teaching...

[greenbean]

I have been asked to teach a friend of a friend English. She is here from Germany with her husband and two small children. She speaks very little English and seems quite shy. I have been seeing her for a term and a half now and am rapidly running out of ideas. HELP!!!

[bimbo123456]

Have you tried reading an english magazine with her? If you find out what her interests are you could find one about that? Also you could watch an English classic like Sense and sensibility.

[Lil O'lady]

You need resources that repeat and test the understanding of key phrases
This link might be of use:
http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupDownloadFi le.asp?GroupId=200084&ResourceId=710803

It is designed for adult learners and can be worked at more or less individually - you could sit with your friend for short spells and do bits of it.

It really is a question of her gaining confidence in using key phrases and picking up on replies that are made to her in English. Does she speak any other languages? If she does it is an indication that she has the ability to learn English too. On the other hand, is her shyness masking less-able learning capacity? - A point to consider.

[rojash]

Just don't do what my Greek teacher did. She would turn up with a book of Aesop's fables. I would read it in Greek, translate it into English, then retell it using my own words in Greek. I can now tell you quite fluently how to get water out of a well by dropping stones in it, but I can't ask the guy in petrol station to put some air in my tires...