PACE Yourself: A Handbook for ESL Tutors

"PACE Yourself" is for inexperienced or volunteer tutors of ESL. This handbook does not aim to make overnight experts of novices. Rather, the authors provide an easy-to-follow guide for people who want to tutor small groups of nonnative speakers of English but do not know how. Reproducible forms, appendixes of resources, terminology, ESL publishers, and professional organizations of interest to ESL tutors add relevant, useful information. This handbook is designed to meet the needs of a beginning tutor of ESL. It should be a key to many hours of rewarding and successful tutoring. The Handbook opens with a Preface, Acknowledgments, Guide to Topics, and Three Case Studies. The twelve chapters are divided over four units as follows: Unit 1: Prepare: (1) "What do I do first?" Gather information; (2) "What materials should I have on hand? Acquire frequently used tutoring tools; (3) "How should I structure my tutoring sessions?" Follow an organized format; Unit 2: Assess: (4) "How do I know what to teach?" Assess skills and determine students' goals; (5) "How do I use assessment to help me teach?" Use assessment to determine tutoring goals and establish a starting point; (6) "What factors can help or hinder a student's English learning ability?" Consider personal, cultural, and linguistic factors; Unit 3: Construct: (7) "How do I make a lesson plan that is appropriate for my student?" Set reasonable objectives; provide appropriate materials and activities; (8) "How can I use the Internet in my lessons?" Search ESL Web sites for materials, lessons, and activities geared to the students' age, language level, and language skill; (9) "How do I construct lessons for people whose language I do not speak?" Use visual aids; Unit 4: Evaluate: (10) "How do I document students' progress and evaluate their success?" Use formal and informal means; (11) "What can I do if the student shows little progress?" Identify the student's problems; seek help for specific needs; and (12) "How can I evaluate my performance as an ESL tutor?" Use simple self-assessment procedures. Appended are: (A) Texts, Web Sites, and Other Resources for ESL Tutors; (B) Terminology for ESL Tutors; (C) Publishers in the Field of ESL; and (D) Organizations of Interest to ESL Tutors. The Handbook concludes with References, an Author section, and an Index.