Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The Other End of the Spectrum

It's absurd how opposite Miki and Yosuke are; they're essentially at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yosuke is such an ideal student I actually feel guilty tutoring him. For one, anyone can do it. He just needs a little help understanding homework problems, and even then he only needs the question explained simply. Once he understands what the question is asking, he can figure out the answer. Secondly, I enjoy it - it's not like work at all. In addition to working on homework or studying English grammar, I can hold conversations with him. My focus on teaching has always been "real life" English, that is, what you actually use when speaking English as opposed to unnatural English you might use in a textbook. I love to have conversations with ESL students to practice this. I can hold simple ones with Yuki that mostly consist of me asking a question and her answering it, but Yosuke can actually be conversed with. He's also intellectually curious and asks lots of questions. Could you ask for a more perfect student? I can't wait until he reaches the point where he doesn't need me anymore, although of course when that day comes I'll be sad.

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