Okay, maybe "problem student" is a little too harsh, but Miki is definitely my biggest challenge in tutoring thus far. She knows zero English, or at least that's what she would like me to believe. (I think Miki knows more than she lets on, but she's so shy that she refuses to speak English unless I pressure her.) Her intelligence is also average, or perhaps even below average.
Essentially, Miki is facing two barriers to success at school: her difficulties grappling with the subject matter itself and the language barrier.
I tutor Miki three hours a week. Previously it was only two hours, split up into two one-hour sessions, which would be entirely consumed by her homework. Recently, her mother suggested we extend the sessions by 30 minutes and devote that half-hour to English only, using Miki's older sister's old English textbook.
I was grateful for the extra time to help Miki, but I also regretted the way it changed our session. Previously, I would speak both English and Japanese to Miki, and encourage her to respond in English as much as possible. Now, it feels as if our session has been divided into a Japanese portion and an English portion, where Miki doesn't feel pressured to speak English except during the last 30 minutes.
This is another problem I'm not sure how to resolve. I feel like all I can do is continue to encourage her. I don't want to force her because she's so shy that she might withdraw even further. It's going to be a long process, but I'm going to try my best to help her speak up.
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1 comment:
Maybe there's some way to condition her to respond correctly in eigo. Maybe you could work something out with her mother where you drop a quarter in a tin can for every fully correct sentence in english.
I would have been all over that as a kid, but maybe she has a higher allowance or is otherwise spoilt :o
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