Deborah's Tutoring Blog

I struck up a conversation with a home-schooling mom the other day. Parent of a middle-school student, she told me I should talk to middle school parents about this topic because, as she put it, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

In my blog post “Test Prep Students 1: Before Our First Session, Please,” I mentioned planning ahead to give yourself more time to prepare. Since then, I’ve come to believe that you can’t have too much time to prepare, regardless of what you are testing for

* High school graduation (Minnesota GRAD)

* College National Merit Scholarships (PSAT/NMSQ)

* Advance college...

This afternoon, I found myself writing to one of my ESL students:

______________________

Hello, XXXXXX---

I am imagining you and your dog having a fine time at the cabin as I write this.

I bet you are in the cabin as well. In the first sentence at the cabin is correct, just as you would say "I am at home" rather than in home. It would also be correct to say "I'm in the house" rather than outside in the yard.

When you are at home, the yard is included. When you are in the house, the yard is excluded. With cabin, the same word is used both ways. When you are at the cabin, the exterior property...

(STUDENTS: Remember to write new words in your vocabulary journal. Do not worry if you cannot find any. I said it is a simple song!)

INTRODUCTION
A CALL AND RESPONSE SONG is sung by two or more people. One SOLOIST sings the "call." It may be a question, but not always. Everyone else sings a "response" after the call. If the call is a question, the response will be the answer. In our Christmas song "Must Be Santa", singers sing only a few lines this way. ALL sing the other parts of the song. (For more fun, people can take turns being the SOLOIST!)

The YouTube MITCH MILLER video http://www...

(A glossary of the words spelled in all capital letters in this blog post appears at ITS end. See how much you can understand without looking at the glossary. Students: Remember to write new words in your vocabulary journal.)

Introduction

EVIDENCE of the Christian holiday Christmas is everywhere in December. The TWELVE days of Christmas begin on December 25, commonly called Christmas Day. December 26, more commonly in the United Kingdom than in the United States, is known as Boxing Day. However, at the time that this Christmas CAROL was written, BOXING DAY was also called the FEAST OF STE...

My emerging tutoring passion is assisting ESL college students with their coursework. Most of them must also hold full-time jobs to support themselves and often their families as well. Many require online courses to get college educations. They could not earn a college degree any other way.

Do textbook publishing companies realize how much cultural bias is written into their online ancillary (supplemental) materials? Do teachers of online college courses realize how hopeless these students feel about merely passing a class when their grades depend on online multiple-choice exams consisting...

You have educational goals. Next, you have a test to take. It's one of those big milestone tests for admission to college, such as the ACT, SAT, or GRE--or other standardized tests such as the SSAT, ASVAB, GED, or a professional licensing test. You want a tutor who works hard to get you ready.

Help me be that tutor. Do these three things before our first session together.

1. If you have already set a date to take your test, tell me what it is. If you are not that far along yet, tell me the dates you are considering. This will assist me in developing a schedule for our sessions, and, if you'd...