9th April 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Private tutoring has become increasingly popular over the years, especially amongst families for whom English is a second language. It is an issue for many students that they not only have to contend with preparing for their GCSEs, but also that they must do so in their second language. This is a struggle for many students, and schools with a high proportion of students with English as a second language are now starting to make provisions for students with these needs.
A school in Leeds has reportedly started to offer lessons in English as a foreign language in order to help their students improve their language skills. The school’s head teacher said that many of their students were struggling with their GCSEs due to not having the level of formal English required to succeed. Talking about the school, she said that although the students were not in any way illiterate, they had a poor knowledge of grammar which was hindering them at GCSE level. The school has pupils from over 50 countries.
This is also something that private tutors can take up in addition to their work on the subjects they usually teach. There are many ways to help students with languages indirectly, and a science tutor may well be in a good position to help students not only with that subject, but also with their speaking and writing skills. Looking at students’ homework or coursework, going through grammatical errors and helping students to present their work is something that tutors can add to their lessons to help students who have English as a second language.