c. Taping dialogues and role-plays

Taping dialogues and role-plays give the learner the chance to critique her own performance and can be used in a multitude of ways. Listening for common grammatical and pronunciation errors can help you and the learner decide on what areas future lessons should focus.

Remember, when you or your learner are listening for common errors, only choose a few to look at. Do not make a point of critiquing too much in your learner's speech. Although your intent may be only to assist your learner, pointing out a lot of errors can be demoralizing and counterproductive for the learner.

Other considerations

It is important to use a dialogue that is connected to the theme of your lesson, a theme that the learner has chosen. Although many lower-level ESL textbooks have dialogues in them that may interest your learner and be related to your topic, you may want to consider writing your own, and keeping these in your own tutoring file. Your learner may also be interested in writing a dialogue with you. If you are planning on using this dialogue for grammar practice, you may need to revise it (especially if you are interested in using it as a drill). However, if your learner's primary goal is to improve her reading skills, it is also possible to write a dialogue together and use it in the same way you used the LEA story.

d. Sentence Unscrambling

One way to review structures that your learner has practiced (during the drills, role-plays or dialogues) is to give your learner an opportunity to "unscramble" sentences. On individual cards, write words that the learner knows. Your learner can rearrange the words to form a sentence. After forming the sentence, your learner may want to copy it into a notebook for additional review and writing practice.