INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

A. Goal of the program
Students should view this program not simply as one hour of English conversation each week but as a substantive tutorial whose goals are to strengthen students’ language skills. This one-on-one session offers the opportunity for langue instruction to be tailored to a student’s individual needs. It may be best to focus on particular areas—pronunciation, vocabulary, idiomatic English, spoken grammar. The student and the tutor will decide at the beginning of the term how to structure the work of these individual sessions.

B. Practical matters
Tutors and students arrange the time they will meet each week. Absences are not permitted unless the student informs the tutor at least 24 hours in advance. If a student misses several sessions without providing enough advance notice, he or she will be dropped from the program for that term.

Students will be asked to complete assignments in preparation for the tutorial. The amount of outside work will be determined by the tutor and by the goals students set for themselves. Many tutors will use software available at the Center for Language Study, and others will help students prepare for the SPEAK test if that is their goal. Tutors may video tape a student’s presentation and then review it to help improve delivery and discuss pronunciation issues as well as weaknesses in word choice and grammar.