Experts from the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) have reiterated the fact that land policy and land reforms are fundamental in addressing issues of poverty, food security and general stability in the African region.

They were speaking at the opening session of a three-day regional consultative workshop on land policy in North Africa. Officials from the AUC, UNECA, and AfDB underscored the urgent need to build solid partnerships for land reforms in Africa.

Dr. Josue Dioné, Director of the Division of Food Security and Sustainable Development at the ECA, said that “many parts of the continent are riddled with conflicts related to failures in systems for land governance, control and use”.

Mr. Peter Mwanakatwe of the African Development Bank drew a link with the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, including the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment and explained that they are interwoven with land use.

Dr. Abebe H. Gebriel of AUC spoke on behalf of Mrs. Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture. He pointed out that “in order to ensure that land policy and agrarian reforms address pertinent issues in Africa, we must recognize the need for a policy framework that addresses issues related to state sovereignty over land; the unequal distribution of land resources, the dualistic nature of property systems, land tenure… and land issues in the post-colonial reconstruction”.

The Addis Ababa workshop is the sixth in a series of regional stakeholder consultations aimed at coming out with a consensus document to be tabled at the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government during its July 2009 Summit.

There have been regional consultations for Southern Africa in Windhoek, Namibia (29-31 August 2007); Eastern Africa in Kigali, Rwanda (16-18 January 2008); West Africa in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (15-18 April 2008) and Central Africa in Yaounde, Cameroon (6-8 August 2008).

The current workshop hopes to reach consensus on the revisions to finalize the regional background document on land policy in North Africa.

It will also discuss specificities initiatives that should be included in the continental framework.

The key outcome of the regional consultation will be an enhanced regional background document whose elements will enrich the draft continental framework and guidelines, and inputs to the development of relevant benchmark indicators.

The initiative started with a Continental Consultative Workshop in 2006 that discussed major land policy issues and has gone through several phases of assessments and stakeholders consultations leading to the drafting of the “Framework and Guidelines”.

It is supported by the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank.

By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer
LONDON (AP) - As World AIDS Day is marked on Monday, some experts are
growing more outspoken in complaining that AIDS is eating up funding
at the expense of more pressing health needs.

They argue that the world has entered a post-AIDS era in which the
disease's spread has largely been curbed in much of the world, Africa
excepted.

"AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many
terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies
health spending at Syracuse University.

Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the
Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, the
U.N. agency leading the fight against the disease, has outlived its
purpose and should be disbanded.

"The global HIV industry is too big and out of control. We have
created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at
stake, ... too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected
countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion
accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May.

Paul de Lay, a director at UNAIDS, disagrees. It's valid to question
AIDS' place in the world's priorities, he says, but insists the
turnaround is very recent and it would be wrong to think the epidemic
is under control.

"We have an epidemic that has caused between 55 million and 60 million
infections," de Lay said. "To suddenly pull the rug out from
underneath that would be disastrous."

U.N. officials roughly estimate that about 33 million people worldwide
have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Scientists say infections peaked
in the late 1990s and are unlikely to spark big epidemics beyond
Africa.

In developed countries, AIDS drugs have turned the once-fatal disease
into a manageable illness.

England argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million
annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills
more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for
more kids to die of pneumonia," England said.

His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS hogs money and
may damage other health programs.

By 2006, AIDS funding accounted for 80 percent of all American aid for
health and population issues, according to the Global Health Council.

In Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere, donations for HIV projects
routinely outstrip the entire national health budgets.

In a 2006 report, Rwandan officials noted a "gross misallocation of
resources" in health: $47 million went to HIV, $18 million went to
malaria, the country's biggest killer, and $1 million went to
childhood illnesses.

"There needs to be a rational system for how to apportion scarce
funds," said Helen Epstein, an AIDS expert who has consulted for
UNICEF, the World Bank, and others.

AIDS advocates say their projects do more than curb the virus; their
efforts strengthen other health programs by providing basic health
services.

But across Africa, about 1.5 million doctors and nurses are still
needed, and hospitals regularly run out of basic medicines.

Experts working on other health problems struggle to attract money and
attention when competing with AIDS.

"Diarrhea kills five times as many kids as AIDS," said John Oldfield,
executive vice president of Water Advocates, a Washington, D.C.-based
organization that promotes clean water and sanitation.

"Everybody talks about AIDS at cocktail parties," Oldfield said. "But
nobody wants to hear about diarrhea," he said.

These competing claims on public money are likely to grow louder as
the world financial meltdown threatens to deplete health dollars.

"We cannot afford, in this time of crisis, to squander our
investments," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said in a
recent statement.

Some experts ask whether it makes sense to have UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF,
the World Bank, the Global Fund plus countless other AIDS
organizations, all serving the same cause.

"I do not want to see the cause of AIDS harmed," said Shiffman of
Syracuse University. But "For AIDS to crowd out other issues is
ethically unjust."

De Lay argues that the solution is not to reshuffle resources but to boost them.

"To take money away from AIDS and give it to diarrheal diseases or
onchocerciasis (river blindness) or leishmaniasis (disfiguring
parasites) doesn't make any sense," he said. "We'd just be doing a
worse job in everything else."

On December 1, Development Generation Africa International members joined the rest of the world in observing the World AIDS Day 2008.

At the occasion, the organization launched the Primary ABIA Project against HIV/AIDS to look into the plight of young people living with HIV/AIDS especially in the areas of nutrition and empowerment.

Director of Health-HIV/AIDS of the organization, Christopher Ezemobi who addressed participants stressed the need for the World AIDS Day event to lead, empower and deliver young people from the grip of AIDS in the 21st century and promised that the project will go a long way to present their plight to the people and involve them in solutions.

He said some of the problems being highlighted by young people living with HIV/AIDS is an indication that “We must continue to speak up openly about AIDS. No progress will be achieved by being timid, refusing to face unpleasant faces, or prejudging our fellow human beings. In the ruthless world of AIDS, there are no us and them…and in that world, silence is death.”

Children, young people and civil society groups attended the event as well as government officials.

Monday, 01 December, 2008
Women's eNews

On Dec. 1, the 20th annual World AIDS Day, health advocates are raising the
alarm about the quadrupling of HIV-AIDS among American women and the failure
of the U.S. heath care system to address this growing pandemic.

(WOMENSENEWS)--Heidi Nass was prepared to die.

In 1995, when Nass was diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus that
leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, most women with HIV-AIDS
succumbed to the disease in less than five years.

"Doctors had me taking 13 pills a day, including new drugs called protease
inhibitors," says Nass. "My medications gave me constant diarrhea, terrible
vomiting and drug-related pancreatitis. Physically miserable and emotionally
devastated, I didn't see how I could go on living like that."

Since protease inhibitors have been improved--and since they've proven
effective at treating HIV-AIDS--Nass' prognosis has turned around. Today,
she takes three pills daily with no noticeable side effects. She's healthy
in her body, happy in her life and productive in her work as a treatment
educator at the HIV Care Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

For 280,000 HIV-positive women in the United States, new treatments have
revolutionized care, making it possible to live on for decades and to bear
children without transmitting the disease.

That's the kind of victory that HIV-AIDS activists will be celebrating today
at a World AIDS Day meeting at the Women's Resource Center at the University
of Oregon in Eugene; at a benefit featuring jazz singer Loretta Holloway in
Greenville, S.C.; at a "Girls Night Out" discussion forum in Augusta, Ga.;
and at a Black AIDS Institute gala featuring actress Sheryl Lee Ralph--and
honoring five female HIV-AIDS activists--in New York City.

But at the same time, women's health advocates are marking the 20th annual
World AIDS Day with more than a hint of frustration.

"Key scientific questions aren't even being asked," says Dazon Dixon Diallo,
president of SisterLove, an Atlanta-based HIV-AIDS advocacy organization for
women. "The disease's impact on female fertility and reproduction is barely
being addressed."

'Still Falling Through the Cracks'

"HIV-AIDS has become a chronic disease instead of a death sentence," says
Dawn Averitt Bridge, founder of the Well Project, an Atlanta-based HIV-AIDS
advocacy group for women. "Twenty years after the first World AIDS Day, this
disease still remains a crisis because women are still falling through the
cracks."

Since 1988, the incidence of HIV-AIDS has quadrupled among women, who are
the fastest-growing group of new patients. Women account for a quarter of
new infections, and inadequate prevention, screening and treatment are to
blame.

"HIV-AIDS has become a woman's disease before our eyes." says Nass. "And
poverty, racism and institutionalized sexism are making certain groups of
women especially vulnerable."

Though women account for only about a third of HIV patients in the United
States, they are in many ways more endangered by the disease than men. Due
to microtears sustained in the vagina during sex, HIV is transmitted from
men to women much more readily than it is from women to men, making women
especially vulnerable during heterosexual contact that accounts for 80
percent of their infections (with injection drug use accounting for the
remaining 20 percent).

In both sexes, HIV compromises the immune system that normally protects the
body from disease. But in women, it carries a higher risk of liver problems,
pneumonia, rashes, yeast infections and susceptibility to sexually
transmitted infections.

Women of Color at Higher Risk

For women of color--at heightened risk due to the fact that they often have
lower incomes and inadequate health care--the disease's spread is of special
concern to advocates.

Hispanic women are five times more likely to contract HIV than white women,
and African American women are 21 times more likely to do so, according to
the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among black women, the disease has become so rampant that it is this group's
leading cause of death in the 25-to-34 age bracket.

Health advocates say the rapid-fire spread of HIV-AIDS among women is fueled
by the health care system's failure to address it.

Though women account for 27 percent of HIV infections, they account for just
17 percent of HIV-AIDS research subjects.

In the 1990s, studies showed diaphragms and the spermicide nonoxynol-9 did
not protect women against HIV, as previously hoped. Researchers started
developing microbicides, topical products that prevent HIV from infecting a
woman's cells and give her more control over prevention than condoms do
because she doesn't have to negotiate their use with a partner.

But under the Bush administration, the Bethesda-based National Institutes of
Health devoted only 2 percent of its AIDS budget to microbicide research,
and trials of two major microbicides failed.

'A Decade Away From a Vaccine'

"Testing the other 55 microbicides in development will take several more
years, and we're at least a decade away from the creation of an HIV vaccine
that could help women as well as men," says Anna Forbes, deputy director of
the Washington-based Global Campaign for Microbicides.

Just as in scientific research, screening measures for women are falling
short. HIV tests are not a routine part of women's health care even though
surveys by the Washington-based American Foundation for AIDS Research
indicate 67 percent of women assume they're tested for HIV when they are
screened for other sexually transmitted infections. Due to a lack of
adequate testing, the foundation reports, 25 percent of HIV-positive U.S.
women don't realize they're infected.

Gender inequities in treatment persist. Studies published in the New England
Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association
indicate female HIV-AIDS patients are more likely than male counterparts to
live in poverty and face barriers to health care, making them less likely to
receive protease inhibitors and antiretroviral drugs, the most effective
medications.

Along with these practical problems come the shame and stigma that seem to
hit female patients especially hard. Surveys by the American Foundation for
AIDS Research show most HIV-positive women feel isolated and conceal their
status from co-workers, friends or family members for fear of being judged.

But advocates do see some rays of hope.

New "rapid" screening tests using blood or saliva take 20 minutes, compared
to the two weeks required by older tests. Most pregnant women in the United
States are now screened for HIV during prenatal exams. Antiretroviral drugs
have helped lower mother-to-child HIV transmissions from 25 percent in the
early 1990s to less than 2 percent today.

Health advocates commend Congress for its continued funding of the Women's
Interagency HIV Study, which was launched in 1993, enrolls 3,800 women and
is co-sponsored by seven health agencies. It is the largest continuing study
of its kind in the United States to date.

They also cheer the Food and Drug Administration for putting "fast-track"
HIV-AIDS drugs on the market quickly if their makers agree to study the
drugs' effects on women.

As they look ahead, women's advocates say they would like to revise the
federal Violence Against Women Act so it funds more HIV screening and
treatment for domestic violence survivors. They also hope to pass the
Microbicide Development Act, which was introduced in the Senate in 2007 by
President-elect Barack Obama and which would establish a permanent
microbicide branch at the National Institute of Health.

Molly M. Ginty is a freelance writer based in New York City.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
--
Rachel M Jacobson
Program Director
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
www.iAIDS.org | www.youthaidscoalition.org

==========
West Africa
===========


Benin
Burkina Faso
Cote d’Ivoire
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Liberia
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
Saint Helena
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo

Akinbo A. A. Cornerstone
Nigeria
+2348064464545

We're excited to announce that the election for the next round of regional focal points is now open and will stay open until December 12! To vote for the RFP of your region, please go here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=O9HvclSdFE9_2fcdN_2bKQDLMA_3d_3d. You are only allowed one vote and that vote is for the RFP for your region.

Before you vote, please visit GYCA's countries by region page (http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/pages.html?page=regions) because GYCA has
specific criteria for placing a country in a region. These might be different from what you would expect, so it is best to double check before you vote.

This is the first time that GYCA members will vote for their RFPs and we look forward to your participation in this process!

Thanks!

=============================
West Africa Candidate: Akinbo A. A. Cornerstone (Nigeria).....VOTE NOW !

Nairobi 26 November 2008: UN-HABITAT in collaboration with the Government of Kenya and the NGO Maji na Ufanisi, is convening a handing-over ceremony of water and sanitation facilities built under the Kibera Integrated Water, Sanitation and Waste Management (K-WATSAN) Project, part of the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP). The ceremony is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 26th November, 2008 starting at 9.00 am.



KENSUP was set up in 2004 as a collaborative initiative between the Government of Kenya and UN-HABITAT. It draws on the expertise of a wide variety of partners in order to improve the livelihoods of people living and working in slums and informal settlements in the urban areas of Kenya through the provision of security of tenure and physical and social infrastructure, as well as opportunities for housing improvement and income generation.



K-WATSAN is a pilot demonstration project implemented in Soweto East (one of Kibera’s 13 villages) that aims to improve the livelihoods of people, by supporting small-scale, community based initiatives in water, sanitation and waste management, and by providing basic services, infrastructure and capacity building.



The project is guided by the following objectives:



· Improving water, sanitation and waste management through the provision of storm water drains, communal water and sanitation facilities, and small-scale door-to-door waste collection and recycling services;

· Improving mobility within Soweto East, by constructing a low-volume road, taking into account the needs of non-motorised transportation users;

· Providing household power connections in conjunction with the Kenya Power and Lighting Company;

· Establishing a computerized community and youth resource centre, a dispensary for small children and a rehabilitation facility for children with disabilities;

· Strengthening the institutional and technical capacities of selected key target groups by conducting training courses.



K-WATSAN introduced and tested UN-HABITAT’s new development approach within KENSUP and focused on the provision of basic infrastructure, such as water and sanitation, as a start to improving life for people living in the slum. The local community has been fully involved in the project which demonstrates that slum dwellers can take responsibility for their living conditions, and that their contribution is essential in finding lasting solutions. Their participation also builds social cohesiveness and integration within their community.





For more information, please contact: Sharad Shankardass, Spokersperson & Head, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel: 7623153, or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Media Liaison, Tel: 7623151, Fax: 7624060, E-mail:habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Webiste: www.unhabitat.org

This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day (WAD), commemorated annually on 1 December by individuals and organisations across the world to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic.



United Nations Member States have committed to scale up their response to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Investments made in the AIDS responses over the last 10 years are starting to bear fruit and an increasing number of people in developing countries are receiving life-lengthening antiretroviral drugs.



However, an estimated 33 million people are still living with HIV, and there were 2.7 million new HIV infections and some 2 million AIDS-related deaths in 2007. For every two people put on antiretroviral drugs, another five become newly infected.



Sustaining leadership requires the world to focus on AIDS every day of the year. “By investing in AIDS we can halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and move forward in our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” says the UN.



The 20th anniversary event is being marked under the theme: “Lead, empower, deliver”.



Secretary-General on World AIDS DAY



Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon, in a statement ahead of the day, stressed the need to “sustain leadership”, build upon achievements, and maintain momentum. “The need to lead, empower and deliver on AIDS is as real and urgent as ever,” he said.



“We have to end the stigma and discrimination that still stop so many people from learning how to prevent HIV and get treatment,” stressed Mr. BAN.



Fewer people are being infected with HIV, and fewer people are dying of AIDS, he noted. “This success owes itself to people all over the world who are taking the lead to stop AIDS,” said the secretary-General.



Governments, he said, are delivering on their promises to scale up universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. However there is no room for complacency. “AIDS will not go away any time soon. People are still being infected with HIV faster than we can get them on treatment. AIDS is still one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, and it is the number one killer in Africa,” stated the Secretary-General.



An audio file of Secretary-General’s remarks will be available on 1 December in MP3 format on the UN Audio Library web site.



AIDS Outlook



The joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on Friday, 28 November launched a new report: AIDS Outlook that provides perspectives on some of the most pressing issues that will confront policymakers and leaders as they respond to the challenges presented by AIDS in 2009.



“In many ways the year ahead will be a year of transition—and acceleration,” said a UNAIDS statement. Many countries are reviewing their national strategies on AIDS, and “even though political commitment for AIDS is at an all-time high, recent developments in the financial world will test the resilience of many,” noted UNAIDS.



The report, the UN agency said, is an opportunity for reflection on what has been possible to achieve with leadership as well as for refocusing on some key areas that are impeding progress. “It is not a ‘how to manual’ or a ‘policy statement’, but provides insights based on evidence on new ways to build on and improve the AIDS response,” says the statement.





New York



The UN Inter-Agency Working Group on AIDS (IAWG) is supporting the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of WAD at the historic Riverside Church in New York, 490 Riverside Drive - between 120th and 122nd streets.



The event at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, 30 November will be an evening that underscores the need to lead, empower and deliver more resolutely on AIDS.



The Secretary-General’s message to mark the Day will be delivered by video. Other speakers at the event will be United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador, Mpule Kwelagobe, chairperson of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, and the speaker of the New York City Council Christine Quinn.



The Lavender Light Gospel Choir will perform during the programme and there will be a reception and entertainment by The Karla Harby Outcats Jazz Trio. HIV and hepatitis testing will be available at an information fair following the reception.



The support of the IAWG to this event aims among other things to bring the UN and New York communities together and, in the process, cultivate a stronger relationship between UN entities, member states and civil society organizations.

It is also to sustain the momentum generated by the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS and the 2008 High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS as well as motivate various interest groups to be personally involved in the response to AIDS.

Art of Public Speaking

Teams and Team Development

Seven Communication Tips an Effective Leader Must Have 1

Attitude is everything

The just concluded IDRC funded Wireless Africa Project facilitated by Meraka
Institute, CSIR introduced simple technological solutions Africa as
continent needs at this time and age. Voice over IP and Wireless Internet
Service Provider (VOIP in a box, and WISP in a box, mesh potato, Village
Telco, Internet and Phone billing) Through WISP internet link can be shared
amongst neighbors such as schools, organizations and institutions and have a
billing system which enables the host to monitor, control and bill users.
This was a technical and business workshop; to build technical capacity to
extend existing networks through introduction of new technologies and use
the business model skills acquired sustain it. The workshop brought
together over 13 African countries (refer to website), with two
representatives each. Most technological solution use the open hardware and
software to create robust equipment affordable to Africa and built with
Africa in Mind. The technologies are simplified and often referred to as
being in a 'BOX'. The amazing part, the equipments are low power too.

The future according to the facilitators Alberto Escudero-Pascual and Louise
Berthilson founders of IT46, a Swedish consultancy company with focus on
information technology in developing regions is that the solutions should be
a plug and play piece of equipment that any one can plug into an existing
network (LAN or WAN) to give it more functionality. The team wouldn't be
complete without Sebastian Büttrich is a generalist in technology with a
background in scientific programming and physics. Originally from Berlin,
Germany, he worked with IconMedialab in Copenhagen from 1997 until 2002. He
holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics from the Technical University of Berlin.
His physics background includes fields like RF and microwave spectroscopy,
photovoltaic systems, and advanced maths. He held a session. He is also a
performing and recording musician. What a talent. He held a captivating
session on Mesh Networking and internet Billing. Did you know that mesh
networking through use of the very simple networking devices can extend your
wide area network over 200km? It is possible.

The Wireless Africa consortia was present and was part of the very able
facilitators.

The underpinning philosophy of the Wireless Africa initiative is to develop
business models that support community owned networks whereby the
infrastructure is owned and/or operated locally; local networking costs
contained within the community and traffic is aggregated at the community
level to save through bulk purchase of bandwidth.

3,000 prisoners in Kenya, prison staff and their families will soon have improved access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation facilities, thanks to a cooperation agreement signed between UN-HABITAT and a local NGO, the Prisoners Care Programme. The Prisons Water Project, to be piloted in Homa Bay and Kisii Prisons, will also benefit local communities living around the prisons.

Under the agreement, UN-HABITAT will provide the NGO with USD 167,537 to construct water storage facilities in the prisons and connect them to the municipal water system. The money will also be used to rehabilitate existing sanitation facilities and construct new improved facilities to ensure better hygiene in the prisons. These activities are scheduled to be completed within 9 months.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the head of the Water and Sanitation Programme of UN-HABITAT, Mr. Bert Diphoorn, noted that the project would uplift the living conditions in the prisons by providing clean drinking water, an extremely rare commodity in many Kenyan prisons. “ Caravans of prisoners trooping to nearby springs and other dirty water sources will be a thing of the past”, he said.

Reiterating her NGO’s commitment to implementing the project according to the agreed schedule, the Executive Director of the Prisoners Care Programme, Ms. Jemima Gichungu, thanked UN-HABITAT for supporting the prisons water project, noting that Kenyan prisons are currently characterized by severe overcrowding, with inadequate and rudimentary facilities. “Lack of clean drinking water and inadequate sanitation facilities often result in deaths of inmates due to water-borne diseases”, she said.

The Prisons Water Project is a component of the ongoing Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative, a joint project by UN-HABITAT and the Governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It promotes improved access to water and sanitation, encourages efficiency in water use through demand management, and supports capacity building activities to help towns around the Lake to attain the water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals. The first phase of the programme has as already provided improved water services to over 114,000 persons and improved sanitation to about 20,000 persons.

Methods and Materials for Conversation and Writing Tutors

Eric H. Roth writes...

How do you effectively teach English to a struggling private student? What will you actually do for 60-120 minutes together? How will you make the lessons meaningful enough that your client feels satisfied and wants to retain you for future lessons?

First, you must be very clear about what the client wants and expects. Some tutors even present a written contract outlining their rates, the location and times of meetings, and payment policies. I've never been that formal, but I have also never been burned the way some tutors have been. In fact, I've had only very positive experiences with clients. Why? Perhaps luck; perhaps because I screen potential clients. I only work with professionals, graduate students, and/or friends and spouses of friends with a solid foundation in English. Be explicit about what you want and don't want to teach a client. Be prepared to provide options for potential clients that you reject.

For students who want to improve their conversation, I strongly suggest that you select the topic and materials in advance. You can use newspapers and/or magazines to find appropriate articles to begin the conversation. (I usually assign the articles a week ahead and give them my conversation worksheets.) My favorite book - because I wrote it and it provides 45 self-contained thematic chapters - is Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics. The combination of poignant questions, vocabulary lists, proverbs, and witty quotations makes your job much easier.

If you have a weaker student looking to improve their speaking skills, then I would advise using a picture dictionary. There are several fine ones. You might use the Oxford Picture Dictionary to open conversations, and I would be tempted to ask the client to bring in photographs and ads each week. You will need patience and be prepared to repeat words. Many students will want to work on their pronunciation. You can also ask/assign them listening activities on the web. I like Voice of America's Special English programs for intermediate and advanced students. You will have to direct lower levels to websites to practice their listening and speaking skills with drills. They will love the work; you might go mad repeating vowel sounds.

You can also make a good income helping ESL students write college admission essays, practice TOEFL and GRE essays, and proofreading papers. There are many fine books you can use. I recommend Keith Folse's Great Essays and picking any of the standard test preparation guides published by Barrons or Kaplans. For worse or for better, the focus is on structure and not content. Spelling, somehow, often doesn't even officially matter. You might also use the excellent Cambridge Vocabulary in Use series and Grammar in Use series. You can also recommend Grammar Troublespots for international students.

Finally, I have had great success sharing insights on adapting to American culture. My favorite book for this challenging task remains Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You. Each chapter focuses on a practical life skill from buying a computer and finding a good mechanic to organizing your workplace and writing letters of condolence. Inevitably the readings lend themselves to engaging conversations and a satisfying exchange of information and insights. I have also assigned readings from Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, but the advice offered often seems very idealistic and naive to immigrant professionals. Still, clients love the idioms and find that the perspective illuminates unknown aspects of American culture - or at least a segment of American culture.

Finally, the key to tutoring ESL students - or anyone else - remains respecting the student, meeting their needs, and providing a solid structure for your lessons. I have found that using a set text, developing a known routine, and combining conversation, vocabulary and writing skills makes for a successful and satisfying experience.

As William Shakespeare noted four centuries ago, "All's well that ends well". Therefore, you should also have the grace to know when to end your lessons. Some clients will want to keep working with you. Set a clear goal for your lessons, and conclude when the students have reached that goal. You can then become genuine friends and leave money out of the equation.

Or not. You choose. What are your goals for tutoring students?

TEFL.NET ESL Reviews & Articles© Eric H. Roth 2007
Eric Roth currently teaches writing and verbal skills to international graduate students at the University of Southern California. Eric has helped university students discover the pleasures and perils of the English language from dozens of countries over the last 15 years. He recently co-authored an EFL book titled "Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics" from materials he developed as a tutor and teacher. Eric can be reached through http://www.compellingconversations.com.