Job Discussion Forums

[km618]

I picked up a new student who wants to have class for two hours M-F for 5 weeks. So, 25 classes...His English is really good, and I feel like a lot of simple topics will be too boring for him. He's going to America to study in September. Has anyone else had an "intensive" one-on-one course like that? What did you do?

[Gilka]

I've never done anything like that, and it sounds like hell on earth, honestly.

Any chance of just showing him an American movie everyday? Hah.

What kind of direction has the student given? He likely knows where his weakneses are, or his perceived weaknesses, at least. He's probably spending a lot of money, so get a clear idea of what kind of improvement is expected.

Anyway, I suggest field trips. Things you see and do will stimulate the conversation.

[happigur1]

I found that students who are intending to go abroad for universities have really good English when it comes to academics but when it comes to daily life, they are a bit clueless.... especially with the idioms and slang we use. I teach Bio/Chem in English and they will understand perfectly when I lecture about the endocrine system or evolution but when it came around to taking pictures and I was helping some students put on a tie and said, "Pop your collar", they just stared at me, clueless.

If you are able to, why not have some classes outside a "classroom" setting. For example, playing basketball and explaining the rules in English, etc. Or cooking a meal together and you can practice words like "measuring cups", "flour", "baking pan", "wok", so on and so forth. When I had my one-on-one (granted it was with a much younger student), I took her to the zoo and we talked about the different animals and what they do. Or o to the grocery store and talk about the different items and how it's different in the USA (for example, we don't have to scale the product at the produce department. We can just bring out bag of apples, without a label, to the cashier).

[sharpe88]

i doubt any young Chinese male would need explaining of the rules of basketball!

[Teatime of Soul]

Find out what the student's life goals are. Then work on discussing the knowleges, skills, and abilities needed to achieve those goals.

Example: Student wanted to start a chain of hotels. Discussed need for soft skills, interpersonal relations, how to train and motivate his future staff.

Discussed famous hoteliers, their life history. What would his business motto be? His logo?

Also, simple things such as going to the laundromat.

Keep asking questions. Why do you want to do that? What do you think would happen if you did this instead? What if...

Focus on what the student finds motivating and keep asking questions to get him speaking.

Best of luck, you may be pleasantly surprised by what the student can contribute.

[RonHex]

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/speaking/recent
some good stuff there...

[johntpartee]

That is a LOT of tutoring. I had a private student who was (almost) fluent, we would just sit and talk like a couple of friends visiting and when I heard syntax or pronunciation errors, then the teacher would come out. BUT five days a week, two hours a day? I would try something like English language movies and then discuss and critique the film, or maybe current events. Give the student an assignment to read the latest news from the US (or anywhere) online and talk about that. Once again, though, that's a heck of a lot of time....

[Laurence]

you could use articles from magazine articles and newspapers

you can use the material to work on advanced literacy, comprehension, vocabulary, extract discussion topics, and set homework too (which would eat up some time at the start of the next class, as you go through it and give feedback)

and if your student is going to the US, it could easily become culturally/socially relevant as well.

[hot_water_hillbilly]

[Miles Smiles]

[johntpartee]

I think happigur1 meant to say "pop UP your collar".

[happigur1]

[km618]

Ok, thanks a lot for the replies. Sorry for the delayed response. So far everything is going well. I brought in a list of topics, but he doesn't really seem to mind waht we talk about, as long as we talk...He constantly talks, and he's just excited about expressing his ideas in English. It's almost like a Chinese History/Culture course for me too, so I enjoy it. I'm 25 and he's 24, so we're like-minded in some ways.

[johntpartee]

Lucky you. If it works, don't fix it!