English Lessons

I have been teaching english lessons for a French professor (have I mentioned that?) We have had three "lessons" so far. For the first one I just spoke with him to see how much he knew, and how good his grammar was...and then we played Scrabble. Not just for fun. It helped me see what kind of vocabulary he had...even though he was restricted with only a few letters. But this was the result of our game:

(the "w" in 'web' and 'war' wouldn't stay on the board)

It was a fun way to "break the ice" and start our lessons. Since then I have been trying to figure out the best ways to work with him to help him meet his goals. He wants to improve his presentation skills, and be able to have the confidence to go to conferences and use his English. (speaking as well as understanding it more)

I have been bringing in new articles and having him read them out loud to me. This gives him the chance to practice reading out loud and understanding what he reads, as he reads it instead of having to read it 2 or 3 times first. Then he can also ask me questions about vocabulary to help him further understand. One time I also asked him questions about the articles (like a quiz) another time I had him write a summary about an article to see if he could find the most important parts (since he has to write abstracts for research a lot). Our next class, he is going to give me a mini presentation. This is difficult for him because in presentations you have powerpoint slides with bullet points that you have to expand upon...but in another language it is difficult. So othe first time he will use some additional notes, but after that he will do it without them. I think that I will also have him watch some video clips, so he can hear english from someone other than me, and make sure that he understands what is going on.

It should be interesting as the lessons continue. I just hope I can create interesting lesson plans!