Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Tammy here, continuing where we left off - talking about activities and ideas for tutoring children in ESL.  Today, I’d like to talk about another fun activity for children’s ESL learning.

It is something you probably loved as a kid, and it is a perfect activity for summertime when children are often out of school for the season.  So what am I talking about? The field trip, of course!

Field trips are fun opportunities to get out of the home or classroom, and have fun learning in the real world.  The best part with ESL field trips for kids is that they can be virtually anywhere that will hold the interest of your tutee(s).  A zoo, aquarium, wild animal park, observatory, natural history museum, children’s museum, national park - all great places for a fun learning adventure.

Make sure to get the parents and guardians involved, too, as it is a good idea to have them there with you. 

Here’s a quick example of what I did for my last ESL field trip.

A little background: Each of my tutees is 9-10 years old, they all love animals, and they are all at the very beginning stages of learning English.  Also, I typically group tutor these 3 tutees, so they all knew each other prior to the field trip. 

After taking an informal vote at the end of our tutoring session, it was decided that we head out for a fun-filled day at the zoo.  I contacted the parents of my 3 tutees, and we all arranged a time and date for the field trip.  Each parent drove his or her tutee to the meeting spot. 

We wound up having myself, 3 tutees, and 4 parents.  It worked perfectly, there was plenty of supervision, each child had a parent or guardian present, and the children had a wonderful time.

So what makes this an ESL field trip?

First of all, planning.  Prior to meeting at the zoo, I made sure to print activity sheets for my tutees.  They each included different animals and information that my tutees needed to find throughout the day.  Sort of like a treasure hunt or scavenger hunt for information.  This would allow my tutees to observe, read, comprehend, and write about various points of interest during our day at the zoo. 

I also asked my tutees to bring their dictionaries so that we could look up unfamiliar words together as we toured the zoo.  The activity sheets was a huge hit, and towards the end of the visit my tutees were actually more excited about filling in missing information on their sheets than the were about seeing the animals!

The second opportunity for ESL learning came at lunchtime.  We all sat down at a big table, and talked as we ate lunch.  The tutees, parents, and I talked about everything we had seen so far. We discussed favorite animals, new sights, and anything else the kids wanted to mention.  This relaxed conversational atmosphere was also a hit, and my tutees were even more talkative than they were during tutoring. 

It was also an excellent opportunity to get to know the parents of my tutees.  As the children marveled at the animals, we adults had a chance to talk about a lot of things.  We discussed the children’s learning progress, ESL, the importance of practicing English at home, and the excitement of learning a new language.  I feel much better connected now to my tutees’ parents, and I feel like this will be a big help with learning support when the kids are at home after tutoring. 

Overall, it was a very fun day filled with opportunities to question, observe, learn, and teach.  I would definitely recommend this if you have young ESL tutees,

Tutoring kids in ESL can be incredibly fun, richly rewarding, and very educational all at the same time.  The trick to this is to make sure that the ESL tutoring sessions are fun, entertaining, upbeat, and full of attention grabbing methods.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be spending some time talking about the unique challenges and ideas for children’s ESL tutoring.  Today, I’d like to talk about the benefit of cartoons.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. Cartoons, Tammy? I thought this was supposed to be an ESL post.  How is television remotely related to learning English in a tutoring setting?

Think about it for a minute. When you were a kid, you probably watched cartoons yourself. Some of us still watch them as adults! What are some things you think about when you think of cartoons?  Or what are some things you remember about them if you no longer watch them?

They are often lively, entertaining, fun, full of easy to follow plot lines, and fairly uncomplicated language.  Perfect for capturing a child’s attention, and helping him or her learn some new vocabulary words. 

Also, listening to the cartoon is a fun way for a child to learn language comprehension.  As the cartoon plays, your tutee will undoubtedly be interested, and want to know what is being said.  The desire to understand more will help encourage further learning.  

There is also the simple fact that exposure to a language, particularly through entertainment channels such as music or television, is a fun way to get some language immersion in everyday life. 

The next time you are ending one of your ESL tutoring sessions for the day, give this a try:

Assign homework - ask your young ESL tutee to watch a cartoon.  Also, ask him or her tell you all about it during the next tutoring session.  Encourage your tutee to watch the program with a dictionary nearby.  Have him or her take down a few notes, if possible, during the cartoon.  All of this will get your tutee focused on learning English while he or she enjoys some fun television programming. 

I guarantee that the child’s face will light up (who wouldn’t love that assignment?), and he or she will learn a lot in the process!

Hi, all, Tammy here with another quick tip for successful ESL tutoring and teaching. 

While talking with my ESL tutees the other day, I realized that I haven’t yet mentioned something extremely helpful (and extremely inexpensive) for ESL students and ESL tutoring.  

Customized, personalized dictionaries made out of small notebooks.

The great thing about these is, for a few dollars, you can provide all of your ESL tutees with their own notebooks to get them started.  Just make sure they are small notebooks so that they can be easily carried around with each student.

Then, ask your students to carry the notebooks, and have them write down unfamiliar words as they hear them.  Next to the unfamiliar word in English, have your students write down the definition of the word in their native language. 

You can also check the notebook dictionaries from time to time to correct any misspellings or incorrect word meanings. 

This can also be done for words that your ESL tutees may know, but need some practice with, or for words that your students repeatedly forget. 

I can say that I have personally done this while learning a foreign language, and it works wonders for my memorization and listening skills.

The best part about these is that they are completely customizable - personalized for each student’s vocabulary needs and “trouble words.”  Plus, the dictionaries make great learning tools, because they are frequently carried, and can be used as soon as a student hears an unfamiliar word.  Instant ESL gratification, if you will!

Before your next ESL tutoring session, head out to the local office supply store, and pick your students up their own notebooks for personalized dictionaries.  They will thank you for it, and you will notice a big improvement in their vocabulary. 

Today I want to talk a little bit about pairing up during ESL tutoring.  Why? Honestly, because it is still fresh in my mind - I just got back from a great group tutoring session in which I used pairing.  I also want to talk about it, because I think that it is a fantastic way to get more conversation time into your ESL tutoring sessions. 

Pairing students in groups of 2 or 3 when tutoring an ESL group is a phenomenal way to create a fun, casual atmosphere in which everyone can talk openly about whatever interests them.  It “loosens up” the atmosphere, and gets the room lively with chatter. 

Then, after breaking into small groups for about 5 minutes, everyone gathers back together in the center of the room, and we all talk about the various smaller conversations we just had.  By this point, all of my tutees are smiling, and talking happily about their discussions.  It is great to see my tutees having a great time while they learn!

When I am tutoring one-to-one with an ESL tutee, the pairing is simply done with my tutee and me.  We take about 5 minutes at the beginning or end of the session to talk casually about something.  I’ll ask how my student’s week was, what she did on the weekend, or what she will be doing in the following week.  It is a quick and easy way to reinforce conversation skills, listening abilities, and comprehension.  It is also fun, which can make or break a good ESL tutoring session.

Try adding the “pairing up” technique to a few of your ESL tutoring sessions, and see how they work for you and your tutees!

I know what you’re thinking. “Show and Tell” is for kids.  Well, I’m here to tell you that it can also be a lot of fun, and a great learning experience, for adults! 

My small ESL tutoring group is a great example of how well “Show and Tell” can work for tutoring.  In fact, each of my students has told me how much they look forward to our Friday sessions.  Why? Sure it could be that it is almost the weekend, but more likely it is because I have instituted a lighthearted component to the end of our Friday lesson together.

During the last 20 minutes or so of our Friday class, I have each of my ESL students talk a little bit about something important to them.  This could be a beloved hobby, a favorite book, an exciting trip from the following week, a conversation with a friend, something about work, a piece of jewelry, or even a sentimental childhood story.  If the “Show and Tell” item is playable or similarly demonstrated, I definitely encourage some performance after the initial discussion.

For one “Show and Tell,” one of my students actually brought in his cello, and another student brought in her saxophone.  Needless to say, we had an impromptu jam session right there in class! It was a lot of fun, and it prompted a lot of questions and answers. 

The idea is to set a relaxed tone, and establish an enthusiastic environment in which your ESL tutees can practice their new English skills.  Make it fun, casual, and allow each student plenty of time to fully express ideas.  In short, get everyone talking, and have fun with it!

This is a fantastic way to practice conversation skills, improve vocabulary, increase spoken comprehension, and get to know a little bit about each other during tutoring.