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.
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.
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!
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. ;-)
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.
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.
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.
