TP #: 4
Date: 9/8/2014
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Public Library
I tutored two young twins Matthew and David today. Both twins spoke very good english but boy were they a handful. It seemed like they could never run out of energy or questions that didn't pertain to schoolwork. The first 10 minutes of our session they ran around the public library looking for the "perfect" book. When I finally got them to settle down we all took turns reading the short book called Rex. Once we hit page 12 their attention starting drifting elsewhere. I was able to keep their focus by rewarding them with a picture of a T-rex for every couple of pages they read. When we hit page 16 I would show them a picture of a T-rex's eye, then page 20 I would show them a picture of it's head. I am saving the picture of the entire T-rex's body for our next session so I have some collateral. After we finished the reading I had them write a summary on what we read. This by far was my most challenging tutoring session yet. I am happy to have these 2 boys because I feel like it will give me a lot of experience dealing with hyper children. These two were extremely entertaining and had the most ridiculous questions like how much is college tuition, do you have a boyfriend, do you live in an apartment or house, the list goes on. I had a lot of fun with them yet I would like to spend more time tutoring then trying to get them to stay focused. If anyone had advice on how to keep children focused for an entire hour, please share.
Choosing a place for tutoring with the least amount of distractions would be beneficial to you. If the library is the only place you can meet, then maybe a private room in the library without access to long corridors and books? Excellent job on your use of a merit system (t-rex pictures). I think more of that would improve behavior because they're working for a reward. Although you probably don't want the reward to become the "it"- maybe giving them both a blank piece of paper or blank name tag and placing a small sticker on it every time they do something 'correct' would be a nice way to encourage active participation. By the end of your tutoring they would each, hopefully, have required several golden stars or whatever. Give a sticker for everything they do correctly- sitting quietly in a chair, answering a question, raising their hand, not speaking over you, etc., be sure to tell them what they're doing right as you place the sticker on their paper so they know what they're doing right! This is just an idea to help, so take with a grain of salt! Also shifting your activities frequently might be a good idea. I find that with children, I change activities every 5 minutes or so- reading, then writing, then looking at pictures, then reading again, then getting up and moving, then listening. It takes a lot of work to teach kids but you totes got this.
ReplyDeleteLol @ them asking if you had a boyfriend. I like their confidence! I agree with Jenna though, you should try mixing it up with several activities. And focusing on some kinesthetic techniques that we talked about in class might help too. I know when I was a kid I always liked hands on type stuff.
ReplyDeleteTwins! What a challenge. With kids, you must think on the fly. Turn every action/reaction into a English-learning experience. For example: If they are going to quiz you with personal questions (so cute), assign them to write notes about your answers. They can compile a file about their tutor. At some point, get them to write sentences about you and read them aloud. Or ... act out the sentences -- anything physical works well with kids. What about playing a board game?
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