One to one English to a Chinese GCSE candidate

[Tezuka45]

Hello there!

I'm looking for advice about teaching English to an individual student with 1-2 years before her GCSEs. The student is Chinese and we are working in a mainstream secondary school for 3 hours per week. This is because previous interventions have not yielded postive results regarding her ability to access the curriculum. I have not taught ESOL for three years: I am a Citizenship teacher these days.

Please reply if you understand what I'm looking for here - we need to get her academically ready for GCSEs and anything you can say or do to help would be massively appreciated !!

Thank you

[Kyoma]

I'm taking my GCSE-O Levels 2 weeks from now and I would like to say: Be careful when doing comprehension. Highlight key words in the comprehension question and look for details when answering.

For example, if the question asks you "What is the first symptom of AIDS?" Highlight the word 'first', because the question is asking you for 'first'; the other symptoms are redundant.

I don't know whether this helps.

[Tdol]

What are her weaknesses?

[Tezuka45]

Thank you for the swift and thoughtful responses.

I'm not sure of her level and attitude yet; I meet this morning for the first time.

I'll keep you posted: it's really helpful knowing there are people like you who are able to contribute knowledge and experience, thank you.

[Tdol]

OK- let us know once you've met her and we can try to suggest things.

Is Citizenship teaching for the government exam?

[Tezuka45]

She's particularly weak in speaking and listening.

I teach Citizenship as a KS3/4 subject and they've asked me to help this student who has been here one year but is not able to access the learning properly. They've done so because I taught EFL in Jpan for two years from 2006 - 2008.

Jieying's parents speak no English so you can see the challenge in this.

Thanks again

[Tdol]

Have you got a link to the GSCE syllabus- I am not sure what is required at that level.

How weak is she? It's not uncommon for speaking to be a weaker skill among students from some parts of Asia, where there's sometimes little emphasis on that and more on rote learning and grammar.

By the way, you might find some useful listening materials here: elllo | English Listening Online

[Tezuka45]

Many, many thanks!

[Tdol]

And you might find some more listening materials here:
Listening - ESL Web Directory - UsingEnglish.com

[English Lee]

Yo could try the BBC's GCSE Bitesize website: bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/

There should be loads of GCSE revision guides around. Maybe you could use one of them as a loose syllabus.