Meet Oral English Tutor Heather |

Meet Oral English Tutor Heather

Describe past experiences working as an Oral English tutor

I have worked as an Oral English tutor in Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China, and the USA. I have taught all aspects of English, to professionals and children. I have served as an English conversation partner at Yale University and Clark University. I also have lived abroad in multiple non English speaking countries such as Poland and Japan and assisted others in learning English.

Tell us about your academic background

I received a TEFL certification in 2011 and my masters coursework is in linguistics.

As an experienced Oral English tutor, what do you see as the biggest challenge for English learners?

In my view, one of the biggest mistakes new learners make is to try and translate directly into English what they would say in their native language. The key to mastering Spoken English is getting your brain used to thinking in English. As your vocabulary grows and you start learning more complex sentence structures, you’ll find that you can start thinking in English and structuring your speech more naturally. Practicing Oral English skills with native speakers is the best way to increase your fluency.

My observation was that students outside the English speaking world do get sufficient grammar and basic vocabulary. Fluency is the greatest challenge. Only by trying, failing, and not being corrected too often does it seem to develop. As an Oral English tutor, I try to spend at least 80% of classroom time, getting my student to speak English. Without speaking, no one can be fluent in English. Many elements go into fluency, but in the end, more speaking and listening lead to the ˝built in˝ corrections that lead to more fluency.

Besides practicing speaking, what other tips do you have for English learners who want to improve Oral English?

1. Listen to podcasts – this is a fun and easy way to improve Oral English. You can learn popular phrases by listening to the hosts and their guests talk. Get your ear used to the English language.

2. Read – anything. Reading will always help you learn a language because it will help you get used to new words. Read a variety of things – classics, tabloids etc.

3. Talk to Native English Speakers as much as you can. They say practice makes perfect and in this case, talking is the best kind of practice. You learn languages by speaking them!

What are some of your favorite conversation topics

I enjoy talking to people of different cultures, and learning about their customs, favorite foods, family life, personal aspirations and anything else in between. I’m open to using conversation topics relevant to the student.