It was no easy task
keeping two twin 8 year-old boys engaged and participating in an hour-long
tutoring session. They both attend
an American public school, so English is familiar to them. Therefore, my job as their English
tutor, for the first session, was to assess each boy’s strengths and weaknesses
in using the English language. (However,
at this point I am spending a bit of time simply trying to tell them apart.) I was able to determine what each child
needs to enhance their English skills and how to motivate each of them.
For
the first 15-20 minutes of our session, I facilitated an activity that had the
boys choose objects from a top hat.
Upon choosing an object, I prompted the boys to write a sentence about
the object and then underline the verb in the sentence. Next (10 minutes), we briefly discussed
the difference between nouns and verbs and then I had them each list five verbs
and five nouns using cues that they saw in the library environment. The learning style of each boy was
distinctly different.
Next, the assessment continued by asking them to use an
adjective to describe some of the objects pulled from the top hat. Following the adjective activity I
asked them about their knowledge of past, present, and future tense. One of the boys was showing signs of
mental fatigue. He was looking out
of the library window and frowning.
I asked if he was tired, and he replied, “yes”. After this interaction, I decided it
was time to shift gears. I asked if they wanted to learn new words.
One of the boys replied, “No.”
The
other, looking pensive and pondering my question, finally answered, “Maybe...it
depends.” After briefly discussing
what the boys enjoyed doing, we decided that playing games to learn was the
best way to keep them both engaged.
We played hangman for the next ten minutes, which proved a good
assessment tool. Lastly, we reviewed
the key points of our lesson for the last five minutes. Both boys remained engaged with the lesson.
Eight-year old twins? Sounds adorable. I really like how you made the learning activities fun for your two students. The top hat and hangman both sound like great ideas. I also liked how you made the lessons short so the students could stay focused. Maybe you could ask their parents if you could give them a small candy if they're feeling fatigued? That way they wouldn't be so drained at the end of the session.
ReplyDeleteChan, David and Matthew were born and raised in the U.S.A, and their spoken English is actually better than their Korean. However, since they are still bilingual kids (Their parents speak only Korean at home), their Korean influences their English grammar. I hear their grammar errors. Accordingly, you don't need to worry about their spoken English. Try to focus on their reading and writing skills; those skills are more appropriate to teach during group tutoring sessions anyways.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the advice, Ms. Kim. I appreciate any help that can be offered!
DeleteHi Chan
ReplyDeleteI think you came up with some creative ideas..... I was wondering what your thoughts are for further writing assignments when working with David and Matthew? I well remember when I was their age how I felt about writing (I think I probably expended more energy thinking about how much I hated it than it took to do the actual writing :( ). Was there anything in particular that you observed that could be used to stimulate their interest in putting their thoughts down on paper? Also, what do you think about their range of vocabulary? I think that is one of the things that I am going to try to focus on.