In my attempts to nurture job skills, Im looking into many opportunities. Recently, I have volunteered as an English tutor for non-native speakers. Im mostly grading homework, but also I am making practice tests up for problem areas. I have already noticed certain difficulties my students have--punctuation, capitalization, when to use the word "a", and gerunds. I also notice there are certain letters they have difficulty in pronouncing.
I would appreciate any advice from people who have learned to speak English as a second language, or anyone who has taught them. Im open to advice from other people too if there is something useful you think you can tell me. I am interested in what was particularly difficult in learning English as far as grammar rules of the language, and what letters were hard to pronounce for you. What was helpful in learning English? Also, if you can think of any common idioms in the language that perplexed you, that could be useful. Was there anything that made you feel that your teachers didnt understand that made it difficult for you to learn? for instance, our facial muscles may not be able to pronounce words a certain way...for instance, I cant trill Spanish double rs...so I have to resort pronouncing the words with an "rdr"...which isnt perfect but makes me understood. Any cultural problems youve encountered is worth mentioning as well.
I will be tutoring students from all over the world, but for the moment the majority of them seem to be from India. If there are any particulars about this country you think will help me, Id appreciate it.
Mainly, I welcome all advice that will help me do my job. If I do it well, not only will I help other people, but the company will start paying me...and at the risk of sounding like a capitalist American , Id like that.