- Tutors identify a student’s proficiency level in listening, speaking, reading, and writing using a scale of 1- 5 and develop appropriate language lessons and activities.
- Lessons focus on the social and academic language in the elementary grades.
- Tutors emphasize foundational reading skills by teaching the alphabet, concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency.
- Tutors teach sounds, sound discrimination, sounds related to spelling, and stress using short poems, songs, games, and movement to help students with English pronunciation.
- Tutors teach standard writing conventions, including letter formation, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure.
- Students learn to connect writing to reading through writing about new ideas or facts they’ve learned from the text, or making connections to their own lives, the outside world, or the experience of reading.
Introduction
English as a Second Language
Tutoring Services
Tutoring Program
ESL Tutoring General Overview
Our tutors are highly educated professionals available to work with students of all ages and English language proficiency levels (beginners to near-native speakers of English), from elementary school through high school. Expert, highly-effective tutors engage with students through intellectually challenging, age and grade appropriate lessons.
Tutors use current research, theory, and pedagogy to create a highly effective learning environment for students. Lessons focus on both social and academic language, which are essential to promote achievement in the English-speaking classroom. Tutors use formative, informal assessments to determine how best to build on the student’s strengths and address his/her weaknesses with the goal of preparing the student to be proficient in all four language domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking across settings. Tutors may offer lessons that focus on one domain, such as reading or writing, when the student needs specific intervention.
Reading- The goal for all readers is to read fluently and confidently, and to comprehend, interpret, and critically evaluate text. The student’s native language literacy skills often facilitate reading acquisition in English. Depending on students’ needs, tutors provide instruction in phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and/or reading comprehension of literary and informational texts.
Writing- Students will learn to write for a range of audiences and purposes. Written expression through symbols, drawings, and text will be explored as the student learns to write in English. Additionally, students will learn the process approach to writing which includes the stages of pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The tutor will model different writing forms and genres and guide the student through the writing process.
Listening- The active practice of listening is a key measure for success, and students benefit from purposeful lessons with their tutor to address this important skill. Tutors provide students with practice for the general idea of what they are listening to, as well as concentrating on understanding individual words to grasp the whole message. Students gain listening expertise through lessons designed to hone skills specific to the sounds unique to the English language.
Speaking- Students will participate in oral language practice and instruction with native English language tutors. Pronunciation, grammar, and syntax will be explicitly taught and modeled in the context of the other lessons in the tutoring session. Oral communication for a wide variety of purposes is the focus of the tutoring sessions.
Elementary School (K-5) ESL Overview
Early elementary school English language tutoring sessions (K-2nd) focus primarily on foundational reading skills (the alphabet, concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, and fluency). In the American school system, these grades typically focus on skills related to “learning to read.” Mid-elementary school learners (3rd-5th) shift to “reading to learn,” and language lessons reflect more advanced literacy expectations related to reading in English, including phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension. Young learners engage with the tutor in a wide variety of activities focused on the social and academic demands of acquiring English for use in schools in the U.S. and other English-dominant countries.
Our tutoring prepares elementary school students in the following ways:
Middle School (6-8) ESL Overview
Middle school English language tutoring (grades 6-8) expands on the basics and includes more advanced language usage required in the middle grades. Many middle school students are preparing for advanced instruction in an all-English school setting, and tutors individualize lessons according to student and family goals. Students will engage in a wide variety of activities that integrate core course content as the context of meaningful language learning. They will develop language and literacy skills to best prepare them for the social and academic demands of the all-English classroom.
Our tutoring prepares middle school students in the following ways:
- Tutors identify students’ proficiency levels using a scale of 1- 5 and develop language lessons and activities that address specific needs.
- Lessons build upon skills learned in the four language domains of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
- Lessons focus on the social and academic language that students are likely to encounter in middle school classrooms in grades (6-8).
- Tutors teach general academic vocabulary as well as content words, phrases, and idioms. They also teach function words and pronouns that are important to grammatical structures.
- Students learn to read both literary and informational texts, and reading strategies such as predicting, making inferences, summarizing, questioning, and analyzing the author’s purpose.
- Writing instruction includes the writing process, academic essays, research papers, scientific reports, and presentations.
- Students practice advanced listening skills, focused pronunciation, and stress and intonation used in words, sentences, and short paragraphs.
High School (9-12) ESL Overview
High school English language tutoring sessions (9-12) focus primarily on the language and literacy skills essential for success in the English college preparatory high school. Academic reading strategies, writing for academic purposes across content areas, advanced listening skills, and focused pronunciation are lesson topics. Students learn high-level reading strategies for interpretation, synthesis, inference, and identification of valid evidence in texts. High school demands that students become proficient in English and learn content simultaneously. The goal is to help students succeed by providing explicit and targeted language instruction to develop a high level of English language proficiency needed for academic achievement in high school and for college readiness.
Our tutoring program prepares high school students (9-12) in the following ways:
- Tutors identify students’ proficiency levels using a scale of 1- 5 and develop language lessons and activities that address specific needs.
- Tutors create lessons on social and instructional language that students are most likely to encounter in the high school academic setting.
- Students learn advanced reading skills and strategies, including predicting, making inferences, summarizing, questioning, and analyzing using textual evidence.
- Tutors teach research standards including MLA and APA, and skills and expectations related to academic integrity and honesty.
- Tutors teach oral and written academic language with advanced linguistic complexity, and students practice discourse skills and strategies.
- Tutors teach oral language skills including pronunciation patterns, difficult sounds, word and sentence stress, intonation, and verbal presentation skills.
- Tutors teach focused listening skills and note-taking strategies.
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