This student success story features Teacher Joe's student, Hyesung.
Hear Hyesung's inspiring success story - a real-life student who was transformed by Teacher Joe NSEO program. Discover how this program could be right for you, with first-hand accounts of student success.
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Hyesung has been my student for two years, since February of 2021.
He began as a shy 3rd grade student with very little confidence in his own abilities.
Initially, Hyesung was quite hesitant to open up to me in the classroom but I could tell he was exceptionally smart. As our classes progressed, Hyesung became more comfortable realizing that in the NSEO classrooms we learn AND have fun. Fast forward to our classes today and Hyesung has come a long way.
He can express himself using stronger and more specific vocabulary, has learned real-world skills like grammar related to dining in a restaurant, and has only a fraction of the pronunciation errors he had when he first came to NSEO.
Hyesung is an incredibly busy boy and two years later I am still impressed and a bit shocked at the workload that he carries day to day. Whether it’s going from academy to academy, taking placement tests or honing his art skills, Hyesung lives an intense and focused life for a young boy.
When he first came to me, while he had an intermediate grasp of English, it was clear there were a plethora of fossilized errors and tiny mistakes that had gone unnoticed and uncorrected by Hyesung’s other English teachers. Verb tense issues, not understanding basic parts of speech like nouns, verbs, and adjectives and poor pronunciation impeded Hyesung’s abilities to use English accurately.
Today, I find that Hyesung is much more capable of discussing advanced topics, understanding 85% of what I say even when I speak at my natural pace.
Some highlights of the recent term include examining the etymology of words to understand prefixes and suffixes, using modal verbs like ‘could’, ‘would’ and ‘should’ for giving advice, and his improved ability to discuss his personal life in depth.
Hyesung’s biggest challenge upon joining NSEO was an overall inability to express himself genuinely. I think this was the result of lack of confidence in his own speaking abilities.
This stemmed from common errors he made with verb tenses, skipped words and pronunciation.
Today I am so thrilled to see how much Hyesung has opened up over the years. We really have a lot of fun together. I realized that Hyesung responds well to a silly and light-hearted classroom environment.
Once he realized that we can joke around and that mistakes are part of the learning process- but that attention to detail is always paramount- he has been eager to learn and participate.
Another challenge of Hyesung’s in the beginning of our time together was that he did not understand what nouns, verbs and adjectives were.
Despite his current intermediate understanding of progressive verbs, figurative language and various grammar, when he first became my student it took him time to understand the basic building blocks of English grammar.
Hyesung and I had instant rapport.
During our trial we bonded over a mutual interest in sharks and I believe that he could instantly tell that NSEO classes were different from others.
We laughed, we joked, but we stayed on task and did a quick review of ‘be’ verbs and simple tenses.
To finish the trial, we read about sharks to practice his pronunciation. I corrected errors Hyesung made but also encouraged and challenged him to correct himself . This mix of fun, learning, and interesting topics are why Hyesung chose to be my student.
While Hyesung struggled to apply correct verb tenses in his speech, he understood them in theory. Therefore, our initial classes focused on conjugating and using the proper form of the helping verbs ‘to be.’ and ‘to have.’
These are basic grammatical structures in English and I noticed that Hyesung often had tensing and subject-verb agreement errors with these helping verbs.
We spent a significant amount of time drilling ‘be’ verbs and progressive tenses as these are some foundations of English grammar. To give him opportunities for application and production, I always ask Hyesung detailed questions about his days and weekends, encouraging him along the way.
Additionally, often I will show him a silly picture and ask him to tell me in different verb tenses what is happening. These have been entertaining and practical drills that have aided his verb tense awareness.
To address Hyesung’s pronunciation errors we worked a lot in the early days with tongue twisters. These have been useful and fun tools to call attention to proper pronunciation and we have shared many laughs while attempting to say these!
As I mentioned before, Hyesung loves a good laugh and I discovered that he responds well to role-playing activities. These have been a great way to improve his speaking while giving him sentence frames for reference. Going to the doctor, making hotel reservations and dining out are just some of the topics we have focused on in these conversation-based lessons.
It has been wonderful to see Hyesung’s growth since I began teaching him. He has advanced in many areas with his language abilities and has opened up and grown in confidence in the classroom.
Where before he was reticent to share any details about his personal life, that is no longer the case. In fact, I recall a class in which he described a recent trip to Everland as we looked at a map of the park. He was able to explain to me the various rides, what he has done there, and what he likes and dislikes with minimal assistance from me.
Recently, Hyesung and I had one of our best classes to date.
What began as a lesson about applying adverbs morphed into a lesson discussing the Korean Lunar New Year, the meaning of the words ‘lunar’ and ‘solar,’ followed with reading comprehension activities focused on a book about eclipses.
I was impressed by Hyesung’s ability to take in new information and adapt with the flow of a less-structured lesson that focused on conversation more than drilling.
I mention this lesson because it perfectly typifies what an NSEO lesson is all about. Instead of rote book work and following a set lesson, we pivoted and discussed a relevant topic to Hyesung’s life, improving his English along the way.
Building a friendship with Hyesung has been such a rewarding process for me and there is no substitute for the attention to detail that is possible in our classes. I am proud of his progress and am excited to expand his English skills further!
When students receive individualized attention, they are more likely to engage with the material, ask questions, and receive feedback. They can also move at their own pace, which can be especially beneficial for students who are struggling or who have unique learning needs.
One-on-one tutoring can provide students with the support and guidance they need to reach their full potential.