Hey everyone.

I've been asked to tutor a grade 1 boy who is in french immersion. The boy's mom wants me to focus on teaching him how to read (in french). Does anyone have any ideas of fun activities I can do with him? or a resource you know of that could help me get some ideas?

Thanks in advance

flash cards!!! They still blow my mind till this day. Use alot of pictures and hands on stuff...lots of props. Also, go to staples / any teacher type stores and get some of those teaching books for gr. 1. I am assuming you are being paid to do this? If so, the parent may want you to be professional and have an outline/plan of what you are going to teach.

Hmm, I used to tutor a boy in reading, tooo, but not in french, haha. :p
But yeah, I definitely agree with flash cards, those are pretty fun, especially if they have pictures. ^_^

I also rewarded the student, too, if they did a good job or at least tried.
My student liked stickers, ahaha, but every kid is different, so if you wanted to reward him, you'd have to find something small/cheap that he enjoys.

Another thing is to know or to figure out are his weaknesses and strengths.
When I was teaching my student, he barely knew the alphabet, and had a lot of trouble distinguishing between 'd' and 'b', so I'd make him read a bunch of simple words with the letters 'b' and 'd', and tried to think of creative ways for him to remember which was which.

Something else my student had trouble with was reading sounds such as 'th', 'ch', 'sh', etc etc. we called these "special sounds" because they were two different letters combined to make a completely different sound. xD
not sure if there are many of those in French, haha, but if there are, I'd suggest doing something like that.

For my kid, I'd use a simple word or phrase and easy examples to help, and we'd review these every time we met to tutor so he'd remember.

For "sh", I'd say you make this sound to tell someone to be quiet, and he'd go "Shhhh!" and cover his mouth, ahah, and I'd ask for examples with that sound, and he'd say "SHirt and SHorts".

Eventually he remembered that the "sh" sound was related to people being quiet(Shhh!) and outfits (SHirts+SHorts), hahaha.
It's pretty sillyy, but hey, it worked. xD

oh, I'd also quiz my student on easy words, i.e. 'the', 'she', focusing on ones he had trouble reading.

hmm, can't remember anything else, but hope this helps.

Originally Posted by xo.monica

Hmm, I used to tutor a boy in reading, tooo, but not in french, haha. :p
But yeah, I definitely agree with flash cards, those are pretty fun, especially if they have pictures. ^_^

I also rewarded the student, too, if they did a good job or at least tried.
My student liked stickers, ahaha, but every kid is different, so if you wanted to reward him, you'd have to find something small/cheap that he enjoys.

Another thing is to know or to figure out are his weaknesses and strengths.
When I was teaching my student, he barely knew the alphabet, and had a lot of trouble distinguishing between 'd' and 'b', so I'd make him read a bunch of simple words with the letters 'b' and 'd', and tried to think of creative ways for him to remember which was which.

Something else my student had trouble with was reading sounds such as 'th', 'ch', 'sh', etc etc. we called these "special sounds" because they were two different letters combined to make a completely different sound. xD
not sure if there are many of those in French, haha, but if there are, I'd suggest doing something like that.

For my kid, I'd use a simple word or phrase and easy examples to help, and we'd review these every time we met to tutor so he'd remember.

For "sh", I'd say you make this sound to tell someone to be quiet, and he'd go "Shhhh!" and cover his mouth, ahah, and I'd ask for examples with that sound, and he'd say "SHirt and SHorts".

Eventually he remembered that the "sh" sound was related to people being quiet(Shhh!) and outfits (SHirts+SHorts), hahaha.
It's pretty sillyy, but hey, it worked. xD

oh, I'd also quiz my student on easy words, i.e. 'the', 'she', focusing on ones he had trouble reading.

hmm, can't remember anything else, but hope this helps.

Did you teach him the word, 'traitor'? For a flash card, you could have a picture of Benedict Arnold or even...nvm. :p

Originally Posted by Jake

Did you teach him the word, 'traitor'? For a flash card, you could have a picture of Benedict Arnold or even...nvm. :p

No, "traitor" was too hard a word for him.
AND NO, I'M NOT A TRAITOR. :p
Damn, I need a nickname for you now. :O
Hmm,
Jake the jerk?
Jake the snake?
hahahaha

Just remember classical and instrumental conditioning. Don't reward him too much it doesn't work as well, you want maybe a variable ratio of some sort.

...wow looks like I learned something from sighcology

Originally Posted by EasternHeat

Just remember classical and instrumental conditioning. Don't reward him too much it doesn't work as well, you want maybe a variable ratio of some sort.

...wow looks like I learned something from sighcology

LOL! Yes, learned everything but how to SPELL Psychology.

xD

Jenga.

What I do when I tutor kids and have trouble engaging them is play Jenga...only I've written a number on each Jenga block (you could also write it on a piece of paper and stick it on each block if you don't want to ruin a game of Jenga). Each number corresponds to a question I've prepared beforehand (in your case, it could be a short french word or phrase).

You take turns playing, as usual. You pull a block out, ask them the question. If they get it right, you have to stick the block on top. If they get it wrong, they have to stick the block on top.

Then they pull a block out, you can either ask the question, or let them ask you the question (at your discretion)...and proceed in a similar manner.

EDIT: I also like to adapt gameshows to feature questions related to the subject matter. For instance, when tutoring a girl in grade 11 physics, I made up a game of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" out of physics questions which got progressively more difficult...and believe it or not, it worked well despite her being a teenager. :p