Judy has a question for the group:
Dear Ben,
I thought maybe some members of the group could give me some suggestions. One of my private students is a 14 year old Romanian boy who begged his mother for private lessons because he was bored to tears in school and feared he was losing his English, which was excellent. They came to France 5 years ago and he spoke no French at that time, but had been watching cartoons in English since he was three and had studied English at school. Today he’s at the top of his class and also very active in an adult theater group.
So since September I’ve been meeting with him once a week, mostly just talking, but we also watched two films in English, translating all the subtitles. When I asked him to write for me, he often explained that he didn’t have time because of his (admittedly heavy) work load at school. I loaned him a couple of books to read, but he didn’t seem to find them interesting.
He has now been accepted at a private American high school, where Lynnette Lang teaches in Chicago. I knew that they sometimes granted scholarships to French students and suggested that he try for it. I want to help him prepare for next year. His oral English is excellent and I’m sure he’ll have no problem speaking or understanding. I want to help him more with his written English. He understands what he reads, but doesn’t seem very inspired when I ask him to write. I asked him to keep a journal and write every day for ten minutes. He did it, but his texts were very simple, although correct.
Since we watched Lord of the Rings, I’ve started reading “The Hobbit” to him. He follows along and asks me any questions he has about vocabulary and we discuss what happens. He seems to be enjoying it.
Should I be preparing him with some English grammar lessons? What are fifteen year old boys expected to be able to do in high school? Do they write essays? How long?
Judy judyldubois@aol.com