Tutor-Private Teaching and Learning

It`s a common knowledge that reading is not only the careful recognition and understanding of each word on the page. A good reader is able to reconstruct the exact writer`s message to analyze and to enjoy it. Reading is an essential way of learning any foreign language. Fluent and quick reading can also become a fun, because a person can absorb a lot of material in a short amount of time. Various approaches, methods, trends connected with developing reading skills have been studied by many scientists. All these scientific works have had the main aim – to change habits of slow reading. Foreign language teachers have the opportunity to help students develop their reading skills and teach them different methods of improving their reading abilities.

How to teach students to read as quickly as possible? A lot of different abilities influence speed of reading and understanding of the text. The ability to understand the text and guess the meaning of new words on the basis of their context, surroundings, their grammatical function and morphological structure is considered to be the most important for quick and fluent reading. No doubt that successful reading depends on the ability to predict what comes next. Is it possible to develop this ability? The answer is definitely “yes”. There are some principal strategies that may help. First of all you should keep in mind that reading takes effort, quick and fluent reading takes even more. That`s why you shouldn`t read in the same way that you watch TV. I mean in an ineffective, passive way. Successful reading should be active and attentive. It`s very good to read in thought groups and phrases, but not in single words, because it`s easier to pull the meaning from groups of words rather than from individual words. If you want to read quickly you should learn to read between the lines and work on the meaning of the text at different levels for understanding information and critically evaluating the idea. It`s also important to stop talking for yourself while reading, because talking will slow you down.

The effective use of dictionaries. A lack of vocabulary prevents students from being fast readers in foreign languages. They interrupt their reading to look up new words in a dictionary. Certainly, it`s necessary to find out the meaning of an unknown word. But the problem is that the students do it too often and it makes reading less effective and very slow. As a result of constant referring to a dictionary, like many useful tools, a dictionary can become dangerous. It would be incorrect to ban the use of dictionaries, that`s why a good foreign language teacher is to make his students realize that they can cope without dictionaries while reading and that it`s wasteful to look up every new word. So, students must learn to use a dictionary effectively and with discretion. A good foreign language teacher realizes that his task is to make his students advanced and confident readers.

Almost every home, office or school has a computer of some kind these days. Many people feel that these machines are now an essential part of our lives and they are quite right. I believe that education will continue to be one of the important areas for computer applications.

How can computers be used in the area of language instruction? Throughout the 1970-s and the 1980-s far-reaching claims were made for the potential for computers to improve education. The efforts of computer companies were concentrated mostly on working out special Computer-aided Instruction. Such a long phrase cannot describe all current applications of computers to the process of education. In practice computer-aided instruction stands for one possible use of the computer – namely, as a substitute teacher. Students sitting at computer terminals can receive instructions in a wide variety of subjects. As for language instruction, it can consist of vocabulary, grammar and spelling drills. The computer may provide words in English, for which the student is supposed to give synonyms in his native language. Each student can proceed at his own speed. If a student has difficulty with a given topic, he can branch out to another program and be provided with remedial instructional material. As a result the process of learning proves to be more individualized.

A machine or a man-teacher? The computer has certain attributes which in special situations makes it superior to the teacher. The computer has infinite patience and can simultaneously drill a large number of students. The completely impersonal relation between the student and computer appears to be an advantage. But no matter how helpful a computer may be it is only a machine, a useful addition to our fast-moving world of high technology. It must be remembered that computers are here to serve us, not to replace us.

Nowadays the rhythm of life is becoming faster and faster, that`s why time is considered to be the most precious treasure. Informational revolution becomes a challenge to the system of education and especially to the system of foreign language teaching. So, the foreign language teachers are in constant search of new methods which could make teaching more effective and results visible in shorter terms.

What is the intensive method of teaching foreign languages built upon? The method of intensive teaching has already shown its effectiveness. The followers of this method prove that it is built upon the principle of so-called “submersion” in the atmosphere of a foreign language. It means that students constantly stay in the flow of foreign speech: oral or written. They avoid the level of internal translation of foreign speech into native language and back. Such a submersion is made by daily involvement of students in foreign speech. In such a way students start to use the language without knowing grammar or phonetic structure. In the same way they started to use their native language. Continuous usage of role-plays in the studying is another important feature of this method. In those role-plays every student gets some role. So, he becomes another person and starts acting according to his “legend”. Students are involved in some situations during the lesson so they have no time to think over the phrases or to translate them from native language and as a result they start to use a foreign language as a means of expression.

What is a teacher`s role? The role of a teacher at such lessons is to make a dialogue or situation and to coordinate students in its flow. The professionalism of the teacher plays extremely important role in the studies as students will imitate his manner of speech and all gestures in their own expressions and he also must be able to involve all the students into the speech flow. The method of intensive teaching is based on the natural principles of mastering language by a person. This method gives teachers the opportunity not to teach about the language but the language itself.