Job Discussion Forums

[ElliotW]

Hi all!

I have just completed my CELTA course and am living in Spain.
I want to get into doing private one on one lessons and I have had some interest from clients already.

However, unlike my practice courses with the CELTA where the students do pairwork, writing exercises etc, I am wondering how the time is generally filled in a private lesson? I know obviously it kind of depends on say what they want to focus on eg conversation, but is it common to set students writing exercises during the lesson?
If so don't they feel like why are you the teacher there if youre not doing anything as theyre just writing? Any tips would be helpful! Thanks!

[MotherF]

A student takes a one-on-one private lesson because they want an individually tailored lesson. So what you do depends on who they are and what their learning needs/goals are.

I would think you'd set writing assignments as homework--then maybe correct them and go over the errors when you meet.

They might want prep for a specific exam, or they may have a specific situation where their job requires English and you would work on that.

[jpvanderwerf2001]

If the student just wants "to talk", I get a lot of use out of:
http://www.esldiscussions.com/ (A great resource from the person who does www.breakingnewsenglish.com)

http://iteslj.org/questions/

If you can find the "Discussions A-Z" books, I might recommend using them.

As Mother F indicated, it really does depend on what the student's needs and goals are.
Good luck.

[Glenski]

If they want to focus on writing, then they will have to expect some writing while the 2 of you are sitting together. Of course, you wouldn't make that the whole 60 minutes. Feedback and correcting would also be part of that, as well as explaining a new point.

Yes, it all depends on what they are interested in learning. And, who says private lessons absolutely must have just one student?!

I have not had much writing in a lesson, and the purpose will vary:
worksheet
sample letters
resumes
quiz

[Sashadroogie]

Do a needs analysis first. Find out what the learner wants. Very often however, students are not really sure what they want to do, and expect you the teacher to know for them. Huge generalisation, I know - there are many students who will have very specific goals in mind too. Hence, the needs analysis, to find out. And remember, very often students want individual lessons in order to maximise their time with the teacher and so maximise their learning - at least that seems to be the logic. Not so sure if it is as effective as they think, but if they are willing to pay for it... In any case they, yet again, may not know what they want beyond 'improving my English'.

Once all analysis has been done, the usual classroom activities like pairwork are still possible. You can do activities using yourself as the other partner. Don't be afraid to use a course book either - students feel relaxed when there is some sort of visual framework to refer to, especially at lower levels. As for writing, I'd keep that to a minimum in the class. Focus on the mechanics of writing, of course, i.e. paragraphing, linking phrases, concluding paragraphs etc., but having the student write for 30 or 40 mins is a misuse of valuable classroom time usually. Set writing tasks for homework.

Good luck!

[Kofola]

Good advice from Sashadroogie.

It's worth spending some serious time on the needs analysis. Even if it turns out that your student is one of those 'you're the teacher, you decide' types, it should give you enough of a syllabus to work on for the first few months at least. Even if they have no specific requirements it will highlight grammar areas that cause difficulties, vocabulary weakspots, give you an idea of the student's personality, what kind of learner they are and the kind of topics that motivate them.

My personal tip would be to question everything. If you use a standard questionnaire you'll find that people often interpret the questions differently. You'll get a much clearer picture if you ask for specifics. For example, they say they like writing (unlikely I know!), but does that mean fiction, blogging, emailing, tweeting, business letters?

[crewmeal1]

Some very good sound advice. Dare I say it when I did some work for Berlitz years ago, they would often have students on a 1-2-1 basis, Quite often I would take a low level student out and about and ask them to do simple tasks in a shop or supermarket. I would quite often ask them to direct me to a certain department on a store. This would give the student much needed confidence when dealing with strangers. Additionally I would try and get them to engage in converstaion with someone who works in a particular department.

[posh]

Once had a private student called Marketa in Prague. Man, did we do a lot of things, none of them coonected to English grammar.