Dear Ben
Hope you’re gearing up well for the new school year. I wanted to share this.
I was teaching a student last week who I’ve been teaching privately in two hour 1:1 sessions on and off for about nine months – about the same time as my membership in the PLC. And I reflected on how much the community has given me.
This student Pure is a fifteen year old girl. I was reviewing with her how it’s going. I’ve noticed she understands everything when I ask the easy yes/no questions and seems to process English in real-time now.
She says she understands over 80% of what I say without written back up and 95% when I write it down for her. Her Farang teachers at school she says she only understands 50% because they talk a bit fast. Her comprehension goes up to 70% when they repeat it, she says.
What’s the difference? Well I think that the circling questions create a huge leap in understanding. And as it’s 1:1 the class is always personalized to her.
She is quiet and shy and has never wanted to talk. But now she says she wants to. I asked her questions based on content from old lessons we had notes on. And she was really eager to talk, which was very cute to see. I’ve never pushed her to talk – knowing about the natural Silent Period.
We’re doing lessons on the Hunger Games – with extracts from the book. I rewrote each text in easier vocab for her so she reads that first – layered readings – a technique I picked up here [ed. note: from Laurie Clarq and Michele Whaley]. I did some Movie Talk with the movie for her – another PLC special. Again this community presents me with many tools to make language easier to understand. You help the students be much more confident.
I’m probably only doing 5% of what TPRS can offer. And even with this I feel more satisfied and confident teaching English. It would be a lonely journey without the insight, inspiration and support I have had here. Thank you to everyone as you gear up for a new academic year.