I am always surprised when no one shows up on Xmas Day, since School has such a multicultural student body – Muslims and Buddhists and atheists and whatnot. Today I tutored my colleague! What fun. Working on monthly time sheets – Dec 25 usually happens very close to the end of the month – and… Read More Tutoring Colleagues
Telling an angry or upset person to keep calm has worked approximately zero percent of the time. A line that actually works for me is, “I need you to speak clearly long enough to let me know what’s going on.” It’s amazing how many people are willing to let go of their rage if they… Read More Hi, Angry Student, Calm Down!
Writing is hard: True fact. You have to organize your thoughts more clearly than if you were just talking, because when you talk you can backtrack and fill in details that you left out. Writing has to be more organized than that. The first draft is allowed to be a mess! Student tried to get… Read More The Dreaded First Draft
The Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) in training wrote a very interesting paper, so much fun to read. But the good old comma and assorted unclear phrases meant that a Writing Consultant will always a bit of Speech & Language to analyze The role of the SPL is to ensure something. Who is enacting the prevention… Read More Tutor vs Therapist’s English
Student had to write an essay about something not school-related that he is passionate about. Am I supposed to use personal pronouns in this essay about myself? Oh, the dreaded Personal Pronoun rule. If one is writing about a general topic, then the Point of View should also be general, which means not using personal… Read More Tutor vs The Personal Pronoun Take II
Hello Student, nice to see you. *sniff* what is that Dear Student, I cannot tell you this face to face, but I can blog about it. Please don’t come into our session with your clothes reeking of cigarette smoke. That spray which you think covers up the smell actually adds a new layer of stink.… Read More Tutor vs Cigarettes
Dear Student I know you’re very keen for your education, but if you schedule sessions with TWO DIFFERENT TUTORS at the same time, in the same building, please let me know so that I’m not stuck waiting for you after you ‘step out for a minute.’ A minute. To spend an hour with the other… Read More Tutor vs the Double Scheduler
