, biology, or natural world science, a quick field trip to his own backyard or a nearby park (with parental permission, of course) can be a great learning tool.  Find an interesting bug to talk about, collect some plant materials for paper rubbings (or to research online), talk about how tree bark is formed, talk about the things that live in a creek, or study bird behavior. Pretty much any type of environmental or biological science comes to life when you take the learning outdoors. You could even take the books outside so that he is surrounded by the nature he is studying. You can also encourage your tutee to grow a plant from a seedling so that he can watch it grow -- a perfect opportunity to talk about photosynthesis, chlorophyll, and other plant related science.

3. Fossils, Geology, or Dinosaurs Another fun category for learning! A trip to a natural history museum is always great, but there are other ways to learn here, too. When I was a kid, we used to go down to a local creek looking for flat rocks. On some of these rocks were fossils. It was always so exciting to be holding a link to the past in my own hands! You can also collect a few different types of rocks to talk about once the two of you meet up for tutoring. Even a subject that some consider boring is more exciting when you can hold the science in your own hands.  There are also some wonderful, interactive sites such as the Smithsonian's Virtual Dig.

4. Space This is another category that is tailor made for fun tutoring sessions. A trip to an observatory, a visit to NASA's website, a tutoring session at night with a telescope, watching a documentary about a shuttle launch, building your own solar system model, or checking out star charts can all help your tutee learn more about space.