Introduction
I've been a home tutor for twenty years and taught in schools in the UK and Singapore. I helped run a Singapore English Enrichment programme which took pupils who failed their English mock O level, often because their parents were not English-speaking, but every pupil, except one who was ill, passed the exam and one got an A star. I've also written a speech programme for schools.
Pupils learn in different ways. Some people can learn by reading. Others by listening. Others by doing.
The tutor can adapt the teaching method to the way that the pupil finds it easiest to learn. Singaporeans love doing tests.
Sometimes the only way if a pupil finds it hard to learn correct spelling is to try all methods. Look at the word.
Write it out. Write it a second and third time for practice, forming the habit of spelling it correctly.
Say it aloud: T - H - E - I - R.
Test yourself. Get somebody else to test you.
Some workbooks you can buy for schoolchildren have gold stickers which you can add to a page at the back each time they complete a section or project.
A pupil can look at a word on a page or in a dictionary and copy it out wrongly. A good teacher will check what the pupil has written. A good teacher will patiently try different methods until the pupil has learned. Some pupils learn the moment you show them.
Others make the same mistakes week after week. But they are always making some progress. After all, nobody is born speaking the English language. Knowing that you have spelled a word wrongly is the first step towards getting it right.
A good teacher makes it fun.
Anybody with a short attention span, easily distracted, or very busy, needs a formal lesson time to make them stick to the subject.
Learning is a bit like swimming and driving. You have to do it to get the practice and the right habits. Also having a lesson forces you to devote regular time to it and encourages you. It's fun to share your interest and growing knowledge with somebody who is one step ahead - or several steps ahead.
If you need help in London or Singapore, for your family, or a group, in person or on line, please contact:
angelalansbury@hotmail.com Tel: 0208 428 9638
I've had a wide range of pupils, including the exhausted, lazy or dispirited. They simply need an enthusiastic babysitter who will cajole them into opening their book, reading the homework question, mind-mapping and writing a draft answer.
Others doing exams need a year-plan, an alphabetically organised file, workbooks, spelling tests and checklists.
Yet others want to chat away and have their pronunciation and grammar gently corrected with the occasional singing games.
Some need help with reading the easy and the heavy newspapers, or technical magazines and organizing university essays. I get on best with people like myself who are extravert, enthusiastic, happy and hard-working.
To give you a flavour of what I can do, here are some guidelines.English Tutorials:
CONTENTS
1 Spelling; Grammar; Punctuation; Pronunciation; Glossary
1 SPELLING
Top Ten Spelling Errors
by Angela Lansbury
1 Its; it’s
His, hers, its are possessives.)
His bike is here. Her bike is here. Its bell is working.
It's gone! (Short for 'It has gone'. The apostrophe shows the missing letter.)
It’s – the apostrophe shows the missing letter i.
It’s also stands for it has.
Again the apostrophe shows the missing letter i.
It's raining. The apostrophe shows the missing letter.
It's been a long time. The apostrophe shows the missing letter.
It's right. (It's is short for: It is right.)
(Apostrophe is a comma in the air like this ' )
2 There; their
There - remember place where ends in e: here, there, everywhere.
Their - remember to combine his and her and you get theirs with ei in the middle.
Is it theirs or thiers? The and theirs both start the. It's theirs.
3 Grammar
Not grammer. GRAMMAR. GRAMMAR. GRAMMAR.
Remember the middle repeats amma.
Actually, apart from the initial G, the whole word is a mirror image rammar.
To remember the correct spelling, look at it carefully, then write it out three times:
grammar, grammar, grammar.
4 Necessary
A mnemonic or memory aid is: one collar and two sleeves. One c and two letter ss.
It is necessary to double the SS.
5 Knowledge
Remember the d; everything you know sitting on a ledge or bookshelf.
6 Separate
Not seperate.
Letter a not letter e in the middle.
The reason is that the word comes from pare, meaning to cut.
7 Compliment (praise); complement (completing)
Complimentary mean paying a compliment. I as in Praise.
Complementary is completing.
8 Practice; practise
(Practice is a noun. The French ce is pronounced s, like palace and police. Practise is a verb.
We are practising our piano practice.
Advise (verb) and advice (noun).
Receive - i before e except after c.
CE is the French S.
9 Opportunity
The word opportunity comes from the Latin word port meaning opening or doorway or harbour – not oppertunity. It sounds like 'er' because we say it quickly and badly but the spelling sticks to the origin of the word and is a handy reminder of its origin and a clue to the meaning. Look at it and remember what it looks like: Opportunity.
10 Affect (verb); the effect (noun)
To affect means the change. The effect is what you get.
(Pedants, people who are knowledgeable and fussy, insist I ought to reveal all in the dictionary and tell you that there is a verb to effect, which means to bring about, but this is rarely used. I think this confuses most people. If you are still struggling with the simpler words, don't bother with the complicated stuff.) Now test yourself.
Angela Lansbury is a home tutor.
English lessons start at £25 an hour for school pupils doing O and A levels, 2006 prices.
Different fees apply to adults, businesses and groups.
You can also have lessons on line and buy a spelling e-book.
Next Ten Spellings:
1Currant and current
2 Dependant (Person) and dependent (adjective)
3 Discreet (Keep a secret) and discrete (separate)
4 Foreword (words before or in front - the introduction to a book); forward - proceeding straight ahead
5 Program (American spelling used for computer program) and programme (French spelling as in theatre programme)
6 Know no
7 Right (correct or opposite of left), write (write a letter)
8 Hanger (aircraft); hanger (for hanging clothes
9 Check (verb), cheque (noun, UK)
10 Your (belonging to you) and you're (you are).
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Start your own list:
1 Personal, personnel
2 Suit, suite
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Spelling - Test Yourself:
What do the pairs of words below mean?
Write a sentence using each word correctly.
Then photocopy the sheet and cross out the words.
Fill in the gaps. Then check the original to see if you know them all.
1 led, lead
2 red, read
3 bought, brought
4 wander, wonder
5 rote, wrote
6 roll, role
7 pare, pair
8 a crew, accrue
9 one, won
10 accept, except
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2 CREATIVE WRITING COURSES
Villanelle
The Mess
by Angela Lansbury
I wonder why I’m in such stress
I’ve such a lot of bills to pay
I wonder why I’m in a mess
I always try to do my best
But cannot find the words to say
I wonder why I’m in such stress
Procrastination I confess
Is how I like to pass my day
I wonder why I’m in a mess
I struggle through life more or less
I always take the easy way
I wonder why I’m in such stress
I wish I were neat, I confess
But I just wasn’t made that way
I wonder why I’m in a mess
You can tell by my style of dress
I never put a thing away
I wonder why I’m in such stress
I wonder why I’m in a mess
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