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Foreign Language Tutoring

February 27th, 2015

Students can see a lot of benefit from getting tutoring for their foreign language classes. While the material may seem simple in class, retaining the information is the challenging part. This is especially true once students get to the second, third, and even fourth years of their language. Seeing a tutor for their foreign language is beneficial for may reasons.

 

  1. Because they are with a tutor, the student will get more one-on-one time than they would with a teacher. A tutor can make sure the student is working on their pronunciation correctly, getting their accents right, and using the appropriate tenses. It is hard for a student to get the one-on-one attention they need in a class with thirty other kids who are all learning the same language. They may not know they are doing something wrong until they lose points on their test.
  2. Practice conversation with a tutor will be much more helpful than the conversation practice they get in the classroom. Sometimes students may be paired up with students who cannot even make it through a sentence properly, or take a long time to even think of a response. Having conversations with someone who actually knows the language will help your student conjugate quickly and correctly, and be able to quickly form sentences out of their ideas.
  3. A tutor will be able to find a way to explain tenses to your student that actually makes sense to him or her. Often times teachers explain the concept thoroughly, but it just doesn’t click with a lot of students.
  4. The extra practice will help your student’s memory stay fresh. They will be able to distinguish between which words have masculine and which words have feminine articles, and irregular verbs will hardly present a challenge.

Best Ways to Prepare for a Language Test

November 10th, 2014

Foreign language classes never fail to be a little more difficult than all of a student’s other classes, especially once they have advanced past the first year. Learning a language is a bit different from other subjects though, and requires some extra effort and patience to truly master it.

 

First, master your conjugations. Conjugating verbs is one of the first things you learn in a language, and that’s because you are going to use it in every single thing that you do. If you know that certain verbs are going to be on an upcoming test, make sure that you know how to conjugate and correctly spell them for every form, especially if they are irregular verbs.

 

Know exactly what each tense is used for and how to use it. A lot of language tests will cover any new tenses you have learned in the class and when to use them over other tenses you have previously learned. If a tense just doesn’t make sense to you and your teacher can’t clear it up, see a tutor! They can walk you through exactly what each tense is used for and will explain it in a way that your teacher hasn’t.

 

Make sure you know the difference between masculine and feminine words. In some languages the gender of the object will affect its adjectives and how the verb in the sentence is spelled.   Some teachers will count each of these things for separate points, so make sure that you know them!

Back to School Shopping

August 17th, 2012

As a kid, one of my favorite times of the year was when my parents would fork out money for me to go back to school shopping. I would go with my mom to pick out the newest styles. Requirements were new shoes, a new backpack, and at least three new outfits, one for each day of the first week of school. My brother and I would always want to wear our new shoes right away, but were forced to wait until the first day of school.

Along with the back to school shopping came orientation. Mira Costa has their orientation this week as well as Manhattan Beach Middle School. This was always exciting because the students got to see which teachers they had, and also,more importantly, which friends made it in the same class.

Now that I am no longer in school I see more of an importance on the preparation academically rather than the outfits and classes. Students are starting to trickle into The Manhattan Beach Study Hut to get their mind in gear and ready for the whirl wind to begin. Most students need refreshers on math and Spanish. It is extremely important for the seventh graders to come in and review their foreign language. Spanish, French, Latin, and even Chinese are subjects the middle school offers. These are such new topics to the students that they often forget how to conjugate a verb. However, after a simple refresher they are ready for the school year. Moral of the story, don’t forget about tutoring when you are shopping for back to school. The Hut is open for appointments!

Adelia’s Summer Enrichment

July 25th, 2012

This summer, as manager, I have been presented with the opportunity to actually tutor! Normally, the hustle and bustle of the Hut prevents me from my real passion, teaching. One of my regular and favorite students in here over the summer is Adelia. She has diligently come in twice a week throughout the summer to study Spanish and Geometry. I admire her confidence and motivation to get ahead of the game and become prepared for the classes she will endure in the fall.
Starting out with Spanish 5/6 in the fall she went ahead and bought the book that her high school, Mira Costa, uses so that I can start teaching her the material. Once fall comes she will be prepared with the vocabulary and will be strong with the grammar. Throughout the course of these few weeks she has already improved in both her retention of vocabulary and her ability to speak and comprehend the language. Last year, I tutored another student in Spanish in preparation for Spanish 2. He excelled in his Spanish class receiving a high B opposed to D+ he received the semester prior. A little elbow grease in the summer goes a long way when it comes to learning a language. I have the confidence that Adelia will be able to start and finish this year strong.
Similarly, math skills are just as important to maintain during the summer. Adelia already has a solid understanding of the primary concepts in Geometry and will have gone through the first few chapters of the Mira Costa Geometry book by the time summer has ended.
Most kids are resistant to summer tutoring and believe that it will take up their entire summer. Adelia, however, is extremely active. She owns a horse is Palos Verdes and rides him every day. She is extremely happy with her progress she has made this summer at Study Hut.
Not only can we provide enrichment for math and Spanish, but also French, English, reading comprehension, physics, history, biology, chemistry and whatever else, you name it, we have a tutor for it! Bring it on fall semester!