Parents always ask me "How does tutoring work?"

 

The tutoring lesson usually takes place at my home. (I don't recommend for the child's parent to be present during the lesson as the child will not feel comfortable.) From a five-minute small-talk I can usually assess your child's level of conversational French, grammar, and any other concerns your child may have. It is important to know the parent's and child's goal(s) of the sessions - usually they're not the same;)! Then, we establish an agenda and educational plan on achieving all goals!

 

Typically, I start each lesson with some quick conversation about the student's every day life to make the student more at ease, then we get into the lesson. The lesson format may change from week to week (e.g. one week we may focus on a book review, another week on grammar and preparing an outline for a PowerPoint presentation, and so on). I also use the 80/20 rule - this is where the student speaks 80% of the time while the teacher speaks only 20% of the time. When learning a language, you need to practice a lot!

 

In the past I have been continuously in contact with the students' parents, teachers (and sometimes department head and/or administration if necessary) to ensure all participants involved are working toward a common goal.