As much for me as for them
Grammar.
Can I explain it? Well, it depends. Sometimes I'm more verbally eloquent than other times. Sometimes I just can't think of a good way to explain it that won't simultaneously confuse the tutee or the tutor (yes, I confuse myself on a daily basis). Sometimes I really just have no idea why a grammar principle must be what it must be. I just know that it must be. It just is.
Situations like that are not necessarily on a daily basis though. Rarely can I not figure out how to explain why this verb needs to have an "ing" tacked on it in order to agree with the rest of the sentence as a dependent clause rather than having two independent clauses squished together. Other times it's just an issue of subject-verb agreement or adding in a preposition to make a phrase rather than some random words hooked to the end of a complete sentence. Or maybe it's just simply the way that the sentence is structured.
Those are usually the ESL--or I guess it's LEAP--papers that I come across. Those papers still intimidate me even now--how can I explain to someone who's never spoken the language why this grammar or word isn't what they think it is without making myself sound like a condescending idiot--but at least those students have a good grasp of what I'm talking about when I say "prepositional phrase." For these students though, the hardest and most recurring grammar concept for me to explain is why an article has to go where I'm suggesting they put it. From my understanding and experience, languages don't need articles in the sentence. It can get along quite well without it. But English is just the way it is.
For English as a first language students in other classes who come by, I say something like that and I can see the way the tutees' faces twist slightly in concentration, trying to hide the fact that they can vaguely remember that term from somewhere in the crevices of their mind but they just can't get a good grasp on it and they're too scared or proud to ask. In those cases, it feels sort of difficult to explain grammar terms--I mean, most of the time I know that they've heard it all somewhere before. Some English teacher they had had somewhere down the line probably mentioned it once or twice in class. I'm just not sure how much they know or if what they know is completely wrong and I end up confusing them even more.
In short, it's not really the grammar concept I have the worst time with. It's more the person I'm trying to explain it to. Sure, I don't know everything--there's a ton of stuff I'm still trying to figure out how to put into words to answer the tutee's question of "Why?" and as such my explanations of said concepts will be fairly limited until I learn otherwise.
But that's all right. A tutoring session is as much a learning experience for the tutee as for the tutor.
Can I explain it? Well, it depends. Sometimes I'm more verbally eloquent than other times. Sometimes I just can't think of a good way to explain it that won't simultaneously confuse the tutee or the tutor (yes, I confuse myself on a daily basis). Sometimes I really just have no idea why a grammar principle must be what it must be. I just know that it must be. It just is.
Situations like that are not necessarily on a daily basis though. Rarely can I not figure out how to explain why this verb needs to have an "ing" tacked on it in order to agree with the rest of the sentence as a dependent clause rather than having two independent clauses squished together. Other times it's just an issue of subject-verb agreement or adding in a preposition to make a phrase rather than some random words hooked to the end of a complete sentence. Or maybe it's just simply the way that the sentence is structured.
Those are usually the ESL--or I guess it's LEAP--papers that I come across. Those papers still intimidate me even now--how can I explain to someone who's never spoken the language why this grammar or word isn't what they think it is without making myself sound like a condescending idiot--but at least those students have a good grasp of what I'm talking about when I say "prepositional phrase." For these students though, the hardest and most recurring grammar concept for me to explain is why an article has to go where I'm suggesting they put it. From my understanding and experience, languages don't need articles in the sentence. It can get along quite well without it. But English is just the way it is.
For English as a first language students in other classes who come by, I say something like that and I can see the way the tutees' faces twist slightly in concentration, trying to hide the fact that they can vaguely remember that term from somewhere in the crevices of their mind but they just can't get a good grasp on it and they're too scared or proud to ask. In those cases, it feels sort of difficult to explain grammar terms--I mean, most of the time I know that they've heard it all somewhere before. Some English teacher they had had somewhere down the line probably mentioned it once or twice in class. I'm just not sure how much they know or if what they know is completely wrong and I end up confusing them even more.
In short, it's not really the grammar concept I have the worst time with. It's more the person I'm trying to explain it to. Sure, I don't know everything--there's a ton of stuff I'm still trying to figure out how to put into words to answer the tutee's question of "Why?" and as such my explanations of said concepts will be fairly limited until I learn otherwise.
But that's all right. A tutoring session is as much a learning experience for the tutee as for the tutor.
posted by Keya at 12:07 PM
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