Tutor-Private Teaching and Learning

Many linguists both in Great Britain and the USA have been creating hundreds of textbooks designed to teach students spoken English. And what about written English? Are there any differences between written and spoken languages as types of communicative activities? How should a teacher start working at teaching his students written English? It`s not easy to answer all these questions, because teaching writing has been rather neglected for a number of years.

What does learning to write involve? Only recently teachers have faced that many students want and need to learn how to write English as well as to speak it. As a result linguistically oriented textbooks designed to teach written English appeared. It`s obvious that grammar, reading and oral production are to some degree involved in writing. We cannot teach a writing course that doesn`t touch on other activities. Learning to write involves more than learning to use orthographic symbols. This process involves selecting and organizing experience according to a certain purpose. It`s obvious that teaching students to write requires active thinking. In the process of writing a student is to keep in mind the purpose of writing, he must think about the facts that are relevant to the purpose and about their selection. He also must think how to organize all those facts in order to achieve his purpose and succeed in writing.

The main problem in teaching writing. Writing is an active process. One of the first things the students should learn is that writing has certain structural differences from speech. First of all the students shouldn`t forget that writing usually has longer sentences in comparison with the oral speech. What may be two or three sentences in speech is often one sentence in writing. So, the students should learn how to combine short sentences of spoken English by modification or by using some sentence connectors such as however, therefore and others. Another big problem in teaching writing is that students must express their facts and ideas in the form of grammatical English sentences. When the student starts doing it, he thinks of these facts and ideas in his native language and then tries to translate them into English, making a plenty of mistakes. A teacher can help his student avoid such a problem, requiring to use facts and ideas that the student gained while reading the text in English. In such a situation the student can concentrate on the purposeful selection and organization of the sentences. He will concentrate on thinking and he is likely to succeed.

It`s hard to give the exact definition of humor. Let`s try. According to the psychologists, humor denotes a mental disposition towards pleasantry, often realized in the enjoyment of anecdotes, jokes, puns repartee riddles, wisecracks and witticisms.

The role of humor in breaking the class routine. Humor can do miracles. Humor is one of the effective means of enhancing students` motivation to study English. It promotes students` interaction, eases the constant tension in the class and encourages students to take part in various activities. If a teacher can encourage students to be humorous, they usually produce answers that are more interesting and productive. As a teaching strategy humor can provide substantial benefits of understanding, increased attention and interest. Humor creates a positive classroom environment, reduces anxiety, manages undesirable behavior and builds self-confidence. It`s important that humor can allow the shy or timid students to relax and to take part in group discussions. Humor can also reduce the authoritarian position of the teacher, allowing him to be a facilitator of learning process. Humor is an effective way to help students remember key concepts and structures.

The danger of over-using. The teacher is to remember that his class is made of individuals with different tastes, that`s why the teacher shouldn`t be discouraged if his jokes don`t meet the expectations. It`s good to let humor arise naturally but not force it. Like any teaching strategy, the use of humor can become meaningless if over-used. A careful balance is necessary. The overuse of humor in teaching can lead to some unintended consequences. A teacher should be extremely careful about telling jokes. Not every teacher is a good joke-teller, so it is important for a teacher to be prepared for such an activity. The most amusing and entertaining jokes lose their significance if they are told at an inconvenient time and place. Humor can be one of the hardest aspects of a foreign language for students to understand but at the same time it is also one of the most rewarding.

The meaning of words can be taught in many different ways. Some of them are especially effective, the other are not. It depends on the level of learning and the personality of a teacher.

The main ways of teaching the meaning of words. A good teacher usually is a good actor. So, a teacher can demonstrate the meaning of words using objects, cut-out figures, using gestures or even performing different actions himself. Most people remember that when they were at school the lessons of foreign language were the most vivid and exciting. It is because foreign language teachers use pictures, photographs, blackboard drawings more often than their colleagues teaching other subjects. All these bright pictures help teachers in the process of introducing new words and explaining of unknown words.

Translation as a way of teaching meaning. Some people often criticize translation into the mother tongue as a way of communicating or teaching meaning. They have got the reasons to think so. Their objections are the following: there is no exact correspondence between one language to another; translation into mother tongue is indirect; the use of the mother tongue takes time which could better be spent in using English. All these criticisms are true, but they can also be applied to the use of pictures, demonstration, the use of real objects. A picture doesn`t always have the same meaning for a group of students as it is for a teacher. The use of a picture to convey meaning can also be indirect, because it requires additional decoding and explanation. In spite of all the criticisms translation into the mother tongue has some features that can be used by a teacher to the learner`s advantage. First of all, translation can be done quickly. The speed of translation is an advantage when the teacher wants to pass quickly over an unimportant word in a text. It`s important that translation is not limited like pictures and objects to nouns, adjectives and verbs. It can be used to explain many different types of words. This method gives an opportunity to the teacher for asking learners to respond by using translation. So, the teacher can see if the students have understood something he presented in another way. So, it`s obvious that translation into the mother tongue is the only way in which the students can respond quickly and easily to show they have understood something. We can see that the exclusion of the mother tongue from the classroom robs the teacher of useful technique of encoding.

Vocabulary has always been considered a matter of utmost significance in the classroom. Recently, methodologists and linguists have been turning their attention to vocabulary, stressing its importance in language teaching and reassessing some of the ways in which it is taught and learn.

How can the student improve his vocabulary? For most of us the great source of new words is the printed page. Anyone who wants to increase his vocabulary should do a good deal of reading. At the colleges and universities teachers usually require to read more critically and more extensively, but if students want to increase their vocabulary they should supplement required reading by a program of voluntary reading. This is the sort of reading that follows students` personal interests and needs. This reading should be regarded as pleasure not a chore. Only this sort of reading can develop a liking for the process on the whole. A student who likes to read will find a lot of things especially valuable and interesting for him. If a student can learn through reading, he will discover the techniques of increasing vocabulary. Usually he doesn`t even recognize that they are techniques.

The main techniques for recognizing the meaning of new words. Practice shows that the best way to improve your recognition vocabulary is to watch context. This method can be used in understanding spoken communication as you cannot stop a speaker to look up an unknown word in the dictionary. If a student acquires skill and confidence in interpreting words from the context, he will learn to spot the ways in which a speaker or a writer explains the meanings of unusual words and makes them clear. When a student looks up a word in a dictionary he should try to find out as much as possible about it. The more you find about new words from your dictionary, the better you will remember them. The method of recognition by word analysis is also helpful. You are to look up an etymology of a word and it will lead to word analysis. Lots of Latin and Greek words were borrowed and assimilated by English. So, the knowledge of the most common Latin and Greek prefixes and roots helps us recognize the meanings of many words.

The communicative approach to language learning is based on group activities. Everyone knows that communication is possible between two or more persons. In the process of communication there must be a person speaking and another listening. In recent years foreign language teachers succeeded in organizing cooperative learning.

What is cooperative learning? There is no doubt that the communicative approach usually takes a lot of time to develop but it can pay big rewards in increased student learning over time. In cooperative learning group work is the most important. As a result students get an opportunity to work with their English speaking peers where the language is directly related to real life and real situations. If a word is not understood, the student can ask his English speaking peer for clarification. If there are mistakes in speaking, the student doesn`t feel embarrassment he may feel when speaking before the whole class. Cooperative learning also allows for social as well as academic development. In this manner students can support each other`s learning in socially appropriate ways. By using group work all class members become language tutors for each other. The atmosphere at such lessons becomes friendly and more congenial than in teacher-centered classrooms. It`s very important for a teacher to remember that the cooperative learning concept is not simply choosing a group to complete some activity during one lesson. The class is to be divided into groups at the beginning of the school year and these group members are to work together during the entire year. The students may work on some one-time daily class activity or on a long-term project that takes weeks to complete. In doing this, students learn about cooperation and group dynamics.

How to make cooperative learning more efficient? Before implementing permanent groups teachers should do some preparatory work. They should learn more about their students. Teachers should not only know the language and academic proficiency of their students, they are to know a lot about their students` personalities. Only after doing all this, the teacher will be able to determine how the groups are to be arranged. It`s very important that the concept of cooperative learning will need to be introduced gradually. The teacher`s task is to work with his students to help them develop a sense of cooperation. Group work may start with pairs, later the group can be increased to 3 or 4 and 5. In such small groups every student talks more and as a result more ideas are generated. By good group selection the teacher will find that all of the groups of students work with minimal help and make progress in speaking English. All these good results are worth the effort necessary to build the successful group.

According to the recent research modern methods of language teaching require a more sympathetic relation between student and teacher. As for the language classroom, there is no doubt that it differs fundamentally in character from the Biology or Maths classroom. These differences influence the relations between students and teachers.

The need of individualization becomes urgent in our society. Nowadays there is the danger that the individual may become lost in the crowd. This danger has led in turn to the questioning of the very basis of authority by students and in some cases by authority itself. Schools and universities constantly need to examine and analyze the relationships that exist between teachers and students. Practice shows that in today`s climate of opinion it`s impossible to continue operating on an authoritarian basis.

What do we mean by discipline? In order to make progress in learning English or any other foreign language the atmosphere in class is to be open and friendly. It sounds very good but the question arises: how to keep order in class under these circumstances? It is obvious that a qualified foreign language teacher will never base his relations with students upon ”Do as I say and argue afterwards“ approach. Good teachers are making much effort to understand the pressure under which children are operating or failing to operate. They base their relations with students on mutual trust and understanding. The teacher should keep in mind that his desire to help, to guide and advise is not always accepted by today`s child. The teacher has to prove himself through a period of apprenticeship, during which time he will be assessed by the students themselves. If during this time he reveals a genuine he will be accepted in both a tutorial and a counseling role.

Every teacher is sure that by no means, every student learns what is appropriate. Learning is an activity. Every activity is the response of an individual to a specific real situation. Activities are produced by specific motivation and organized in specific conditions. Accordingly, in order that learning to emerge, there must be stimuli in the learning situation that motivate the students to mastering of special forms of knowledge and skills.

What is motivation? Motivation is considered to be one of the basic psychological categories. It doesn`t exist in a vacuum. It is connected to various human needs, ranging from physical ones to needs for self-actualization. According to scientific research, there are two types of motivation: external and internal. External motivations include all the stimuli that push towards an objective from the outside. Knowledge and skills in such cases serve only as a means to achieve other fundamental objectives. In such a situation learning is viewed by students with indifference and dislike. Internal motivations are quite different. They are optimal from the pedagogical point of view. Internal motivations include specific motivations that attract towards the objective. In such a situation learning doesn`t contain any internal conflicts and psychological tensions and neurotic collisions don`t occur. The teacher`s task is to create the situations of this type.

What can influence motivation? A teacher should be aware that there are several factors which influence the internal motivation as well as the teaching-learning process in general. Among them are physical conditions, teaching methods, the personality of the teacher. Physical conditions may change a student`s motivation either positively or negatively. If the students find the method they are taught by boring, they will become de-motivated. The students` attitude to the method depends on the teacher`s personality. Two teachers using the same method can have different result. Didactic, academic, speech, communicative abilities as well as abilities for organization, distribution attention among the students are demanded from a good teacher. But even all these cannot guarantee students` motivation. Every teacher should keep in mind that not only complete failure but complete success can be de-motivating for a student.

The audio-lingual method is considered to be one of the most popular oral methods in foreign language teaching. Every teacher will agree with it. But what is special about it?

The advantages of the audio-lingual method. The basic principles of the audio-lingual method contribute to its popularity a lot. It`s important that students don`t use their native language in the process of learning and a foreign language is learned through imitation and an analogy. The audio-lingual method gives a teacher an opportunity to use such sort of exercises as substitution and transformation because foreign language patterns should be practiced through intensive drills. Listening and speaking habits should precede reading and writing habits and it`s quite natural to start teaching a foreign language with audio-lingual method, that is the most useful for the early stages of learning. But is this method as suitable at the intermediate and advanced levels as it is at the elementary level of learning.

Language learning is a natural creative process rather than habit formation. Many teachers using the audio-lingual method had long wished for some improvement or modification of the accepted methodology. Although they found the memorization and pattern-practice exercises useful for the early stages, they felt a need to build a bridge from those highly structured activities to the freer, more creative use of the language at the intermediate and advanced levels. Creative teachers argue that the audio-lingual method and its components don`t provide a satisfactory solution to this important problem. Good foreign language teachers early saw that a potential drawback of the audio-lingual method was its tendency to be dull and uninspiring for both students and teachers. Resourceful teachers try to make the drills more interesting by varying their form, by providing a meaningful context, by using visual aids and they often succeed admittably by such means. Nowadays a good foreign language teacher should provide guided practice in thinking in the language rather than more repetition drill. Such mental involvement tends to make language learning more enjoyable for study, which must itself be a positive factor contributing to improved attitudes and better results.

It`s a tradition to consider all or almost all children to be happy. But it`s about time somebody exploded that old myth about childhood being the happiest period of your life.

Why is it hard to be a child? Childhood may certainly be fairly happy, but its greatest moments cannot be compared with the sheer joy of being an adult. Who ever asked a seven-year-old or a ten-year-old for an opinion? Children usually don`t have opinions and if they do, nobody notices or wants to notice. Adults choose the clothes their children will wear, the books they will read, the school they will go to and the friends they will play with. Mothers and fathers are kind but absolute dictators. The world the children live in is an adult world. The children may be deeply loved but have to be manipulated so as not to interfere with the lives of their parents. So the difference between manhood and childhood is the same as difference between independence and subjection. In spite of the nostalgic remarks you may hear, which adult would honestly change places with a child? Do you remember your years at school? Think of your constant fear of examinations and reports. Every moment of your life was observed by some critical adult.

Adolescence is the most painful time. No matter how kind and loving adults may be, children often suffer from terrible illogical fears. Even these are only part of a child`s troubles. The most painful part of childhood is the period when a child begins to emerge from it: adolescence. Teenagers may rebel violently against parental authority, but this causes them great unhappiness. There is complete lack of self-confidence during this time. Adolescents are overconscious of their appearance and the impression they make on others. They feel shy, awkward and clumsy. What a relief it is to grow up. Suddenly you regain your balance: the world opens before you. You are free to choose. You have your own opinion, your own place to live in and your own money to spend. You don`t have to seek constant approval for everything you do. You are no longer teased, punished by heartless adults: you are one yourself.

“Enjoy them now, they will soon be teenagers!” Parents often can hear warnings like this from friends and relatives. Media images of teenagers as secretive and moody troublemakers can lead parents to expect trouble as their children develop. But are these really fair descriptions of the typical teenager? Not necessarily.
Who are modern teenagers? The research shows that family life doesn`t have to be a battleground during the teenage years. Many parents never face serious conflicts with their adolescent children and live peacefully and harmoniously with their teens by keeping communication open and making some adjustments in the way they think and act to compromise. Teens have a natural need to establish their own identity. They progress from childhood dependency to adult independence, from control of parents to self control. For parents this usually means dealing with some tension in the home as teens ask themselves “Who am I?”, “How will I get along with others?” Teens often look for the answers to these questions by challenging authority and testing rules.

What should and what shouldn`t parents do? Parents who lose their tempers, withdraw in despair can make things worse. Constant negative messages from parents can lead to hostility, indifference and withdrawal in teenagers. Whatever their doubts may be, good parents always express confidence that things will get better, support their teens` efforts, cheer them up and show their love to children. Teens need to hear from their parents that they are loved unconditionally for themselves and that their parents will stand by them no matter what. Parents should encourage their teens to assume increasing responsibility for their choices and actions, while continuing to provide appropriate supervision and guidance. It`s important for parents to remember that teenagers begin to look like adults but often act like 2-year-olds in their determination to establish their own identity.