Tips for Tutoring in Conversational English as a Second Language Comfortably

Coaching a person from another country how to speak English more fluently can be incredibly useful, and I'd like to give some suggestions, from experience, to such teachers to make this kind of job go well. Here's let's look at some details you may not have thought of about how to be comfortable, and make your student comfortable, as these are obviously intertwined. From putting up your post, to the first meeting, to your own English usage while tutoring, there are many things to consider when teaching conversational English as a second language to make the experience go smoothly for you both.

When first putting up your advertising post online, in a paper, or on a flyer, remember the people reading it may not know English well at all, so use common words, short sentences, no slang phrases or ironies, and provide both phone and email if possible as ways to get in touch with you. Having a resume, or a link to a tutoring site is useful, but it's best not to get too complicated at first so as not to overwhelm the prospective student. If this is on a flyer, be sure to have your information on tabs, as expecting readers to remember the details, amidst all the unfamiliarity, would be asking too much. Include a photo, and if you are a warm, understanding, empathetic, patient person, who can provide an enjoyable time, pick an image that shows that, as that can be key in a student knowing if he feels comfortable learning with you. If you're smiling, that helps a lot, and remember to really be that person you are advertising in your lessons. The tiniest sense a student may have of you being critical or condescending or expecting too much of him can have a huge effect.

Let your student know you aren't interested in romance, assuming you aren't, so there is no question that would affect your personal lives. Studying English together regularly is a close relationship over a long period, often many hours a week, sharing many things about your lives, and the more friendly you are the better. So be sure the boundaries are established clearly at first, so the student doesn't get distracted by wondering if something else can happen, and can let that go and focus on learning. That can help any significant others you may have relax as well.

Be aware of what cultural cues are meaningful in establishing relationship. For example, in crowded Asian cultures, people may stand or walk very close to each other without it being meant as a "come on." So if that happens, you may not need to be concerned as much as if someone from a less crowded country does that, if I may make an over-generality.

When first meeting the student, it's best to wait to make notes about what he is saying incorrectly during the first few minutes of the conversation. Just let the conversation flow smoothly, establish a bonding, an understanding on a personal level, beginning trust, without being distracting by taking notes and making the student feel judged, and uncertain.

Soon, you can start making notes as he talks, remembering to keep paying attention and responding appropriately to what he is saying. It's useful not to interrupt each time he says something incorrectly. Sometimes you can, but if you interrupt the flow of conversation too regularly, thought will get choppy, and the student may get confused. Once you have written down a series of incorrect sentences, then you can find a good stopping point in the conversation and go over them with the student, seeing if you can find a pattern of incorrect usage.

Go back to what you studied previously with a student, but don't use the word "test" as that can set off nervousness and keep a student from thinking clearly.

Try not to use harsh words like "wrong" too often, and when you do point out mistakes, often using humor softens it. Maybe commenting on how strange English is, how hard it must be to learn considering the weird aspects of it, will help the student know you understand what it must be like. Saying something to show you don't feel you are superior just because you know English, is helpful.

You may not notice you have a "lazy tongue" until you start tutoring. If you say "water" like "wadder," or say "lader," instead of "later," for example, you will notice, once your student doesn't know what you're saying, or starts trying to mimic you, or asks why it's d instead of t.

Remember, you don't have a spellchecker when you're in conversation with a student, so if you start to write down a sentence, and realize you aren't sure of the spelling of something, you can't just approximate it as you might on a computer and expect the red squiggles to come to your rescue. If you're very used to that, and make some spelling errors generally, think ahead before making a sentence as an example to a student, to be sure you know how to spell all the words. Especially in the early stages, if a student wonders if you are qualified because your spelling isn't perfect, there may be some hesitation in trusting you. It's normal and understandable not to know spelling perfectly, but your student may not be ready to judge how much of an allowance to make for that.

Make sure you know the parts of speech and the rules of how to use prepositions, etc. before you offer your services. If you're explaining something, you need to know why something is the case, if there is a rule, considering how bizarre much of English grammar is, without any explanation possible so much of the time. You don't want to be caught off-guard, looking foolish, not knowing something, and you also don't want to feel embarrassed by being recorded.

If the student is recording your lesson, be sure you've gotten used to being recorded and aren't going to be surprised by being on tape. It can seem totally innocuous, but then when the tape recorder is in front of your face, you may start bumbling, and that means your first words will sound silly, and then you know they're being recorded coming out wrong, and that makes it worse. Practice being recorded in similar situations first.

Think of what situations may make a student uncomfortable in real life when called upon to use English quickly, like answering a phone, ordering in a restaurant, giving directions, paying a taxi, being asked what time it is, asking to go to the bathroom. Drill these phrases often, suddenly, when he isn't expecting it, once you teach him how to say them, so he is prepared for real life. Practice having him give actual directions to you to get places; have him order coffee if you are out at a coffee house; teach him how we tend to say it's two o'clock, but not two thirty o'clock, for example, and to say "excuse me," before asking the time. Help him learn ways to help people he is talking with also feel comfortable. He won't want to be impolite to people.

While these may all have associations for your student with seriousness, nervousness, and mundane business, balance such topics out with more interesting, unique conversations about things that interest you, your lives, things you do for entertainment, for example. These make for more lively conversations, and help the brain let the other information lock into place through some relaxation time.

The environment itself can make a difference to learning. If it's overly crowded, with a lot of stimulation and noise and people listening in, it may be distracting in the long run, though for short periods, it can be useful in real life training, and for providing topics of conversation based on what's around you. If a student feels people around are judging him, he may panic and not learn as well.

Some chaos is useful as a test for how a student will really think on his feet, but drilling first should take place with some sense of stability in the setting mood, and belief in the tutor's abilities. A combination of relaxation and the stimulation of real life is ideal in the course of lessons, for teaching the art of real life conversation.