Tutoring with Interviews

In St. Louis, we have a free monthly magazine called Alive. In the back of every issue is a cool interview with someone in St. Louis WHO IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE! YES! YOU HEARD ME! They aren't beautiful high school dropout celebrities but real people who do amazing things: teach underprivileged kids art, assist the homeless, manage an organization that gives grants to startups, design fashion, and so on. The same questions are asked each time. If you haven't taught indirect speech, it is tricky. "Do you like chocolate?" is "he was asked if he liked chocolate". 

I have my student read the bio and use indirect speech to answer the question, answer it himself, and open it up to me. For example, "She was asked what inspires her and she said her children do. As for me, books about real people inspire me. How about you?"

I had another private lesson and just picked up the Everyday section. It was awesome! We read the comics, Dear Abby, Ask Heloise, and their astrology forecast.

Next time you're tutoring in a café, just pick up material around you.