Job Discussion Forums

laineylam · Joined: 11 May 2010 Posts: 7

Hi,
I'm new to teaching. I'm teaching one to ones to Brazillians, who speak no English. What should I be teaching? and how should I be teaching?

I'm a little nervous, as I want the lessons to be successful.

Don't get me wrong I can guess that you start with intro's and greetings etc. But where exactly do you introduce pronouns and how? Also we have no common language, though I'm using google translate. Could someone please suggest a course outline? I have spent the day researching online with no sucess.

And does any one know any specific difficulties Portuguese speakers have? I've found some differences on line, but if any one has experience with the common probs, I would love to know.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

mozzar · Joined: 16 May 2009 Posts: 339 Location: France

This is a big ask, pretty much expecting a course to be outlined for you. I'd suggest getting a coursebook (e.g. Headway). Using this as a reference point would be a start. There are other books about how to teach, just scan through amazon.

If you've done a CELTA course or similar it should have prepared you. But asking a forum how to teach is hopeful.

Jbhughes · Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 254

I'm not an expert, but all the Brazilians I've met would prefer you call their language 'Brazilian' or at least 'Brazilian Portuguese,' and didn't appreciate it being labelled as 'Portuguese.'

This is despite wikipedia referring to "the differences between European Portuguese and standard Brazilian Portuguese are comparable to the ones found between British and American English. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Portuguese

Either way, the same article states that there are some big differences - especially in spoken language - so considering the Brazilian version seems more appropriate.

As for 1-2-1 tuition, here are some tips on this site:

http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Private:Teaching

Others will likely suggest an appropriate 1-2-1 coursebook - potentially in the newbie or Brazil parts of this board.

fluffyhamster · Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:38 pm Post subject:

The following thread might be of interest (it concerns a guy who was planning to teach privately in Colombia, and wondering what teacher-training courses and resources generally could help, so there are a fair number of books mentioned):
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=79538

I'd be a bit wary by the way of relying much on Google Translate - either learn the local lingo sufficiently well that you can if need be use some of it in your teaching, or adapt your "English-only" teaching enough (with good examples, sufficient and sufficiently clear contexts etc - but don't simplify too much!) that the students can understand what it is in English that you are trying to teach them.