Teaching Tips
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Teaching time ideas:
For 15 hrs/week done in 5 days, most hosts do 3 hours of lessons each weekday
morning. For a change of pace, consider breaking up the teaching time as 2 or 2.5 hours in the morning
with a 30 mintue to 1 hour follow-up/review later in the day, or 90 minutes each in the morning
& afternoon. The afternoon lesson might consist of speaking or writing about the events
of the day, reviewing new vocabulary or idioms used that day, perhaps reviewing photos or
videos of the day.
Note that HLI specifys that lessons should take place during the day and not in the
evening. |
Many hosts extend lesson time on bad-weather days so that more activities can be
planned for great-weather days.
Teaching Tips:
- Make sure your student has a notebook and pen
- Have the student keep a vocabulary list and have a way to quickly record new words that are encountered in
your travels. (an audio or video recording device may be useful here if you have one, or a small notebook)
- Review / Drill on the vocabulary list daily
- Make an "idiom list"
- Make every outing a learning excursion - keep adding to the word lists, and have students write or talk
about their activities during lesson time
- Your local library is a great resource for appropriate reading materials matched to your student's
abilities
Movies as teaching tools and/or fun and relaxation
- Most DVDs can have subtitles turned on - use English for intermediate students. French is
usually also an option if you have a beginning French student, but this counts as relaxation and
entertainment NOT as an English lesson. However, you can have your student write about or discuss the
movie later during lesson time.
- If appropriate for the level and age of the student, watch a movie which you can then discuss. If on DVD,
let them stop or back up if they have questions or didn't understand. Stop the movie to ask
them if they understand or have any questions - in particular if dialogue is very fast-paced. Some students are
shy about stopping the movie, so check in with them - in particular after scenes where dialogue is very
rapid!
- They can write a short essay about the movie, add to vocabulary & idiom lists, and ask
questions.
- Movie suggestions:
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- Dead Poets Society
- Finding Nemo
- Chololat (in particular for French students)
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (great for teen girls)
- Spirited Away (in particular for Japanese students)
- The Wizard of Oz (It's an all-American fairy tale!)
- The Crucible (for visitors to Salem)
- Harry Potter movies (many kids are familiar with Harry & friends)
- Worldwide blockbusters they may have seen at home: Star Wars series, Indianna Jones series, Toy
Story series, etc
- Good Will Hunting (great movie, local talent!, filmed locally -with very foul
language - ONLY for older students/adults with a discussion about appropriate
language)
- Online resources:
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- MA Department of Education English Proficiency Assessments
These have no answer sheets/evaluation materials, but may be
useful nonetheless:
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- HLI Resources can be found on the Host Resources page. Hosts have the login information.
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