ESL online resources or someone experienced teaching ESL?

[5LittleMonkeys]

Oh my....we have Chinese neighbors who come to live in their house 2 to 3 times per year for anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months each time. The mom has tried to talk me into teaching her K son to speak English for the last year. I've worked with him a little bit but with 5 of my own I just don't have a lot of time. She recently had her son here for about 2 months and enrolled him in the local ps. She said he really enjoyed it but now that they have gone back to China he has no exposure to English again. She said she checked out some ESL schools but doesn't like them because they use Chinese to teach English. She is now telling me that learning English is extremely important to many, many people she knows but that they don't have any teachers in her city that she feels are qualified. She wants to organize an online school for Chinese children to learn English and wants me to be the online teacher and have a Chinese teacher on site on her end to facilitate things. :scared:

 

I wouldn't even know where to begin doing such a thing! Apparently she is of the impression that since I educate my dc myself I must be some type of super teacher or something. I directed her towards phonics pathways, flashcards, books...she speaks English...but she just doesn't think she can teach herself. She has it in her mind that someone without a Chinese accent should be teaching. I don't know what to do for her. I'd like to help but like I said, I wouldn't know how to do it. Teaching an English speaking child to read is much different than teaching English as a second language. (Isn't it?) If I thought that it would be fairly easy, 2 or 3 times a week, 30-45 minutes at a time, I might be willing, but right now it would be the blind leading the blind.

 

Help! How do I help her?

[5LittleMonkeys]

Bumping this up so the morning crowd can view.

 

I either need some type of online tutorial I could send her to or some information on how to teach English to non-English speaking dc so I can get an idea of if I could even do this.

 

Thanks!

[Nart]

She can try Funnix, which is a computer based reading program with a narrator. The parent just needs to click on the mouse. It now sells for only 25 dollars. You can check it out at Funnix.com

Here is the description

 

The Funnix Reading Program–for non-reading children 4 to 7 years old.

 

Funnix Beginning Reading is a 120-lesson that provides over 60 hours of onscreen instruction. Funnix 2 is a 100-lesson program that continues where Funnix Beginning Reading leaves off, providing another 50 hours of onscreen instruction. Funnix programs provide complete instruction in beginning reading. The instructor sits with children and views the computer monitor. The Funnix narrator present tasks in a fast-paced sequence, the same way a good teacher would. The children answer. The instructor gives feedback, confirming correct responses, and providing the correct answer if children make a mistake.

[Momling]

It sounds like you're right -- I think it would be a situation of the blind leading the blind. If your neighbor wants her 5 yr old to learn English, when he is in the US, having him attend a school and interact with English speaking kids is exactly what she should do. Extra tutoring, if you (or somebody else) is up for it, couldn't hurt. But setting up an online school? I would back quickly away.

 

I would just suggest that he is exposed to as much English as possible, whether it is private lessons, attending an international school, making friends with native English speaking kids, reading and watching TV in English.

 

If she really wants ESL instruction online, point her in the direction of BrainPop ESL (and Brainpop Jr.).