Julia

Rate R200
Response 1h

R200/h

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ESL
English Vocabulary
English Reading Comprehension
English Listening Comprehension
English Writing
British English

Durban, South Africa: retired teacher, with thirty years' experience, offers at home remedial English classes to Grade 5 to 8 school children.

Name: Julia
Address: Bluff, ZA
Telephone: undefined
Price range: R200

ESL
English Vocabulary
English Reading Comprehension
English Listening Comprehension
English Writing
British English

Lesson location

- At Julia's home: Bluff

About Julia

In 1976, I qualified with a post-graduate diploma in education, after achieving a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in English. Since then, I have taught English Second Language adults as well as First and Second Language teenagers and primary school children.

In 1993, while I was working for the English Language Educational Trust, I attended a course for English teachers of multicultural classes. This University of Cambridge certified course, gave me the opportunity to adopt many enjoyable interactive English Communicative Language Teaching methods that have proved helpful in teaching English.

From 2010, until I retired in April, 2019, while managing the high school library, I taught small groups of junior high school students who were at risk of failing English and, consequently, the grade. All of them were badly under-performing in English, which was taught to them as their home language, although many of them had another mother tongue. Quite a number had severe behavioural problems, which, no doubt, were linked to their poor academic performance. Trying to help these boys in a small group scenario, was not effective as they really needed one-on-one tuition. The classes, for reasons of school policy, could not be made compulsory and the time available to tutor each child was limited. Therefore, the lessons had to be offered on a purely voluntary basis, without any obligatory commitment from parents or children. I did my best to encourage both parents and children to make the most of the opportunity.

To my great delight, those students who did attend regularly, and who used the tasks and exercises that I provided for home practice, did improve substantially. This achievement was born out by their improved English marks and subsequent progress through high school. In a few cases, my intervention was beneficial in that deeper problems were revealed and the parents were urged to seek the help of psychologists.

About the lesson

As a remedial English teacher of children who come to me with a long-term dislike of reading and English lessons, firstly, I put my students at ease. I am a naturally encouraging, patient person, who really wants to see my students succeed. I connect with my students as people with their own ideas, strengths and personalities.

With this as the basis of the teacher-student relationship, I can begin to tackle the problems they have. I prefer to meet with the parents of the child before starting tuition, to find out what the child's challenges are.

Firstly, I informally assess their present competence and areas of difficulty to structure my one-on-one lessons accordingly.

In my lessons, I use games and varied oral and written tasks, to assist my students to assimilate the basics of English phonics, word recognition, spelling, vocabulary and grammar. What they learn is reinforced by tasks to be done at home.

To help students overcome their fear of reading aloud, I use humorous role plays, nonsense rhymes and a speed reading exercise to use daily at home with adult help.

A variety of reading strategies and skills are taught to help my students improve their comprehension and recall as well as their study skills. For example, 'SQ3R' is a useful comprehension and study strategy. 'Cloze' exercises develop students' ability to understand the message of the writer as well as developing their grasp of the language. "Identikits" are an enjoyable way to clarify the student's awareness of the characters in the book they are studying.

A portfolio of the student's work is built up over time as a record of progress made. At the end of ten lessons, an informal assessment is done to track the student's progress and identify problems. The results of this assessment are then made available to parents at a meeting to discuss their child's progress.

Durban, South Africa: retired teacher, with thirty years' experience, offers at home remedial English classes to Grade 5 to 8 school children.

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About Julia

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Durban, South Africa: retired teacher, with thirty years' experience, offers at home remedial English classes to Grade 5 to 8 school children.

Lesson location

About Julia

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Package rates

Similar ESL tutor profiles

Natalie

Venessa

Amod

Claudia

Raquel

Logambal

Kristelle

Melisha

Alvina shinaed

Sasha

Mandisa

Kiara Lee

Sundeep

Shamona

Thandoluhle

Pamela

Evett

Sithabile

Lizeka

Ashlyn

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