Teaching ESL to Adults

ESL Students and Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

In addition to learning English, many of my ESL students are interested in learning about American culture. Well, today is one of those days that I (previously) wouldn't have thought about as "culture." But when you have nearly one out of three Americans watching the game, I guess you can't say this is not a part of our culture.

For some reason, native English speakers who otherwise don't care at all about football are suddenly transformed into hard-partying-fans on this special day. Is it really about the game? Or is it simply a day that brings us all together and gives us some sense of "oneness" and belonging? And how does it do that?

Whatever this day is to us as Americans, it is definitely a part of our culture. And as such, the customs around this day can be shared with our ESL students. It also serves as a starting point to ask our students about similar events in their home countries and we can encourage them to practice their English by telling us about such events.
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Mr., Ms., Miss, Mrs. for ESL Students

2009-01-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

The titles Mr., Ms., Miss, and Mrs. are often difficult for English language learners. And it's something so basic to native English speakers that ESL tutors and ESL teachers often take this for granted. Perhaps, I should speak for myself. I often take it for granted.

I usually notice that these titles are difficult for ESL students when they are reading aloud. This leads to an impromptu discussion about the pronunciation of each of these titles, as well as how to appropriately use them. (There's also an opportunity for a small reinforcement of the s/z distinction and voiced and unvoiced sounds.)

These titles can also lead to a mini-history lesson about the title "Ms." And even in how to address letters.

The two main points here are that for the ESL teacher or tutor, there are lots of ideas for lesson plans, and flexibility is important during a class.
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Gung Hay Fat Choy! 2009

2009-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! The celebrations never end! This year is The Year of the Ox. We're just leaving my year, The Year of the Rat.

As I mentioned last year (I don't expect you to remember!), Spring Festival is one of the more (if not the most) important traditional Chinese holidays. It's also celebrated by other East Asian cultures and countries.

Holidays celebrated by ESL students, and in their home countries, provide great ESL conversation topics. Anything about which ESL students have a lot of knowledge are great conversation topics. People like to talk about things they know about. And there's an added pleasure, sometimes, in teaching another.

The task of the ESL teacher or tutor in a conversation class is to encourage the English language learner to talk by asking questions and showing their interest in what the speaker has to say.
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Inauguration of Barack Obama

2009-01-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the U.S.A. today. For this ESL tutor, last night and this morning was like Christmas-time for a child. I could hardly sleep and then I woke up at 5 a.m. I was too excited to go back to sleep. This is a day I never thought I'd see. The challenges are great, but it feels like there is hope in the air.

I'll be meeting with an ESL student later today. Although we're supposed to focus on job interview preparation, it will be hard not to include some discussion of today's events. Of course, as a private ESL tutor, the student's requests and needs are primary, so we will be sure to continue with our planned class, for the most part.
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The Best MLK Day Ever, So Far

2009-01-19T17:38:00.001-08:00

As the author of this ESL blog, I really try to keep the topics somehow related to ESL, EFL, or English Language Learners and I especially try to be helpful to other ESL tutors and ESL teachers.

And yes, Martin Luther King Jr. Day could be used as a conversation topic for ESL classes. This could lead to other ESL conversation topics such as race relations, racism, dreams, homogeneous and heterogeneous nations, American history and culture, "mutts," etc. In short, this day can be the starting point for many conversation and speaking topics in the ESL class. It's up to the imagination of the teacher.

However, since this is my ESL blog, I want to take the liberty just to write my own thoughts about this time in my life and in American history. In short, I'm stoked. The inauguration of our country's first African American president is something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. And for it to follow the day that we celebrate the man who had "a dream" is awesome.

While my nation still suffers from inequality in many ways, we have achieved a part of Rev. King's dream. He said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

We are on the eve of the day when our future president was judged by the content of his character, rather than the color of his skin.

To repeat, I'm stoked!
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CELTA and TESOL Comments

2009-01-13T10:32:00.000-08:00

Over a year ago I wrote an article called CELTA or TESOL for Private Tutoring. To this day, I continue to get comments from readers criticizing CELTA teaching centers and CELTA in general. Some of the emails have been quite strong and people have taken a significant amount of time to write their lengthy comments.

This blog and my site, Teaching ESL to Adults, are primarily for the benefit of ESL/EFL teachers and tutors, so I suppose this information from people who have studied for CELTA certification is useful to pass on to others. And the decision between CELTA and TESOL certification is an important one for the potential new ESOL teacher.

While the comments submitted have been critical of CELTA courses, I'm certain that there are many, many people who have had good experiences with their CELTA training. However, it seems to be human nature (or at least MY nature) that we take less time to praise something and more time to criticize.

Noteworthy to me is that there have been no complaints submitted against any TESOL certificate training programs. I know for myself, my TESOL training was some of the best training I've ever had and it thoroughly prepared me to start teaching English to speakers of other languages.
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ESL Accent "Deduction"

2009-01-11T21:52:00.000-08:00

I recently received a response to one of my ads advertising my private ESL tutoring services. The potential student wanted help with "Accent Deduction." Of course, the proper term is "Accent REduction."

Not really much more to say about this...It's just one more of those things where word choice is important, but can sometimes be confusing for English language learners.
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Reader Asks How To Start Teaching ESL

2009-01-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

An email from Eileen in the U.S. asks:

"I am new to Chapel Hill, NC. I want to return to teaching ESL (I taught at Berlitz in the U.K. many moons ago) and need to know whether I need to be certified, where to start, etc. I would appreciate any advice on what to do first. Thanks!"

The requirements for teaching ESL will depend on many factors, such as where you want to teach, the type of institution, students, etc. Please read my page on How To Start Teaching ESL to get more information to start teaching ESL.
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"It Sure Has Been Cold Lately"

2009-01-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at one of the coffee shops I use as an "office," the owner/server started making small talk about the weather. (It was cool and drizzly.) As an ESL tutor, these seemingly inconsequential conversations are not wasted on me.

"Small talk" is one of the frequent areas of concern for many of my ESL students working as professionals in the U.S. Native English-speakers take this for granted. No big deal. But for English language learners, small talk can be a challenge.

Appropriate topics for small talk, how much small talk to make, when is it appropriate. All these are concerns for my ESL students.

So when the coffee shop owner from Morocco started talking about the weather, it did not go unnoticed by me!
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"Musical Offices" for ESL Tutors

2009-01-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

As a self-employed ESL tutor, I have several "small offices" all over my city. To some, they look like coffee shops. In fact, they are. I have different "offices" for each part of my self-employed life.

I meet my private ESL students at one particular coffee shop that is convenient to public transportation and local colleges (to make it easier for my students who are traveling or meeting me before or after classes).

The coffee shop doesn't mind me sitting and meeting with students for hours on end. They also have the right size tables and decent chairs. However, amazingly, they don't have internet access. I guess people would never leave if they had internet access.

I'm currently in another one of my "offices." In this office, I work on my website (Teaching ESL to Adults) and other projects requiring internet access.

It's tough being a self-employed ESL tutor. ;-)
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Happy New Year

2009-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

I wish all my ESL students past and present (and all blog readers) a happy, prosperous and safe 2009.

With so much violence going on in the world right now, it's hard to focus on the good things, on the hope so many of us have for this coming year, for the world, and for Americans, for our country. I don't have any suggestions for focusing on the good things. But I do know from past experience, that life goes on.

For ESL teachers and tutors, students will still come to us with a desire to learn and improve their English. We will still take time to prepare lesson plans. We'll still look for ways to help our ESL students learn. Private ESL tutors will continue to look for new students. Teachers in public and private schools will continue to be underpaid. Life goes on.

May we all experience hope this year, and love and prosperity and happiness.

ESL Tutoring and the Economy

2008-10-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

A large part of my ESL tutoring is devoted to job interview preparation, as well as resume and cover letter writing. My students who are studying for their MBAs have been notably more concerned over these past few weeks.

A regular topic of conversation these days (usually small talk) is the devaluation of the currency of my students' home countries.

Our economic downturn is definitely reaching far.

I don't see that private ESL tutoring is taking a hit, yet. Students still visit from other countries and still want to take advantage of learning English while they are here in the U.S.

We'll see how long ESL tutoring holds out as a recession-proof industry.
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Is 9/11 an Appropriate ESL Conversation Topic?

2008-09-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's hard for Americans not to recall the events of seven years ago. In so many ways, we are still recovering. But are the events and causes of this day appropriate for ESL class topics?

Last year, I made a comment to one of my ESL students from Europe. I said that the events of that day have not only changed life for Americans, but have also "impacted the whole world." As an educated American, I thought that was a valid comment.

My ESL student pointed out to me that that was indeed a very American perspective. Her opinion was that we Americans think that the whole world has changed due to the events of 9/11. However, it was her opinion that this was not so. That people in her country do not think about these events as particularly significant.

I won't go into the rest of the conversation we had. The question is whether this is an appropriate topic for conversation. I'd say it is. But we have to remember that in an ESL conversation class, the point is to get the English language learner to talk, whatever the opinion, whatever the perspective, whatever the topic.
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Advertising and Growing an ESL Tutoring Business

2008-08-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

As most of my readers already know, the only advertising I do to get new ESL students is on craigslist.org. I usually keep two slightly different ads running at all times.

However, I've noticed that the last ad I placed was on July 5th. I haven't had a single opening since then. And as a couple of my regular ESL students are leaving at the end of summer, I have former students either returning to the country and/or ready to start taking lessons again, so there's no need to advertise for new students.

The ESL tutoring business is similar to other business in that it grows over time and less work is needed to grow the business. My business has grown and only requires a minimum of time to maintain the number of students I want.

So if you are new in your tutoring business, know that it will likely grow and pay off. It just takes some diligence and patience.
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Raising ESL Tutoring Fees

2008-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

I recently raised my rates for private ESL tutoring sessions. I had put it off as long as possible, but with the cost of gasoline and the general cost of living increasing, I really didn't have another option.

Of course, I wondered how my higher rates would effect my ESL tutoring business and whether it would stop new students from contacting me. It didn't.

The students I had before my rate change are still paying the older rates. I didn't feel it necessary to increase these ESL tutoring fees.
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Emails to ESL Students

2008-08-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's a good idea to proofread any email before you send it out. However, I feel it's particularly important to proofread emails to ESL students. Additionally, it's important to choose appropriate words according to the level of the English language learner.

The reasons for very clear and correct emails to ESL students are twofold: (1) to avoid confusion (especially about ESL tutoring meeting times), and (2) so that the ESL student doesn't pick up any bad or wrong habits (and to avoid their confusion about how English should be written).

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The Olympics and ESL Students

2008-08-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are a great ESL conversation topic. I'm using it as a topic for all my private ESL students; and the topic is really a bit different depending upon the student.

General topics for ESL conversation include:

-the sports events at the Olympics

-the politics of the Olympics

-whether the Games have been held in your student's home country and what effect that had on the country

-medals won or not won by a country

-the Para-Olympics and disabilities in general

-country rivalries

-sports the ESL student likes to play

-physical education in schools

-the significance of 8/8/08

-etc.

As you can see, the Olympics are only a starting point for conversation and can lead to many topics. The great thing about the general topic is that it is something most students already know about and can therefore talk about without too much prompting (you usually don't have to pull teeth!).
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Ask a Native Speaker to Review Your Sign!

2008-07-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

I saw a sign over a pizza joint yesterday. It said, "Minute Pizzas and Great Salads." This will be a fun slogan to present to some of my ESL students.

Of course, the owner's intention was to imply that you could get your pizza there quickly. But as native-English-speakers know, this word has two different pronunciations. Depending on the pronunciation, "minute" can also be an adjective which means very, very small or unimportant or insignificant.

I don't think that was the intention of the pizza joint owner!
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Keeping Track of ESL Lessons

2008-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

When I first started privately tutoring ESL students, I didn't have a system in place for keeping track of my lessons and topics covered. This wasn't a big problem for the first few lessons and when I had very few students. However, as the number of students grew and time passed, I wasn't able to remember everything. Especially since some students study English with me for a long time. It hasn't been unusual for some learners to work with me for over a year.

At some point I realized that I needed to keep better track of what had been covered. I thought of a checklist of sorts, but that didn't work very well, as different students had very different needs.

I have always prepared a one-sheet lesson plan for every tutoring session. Even if it is just a conversation class. During class, I use this piece of paper to make notes to myself about what has been covered and what needs to be covered in the future. Having a lesson plan also shows the student that you are a professional and they seem to appreciate the time you take to prepare for class. I also have a folder for each student.

At a minimum, I've found that it's at least important to know how many lessons I've had with the student. So at the top of every lesson plan, I have the student's name, the lesson number and the date. For example:

John Smith
Lesson #6
July 19, 2008
You usually never know for sure how long you'll be working with a student, so keeping track of your lessons can be very useful. I think it's essential (for my own sanity, if nothing else!).
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ESL Geniuses

2008-07-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

So many of my ESL students over the years have been absolute geniuses. Of course, I didn't conduct any tests to verify this, but I think I'm right.

A lucky thing for me is that these English language learners have also been absolute joys to work with: very personable, considerate, kind, and open to learning.

Yet another one of the fringe benefits of being an ESL tutor.
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Sick Days for ESL Tutors

2008-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Another disadvantage of being self-employed is that there is no sick leave! I’ve been under the weather for a few days and have had to cancel two days of classes with my ESL students.

As a self-employed ESL tutor, I’ve had to find other ways to supplement my income. Hence, my blog and websites. (Remember the old joke: What’s the difference between a large pizza and an ESL teacher? A large pizza can feed a family of four!)

I’ve found it interesting to note all the home-based-business opportunities out there that tell you you can set your own hours, make the income you want, etc., etc., etc.

Well, I suppose that is true for some, but what I’ve found to be more true for myself and others is that as a self-employed person, I’m seldom really not working. With websites, there is always more to do. More emails to answer. More pages to write. More corrections to make. More research to do.

Although being a self-employed ESL tutor does have some downsides (e.g., no sick leave, no vacation leave), I still would never trade it for a “real” j-o-b.
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List of Irregular Verbs

2008-07-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've added an Irregular Verbs List to my main website.

This may be helpful for English language learners (and many native-English-speakers--including myself!) when using some verbs in the Simple Past and any of the Perfect tenses.

I'll try to turn it into a pdf so it's easier to print out just as soon as I remember how to do it!
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ESL Tutor Scheduling Challenges

2008-07-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Being a self-employed ESL tutor is very rewarding work. I've mentioned before how it enables me to "travel vicariously" and meet many incredible and interesting people from all over the world. It also helps me to continue to (partially) see my own country through non-American eyes. I really enjoy this part.

One of the more time-consuming and challenging parts of being self-employed, but still working with other people, is all the schedule juggling I have to do; and the time-consuming emails I have to write after I try to figure out everyone's schedule. Of course, if I did not have to depend upon my income from teaching ESL, I wouldn't spend so much time trying to juggle everyone's schedules.

Here's the text of an email I had to write today:

Hi ,

It looks like we might have a problem meeting twice a week. Currently, 11:30 is the only opening I have on Wednesdays. I've learned that all my Tuesdays appointments are booked, so no time there either. (Do you think there may be any possibility of rescheduling your EAC meetings? I know this is probably not likely.)

I can see you at 3pm on Thursday, the 17th. Please confirm if this time works, or if you need 3:30.

I have you confirmed for Thursdays (starting July 24th) at 1 p.m.

My schedule has just gotten crazy lately, so I'm sorry about my limited availability. I often have cancellations, so whenever I have one, I could let you know right away so you can decide if you would like to take the class."

This email was to a new ESL student. Usually, after we get started and establish a regular schedule, that schedule is good for a few months (until life circumstances change, such as a new semester begins, or a work schedule changes, etc.).

I should probably also point out that the above email was to a very advanced ESL student. For newer English Language Learners, my emails (especially around logistics) are a lot more succinct and direct.
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Question about ESL Advertising

2008-07-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

An Anonymous teacher from the U.S. writes:

"Hi! I was reading on your blog that you have an ebook about setting up an ESL business. I'd be very interested to take a look at it. I've had my own business in a specific niche market for a few years now (teaching English to Japanese speakers, mostly businessmen) but I'm looking to branch out and create a dispatch service for ESL teachers in my area (New York city). Could you give me some pointers on advertising the business and recruiting students?

Many thanks."

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for contacting me. I'm currently working on the e-book and am glad to let you know as soon as it is finished. I'll probably send a draft out to a few people for free if they are willing to give me comments and critique the book.

As for advertising, I only use craigslist.org. It should be useful in your area as well. You may also want to look at the "advertising/marketing" section listed under "Article Topics" on this blog.

Good luck!
Debra
www.esl-tutor.com
www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com

ESL Textbooks for Beginners

2008-07-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

An Anonymous teacher from Portugal writes:

Hi. I'd like to know what's the best coursebook for Portuguese students, who are learning English (100-150h) for the 1st time? Can you suggest the one you consider the most adequate and effective?

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for contacting me.

I have used a few series of books out there for classrooms, such as Focus on Grammar and New Interchange. They are both adequate. As for effective, I'd say they are as effective as any other books. It depends on how you use them and what supplemental material you use.

These are ESL textbooks for adults. You didn't mention if you're teaching children or adults. I don't have any recommendations for children.

If you're teaching one-to-one, then see my ESL Textbook Evaluation page for the books I use.

Good luck,
Debra
www.esl-tutor.com
www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com