ESL/ESOL Articles

Spanish, French, English, Language Arts and Test Preparation Tutor. Contact me today to schedule a lesson!

By Valerie A. | 6/13/2013 2:20 PM CST |

Hello!

Thank you for visiting my site!

I have 8 years of language teaching experience. I taught for 7 years at Princeton University and 1 year at the University of Notre Dame. It is truly a joy for me to help people reach their academic and personal goals. Please contact me as soon as possible to inquire about scheduling a tutoring session with me. I specialize in language arts, particularly Spanish, French, and English. I also have experience tutoring people of all ages, and helping them prepare for standardized tests.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Best regards,

Valerie

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Holistic Tutoring

By Therese S. | 6/8/2013 8:28 PM CST |

One of the more frustrating things about tutoring is when students or their parents want to treat tutoring like a quick fix. In other words, sometimes they want to meet the night before a test and cram for said test in hopes of getting a better grade. On the surface, this problem might work, but it treats the symptoms rather than the root of the problem.

If you're going to take the time to invest in a tutor, then here are a couple of suggestions.

First, try to catch the problem early. If you (or your child) is struggling in a subject, get help right away. Don't wait until you (or your child)...

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Tired of What You Are Doing? Why Not Retrain for a New Career in the Health Care Field?

By Vicki N. | 4/27/2013 12:33 PM CST |

It was the Fall of 2009 and the economy left many of us unemployed for the first time ever! I'm SO glad I LOST MY FULL TIME JOB. Just like that, the corporate world is cruel, they pulled the rug right out from under me! I only got 1 week of notice too!!! It doesn't matter how great your severance package is, it is no fun to have your life turned upside down without giving you time to process what is happening to you.

Returning to college was the best decision I ever made. If you started a college education and put it on hold to raise a family or build a career and now you wish you were...

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Learning a Second Language Depends on Your Short-Term Goals

By Shannon B. | 4/17/2013 12:18 PM CST |

ESL/ESOL,
French

Do you want near-native fluency? That’s a lofty goal to reach and may never be achievable depending on your circumstances (i.e. lack of time to study and/or lack of exposure to the target language).

Why not settle for a specific level of proficiency that will best meet your short term goals? You can always improve to a higher level later.

5 Steps to Learning Your Second or Third (etc.) Language:

1. First, decide what your immediate goal is.Do you want to be able to read in the language only or speak it only or both? Which is more important to you now? Maybe you want to pass a challenging...

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How to correct pronunciation and verbal grammar mistakes

By David S. | 4/4/2013 11:42 AM CST |

ESL/ESOL

Correcting pronunciation and verbal grammar mistakes can be difficult because conversation move so quickly. Additionally, constant interruption to correct breaks the flow of the conversation and can discourage the student. To overcome these weaknesses while addressing this important area of language, I have started keeping a notepad that I can use to jot down student errors. If the error is in pronunciation, I make a note of how the word was pronounced. If the error is in grammar, I write down what was actually said. At a convenient time in the lesson, I go over the notes I have written. My...

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Modal Verbs and Other Such Grammatical Queries

By Karina G. | 4/2/2013 12:46 PM CST |

Do the terms "preposition," "verb," "article," and "modal verb" sometimes stump you? Typically, students are taught the word "preposition" in 1st grade. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that if I had seen that long word at the top of a worksheet in 1st grade, I would have skipped right over it, coding "preposition" as a long word that simply did not fit in my schema of the world.

Fast forward to middle, high school, and college, and I see that many native speakers often find one or more grammatical device or structure challenging. Grammar lessons learned in elementary school...

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To pay less for long time or pay more for short?

By Daisy G. | 3/26/2013 5:47 PM CST |

I have been responding to a lot of requests recently, yet got no further reply thereafter. Some students just wrote me that my rate is higher than others.

Well, I have some say there, as I had students before who came back to me after they tried other tutors. The question is, would you rather pay more for a short time or pay less for a longer period of time?

First, some students do not have a clear goal of the "deadline," which means they do not know to what extent they need to learn about certain subjects and until which date they need to achieve this goal. They would set up a schedule for...

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I'm BACK! With fresh ideas and gentle outlook

By Suzie S. | 2/18/2013 11:41 AM CST |

Hello everyone! Or should I say kazoozampola! That is Dzongkha (the national language of Bhutan) for HELLO!

After a few months away in the Land of the Thunder Dragon, the Kingdom of Bhutan, teaching at the Royal University of Bhutan, I am back and ready to see you. I am ready to apply some of the insights into teaching that I gained on this last adventure.

Every year or so I try to freshen my approach to teaching. Subjects don't change that much. Let's face it - spelling stays pretty much the same, as does the pronunciation of words, and the structure of a sentence. But HOW to teach these...

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Speed does not equal sucess

By Katelyn M. | 2/6/2013 12:59 PM CST |

Recently, as I've been working with students on reading, I noticed something interesting. Students tend to want to read the material quickly, whether or not the word is being read correctly.This presents in two different ways that I have noticed so far: If it is a new word, the letters and syllables might get read out of order. If it is a root word, verb or noun, they are already familiar with, the prefixes or suffixes may be read incorrectly.

This made me wonder where the drive for speed was coming from. Was it a desire to sound natural? Was it the students' way of getting through the daunting...

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Gearing up to Learn!

By Kimberly C. | 1/16/2013 8:05 PM CST |

Hello and welcome to my Blog page. As I jump into tutoring, I hope to fill this page with helpful tips and techniques that I pick up along the way. For example, a great way to study English is to read. The more a person reads, the more vocabulary, grammar, structure, etc. is picked up and translated into their own writing. Even if it is a small article each day, reading motivates the mind. This daily routine is especially important to English learners (ESL). Academic writings, such as articles, should be considered as a first choice in English aid. History and historical perspectives...

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