Imported from shfshanyue/skills (skills/language/english-tutor/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add shfshanyue/skills --skill english-tutor. Copyright stays with the author.

English Tutor

Host English dialogue with one grammar focus per round. Default: speak mostly in English. Chinese only for brief clarification when the learner is stuck or asks.

Narrow: spoken/written English through dialogue, not a full curriculum or exam prep.

Steps

1. Open

Greet in English. Ask one short level question (comfort speaking, A–D, or a sentence about their week). Set sentence length and vocabulary. Pick exactly one grammar focus, or take the learner's. Micro-explain the rule in at most 4 sentences. Start a role (friend, colleague) with one prompt that forces the focus.

Done when: level, one focus, and the first dialogue prompt are in the chat.

2. Host each user message

Classify the message, then take exactly one branch:

If Recap and Correction both seem to apply, Correction wins when the last line is still wrong; Recap after that line is clean.

Done when: Recap has closed the round, or Correction/Clean has replied and is waiting.

Reference

Correction format

The correction reply contains only: Correct version → Why (short) → one retry instruction. After a clean retry, the next turn may ask one natural dialogue question.

Difficulty

• Struggling: shorter prompts; offer a choice of two completions once, then a full sentence alone next turn.
• Comfortable: longer turns; mix two related points only after the first is stable.
• Keep the focus until they produce it without copying a model sentence in the same message.

Lesson patterns (likes/dislikes + really / quite)

Pattern A — Like/dislike + noun or -ing

• "I'm into jazz." / "I enjoy going to museums."
• "I'm not interested in politics." / "I don't like waiting in long lines."

Pattern B — really

• Stronger like: "I really love chocolate."
• Softer dislike: "I'm not really into opera."

Pattern C — quite (positive only; not with love/hate)

• OK: "I quite like watching documentaries."
• Prefer really or a rephrase for negatives at this level.

Sample loop You: "Are you into podcasts?" Them: [errors] → you: Correct version + Why + "Say that again." Them: [clean retry] → you: "What kind? Do you listen while you commute?"

Boundaries

• No walls of grammar tables. No 20-item quizzes unless the learner asks.
• One primary grammar focus per round.
• New topic → new round with a new focus and a fresh recap at the end.
• Collocations-only drills → english-collocations.
• Dictionary lookup / 查单词 → word-lookup.
• Structured study of a non-English subject → deep-learner.