Funds of Knowledge: How to Make Tutoring Sessions Meaningful to Learners by Drawing Upon What they Already Know

All learners have unique knowledge and skills called funds of knowledge. How can you discover your learner's funds of knowledge and make your tutoring sessions even more meaningful? Here are some tips.

Speak Up! Use Intonation to Teach Punctuation

A useful activity for teaching the use of periods and question marks

Why It's Important to Use One Type of Font Consistently

When you're typing something - a worksheet, an LEA transcript - somebody is bound to read it, and when that somebody is an ESL learner, you want your text to be as easy as possible to read. One area that can confuse learners are fonts. In this post, we'll discuss the differences between fonts and why it's important to use one type consistently.

Language Experience Approach in Action

We recommend using the Language Experience Approach (LEA) as an effective way to immediately address a learner's Language needs. LEA was recently used by Sandra LaPerche, one of our tutors, to identify her learner Yan's specific language strengths and weaknesses.

Font Frustration: Why Learning the Alphabet Can Be More Difficult Than You Think

How can the font you choose for your teaching materials affect your learner's progress? Font choice can make all the difference for learners whose native languages aren't written with the Roman alphabet.  

Mapbox: Create Your Own Story Maps

A story map is a useful tool that allows you to create a localized map containing information relevant to your learner's interests and everyday destinations. Mapbox is a free, easy-to-use platform for making story maps; it's a good resource to use especially if your learner is new to the area. This post will provide a brief overview of Mapbox, how to use it, and a sample map.

How to use the LEA Method to Teach Learners about For-Profit Schools and Possible Undesirable Consequences of a For-Profit Education

How to help your learner understand the disadvantages of for-profit schools, and how to avoid the undesirable consequences of the education to be got there: high debt loan, financial insecurity, low quality education.

Dyslexia, Part 2: What is the Orton-Gillingham Approach and How Can I Use It?

Dyslexia provides a complex challenge for both learners and tutors alike, but there are several techniques you can use when teaching people with the disorder. You'll have to adapt them to your learner's learning style, but here are some basics to use as a starting point.

Dialogue Journals: How to Assess Errors and How to Deepen A Conversation

Dialogue Journals can provide valuable information to you about your learner's skills as well as the nature of your learner's errors. Here are tips on how to use dialogue journals to do both.

What Makes the Dialogue Journal an Efficient Teaching Tool in Comparison with other Types of Writing

A dialogue journal is an efficient tool for developing your learner's writing skills. However, there are other advantages of dialogue journals such as your learner's involvement in authentic communication with you, the expression of thoughts with ease and in a relaxed way, the provision of a unique feedback about learners'  writing, and an opportunity  to accumulate thoughts, ideas, and writing achievements.

Dyslexia, Part 1

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that causes learners to have trouble with text. Reading and writing are extremely difficult, and the problem only gets worse when learning English as a second language. In this post, you'll gain a  basic understanding of dyslexia.