Job Discussion Forums

[basiltherat]

interested in hearing the pro's and con's of doing one-to-one teaching from experienced teachers, especially those doing business english.
thnx
basil

cc business english forum

[Teacher in Rome]

Hi Basil

I'm a big fan of one-to-one teaching for business English. You get to know your student's needs, so you can dedicate the whole lesson to helping him / her on the things that matter.

I've always asked the student to bring in work-related material - either reports etc that the student needs to understand or reply to, or their own writing (emails etc). This also has the benefit of helping you to understand what your student does. After all, we can only hope to be the language experts - there is no way that we can also be experts on oil drilling, or financial policy etc.

One thing that I have found time and time again, is that students generally know their own work-related vocab and jargon really well. What they have difficulty with is the more general day-to-day stuff.

A final consideration (in terms of course planning) is that I've rarely used one textbook with one-to-one business students, simply because one textbook cannot cover everything an individual student needs. I've taken material from different sources, and written a fair amount myself, so that the student's course can be more personalised.

[Glenski]

This is snipped from a thread from another discussion forum. The question was about private lessons in general, not specifically one on one lessons or Business English classes. I hope there is something useful in here.

Teaching privately is about as risky and unstable as it gets. Your students can drop you at the ... uh... drop of a hat, and that could mean at the end of what THEY perceive as their last class. Totally unannounced to you until that moment. The best strategy for signing up private lessons is to get them to pay for a month (or more) in advance, so you have some kind of buffer period built into your earnings in the event that you lose students suddenly like this. However, it still opens a hole in your schedule and your pocketbook that you have to fill. YOU, not another employer. It will always be your responsibility to find new students. Some students will be charitable enough to find replacements without being asked, but I have not found this to be a common occurrence. Moreover, if they want to replace themselves within a group, you will have to contend with whether or not their newly found member fits in, socially as well as in terms of equivalent level.

Students leave for many reasons.
1. A spouse is transferred (a common occurrence).
2. The thrill of studying wears off (it's usually just another hobby to some, after all).
3. Lack of funds (always the case for the younger set, and something that is becoming more common with older people who find their bonuses cut year after year).
4. The purpose for the class is finished. (Example: a student wants to prepare for an overseas trip or exchange program.)
5. Chemistry among group members is not good.
6. People are laid off or fired. (I lost half of an entire group of businessmen this way and had to cancel the whole lesson because the rest of them didn't want to attend anymore.)

In addition, if students merely cancel one class for the month, you have to deal with the business side of things in determining how to charge for that situation. And, there is also the issue of raising your rates after a while. You are also the one solely responsible for determining students' levels, or dealing with friends who want to study together even though they are quite different in ability. (Would you tell them it's possible even though it's not, and risk a horrible match-up with unequal learning ability? Or would you risk losing the money by saying it's just not possible?)

Teaching privately affords you no paid vacation, no subsidized housing or pension payments or health insurance payments. In fact, it is likely that you will have to pay more in health insurance payments this way than with a full-time employer. If one's spouse is working full-time and can cover these things for you, then there is no problem, but for male foreigners, a Japanese wife is much less likely to have a position that can do that. And, then what do you do when she starts having children and can't work?

Teaching privately also means one has to find a suitable location(s) to teach. This can be cafes, coffee shops, or restaurants, etc. or it can be your own home, your student's home, or some rental facility.
1. Dealing with public establishments means dealing with noise of surrounding customers and staff, smoke, choice of seating, and traveling. Traveling problems entail more than just who pays. It wears one out, even when you have to go to only 2 places a day.
2. Working out of your home means (presumably) keeping it clean and presentable (daunting to some!), or preparing a separate room that you reserve just for teaching (equally daunting for some in this land of rabbit hutch housing).
3. Renting a public facility means more money out of your own pocket and dealingwith that place's schedules. Renting your own facility means even more headaches with cleaning, taxes, furnishings, etc.

Teaching private lessons also implies that you will be the one responsible for making all of the lesson plans. That's great if you already have such a supply from previous experience, but it still means doing all of the photocopy work yourself and keeping track of which private students got which lesson last week. Teaching privates is not always about just gabbing in McDonalds with some high level student.


An additional comment I might make about one on one lessons themselves is that you will usually be talking more than if you had 2 or more students. If the chemistry between you and that student isn't good, you can really feel miserable after 60 minutes and not look forward to going to the lesson.

[Shaman]

Teacher in Rome summed it up quite nicely. With the personal attention that you can give the student, a greater rapport grows as well. A dedicated student can really improve quickly. As a result, the teacher often receives more kudos from the solo student when the training has yielded noticeable benefits in the workplace. I've always seen it as a "win-win".

Shaman

[Roger]

If you have a language in common with your student - either his or her English is adequate, or you know your student's first tongue, then you find yourself in the potentially best situation.
Imagine, you and your student can elaborate the teaching together; you can give your charge optimum attention.

I had a Hong Kong businessman for student for almost two years; he then entrusted me with the teaching of the children of one of his relatives.

Personal chemistry does play an inordinately important role, though; if you don't hit it off well, you lose your only paying student.

I always cash in in advance, and commit myself to a strict timetable; very important in CHINA!
Never had any quarrels over money or changes to the timetable.

[Mike_2003]

I've been teaching one-to-one as my main business for the last 3 years and have been successful. I occasionally do small groups or in-company teaching.

Here are some notes of my own to add to the above:

***Why?***

Most of my students are 20-40 year-old business people. They don't want to attend courses for several reasons:

1. Too many commitments to attend a regular course; private lessons give them more flexibility.
2. Embarrassed to join a class. Turkish males are quite image-conscious. Many of them won't admit to taking English lessons to their peers.
3. They know quite a lot of grammar, they have had group lessons in school, uni or at courses, but they have poor speaking skills and private lessons give them a chance to practice more than in a course.
4. They find courses to be childish. They don't particularly like EFL games. They seek a more professional environment.
5. They want to study subjects they find interesting, or that are more pertinent to their careers.
6. They feel that if they pay more, they'll learn more quickly. This is the most annoying and least valid reason for taking 1-2-1.

Private lessons are all about connecting to your student's needs. In most cases this is in speaking confidence. I'd estimate that about 50% of what I do is designed to improve their confidence in a natural speaking environment. This is important to them because they may regularly have to do business on the phone or face-to-face with foreigners. Courses simply don't prepare them well enough for this.

Many of my students know the basic principles of English grammar, but fail to apply them when speaking. I try to keep the speaking practice real and fluid. Getting to know the students and their interests is vital. This is where I seem to succeed in this business. I am quite good at provoking them into speech in a non-offensive manner. Once you know what tickles them, you can get them speaking quickly and help them forget their self-consciousness. Even if they make a few mistakes, if they have confidence then they can communicate. It doesn't matter how well a student knows the grammar if he/she is too afraid to use it.

***How?***

1. About 50% of my students reply to my ad on the net, the other 50% are from word-of-mouth recommendations.
2. I never raise a student's fee. They pay the same price for as long as they attend. Only the new students pay the latest rates. This is a kind of "loyalty bonus".
3. I ask my students to inform me as early as possible if they have to cancel, and prefer to rearrange the lesson time. I don't want to take money for nothing, but neither do I want my income to suffer.
4. I keep detailed records of attendance and payment. I've never had any payment problems. From my records I can see a very consistent attendance rate of 70% (average of all students). This will obviously vary from country to country. With this in mind it is easy to work out how many students you need to have, and the going rate for lessons, in order to set your income at your desired level.
5. You are only as good as your last lesson. I never drink if I have a lesson the next morning, I'm always well-presented, have the lesson area prepared and have lesson notes and handouts ready. The student even gets a cup of tea or coffee waiting for him when he arrives, made the way he likes it. Little details like this do matter.
6. I teach at home. My prices are reasonable and they can have lessons from me, a native speaker, in my home for about the same price as they would pay for a non-native speaker who would travel to their workplace/home. Most see the advantage of this and are happy to travel to me. It's a good compromise: I save travel time and expenses; they save on lesson fees and get a native speaker.
7. I keep full notes on what I have taught and to whom. I record every lesson so as not to repeat anything without reason and to give me an idea of where they are progressing and which areas need further attention.

***cons***

1. No paid holidays.
2. Unsociable hours.

***pros***

1. Secure, if variable, income. There is little chance of losing ALL your students suddenly, so you are always earning something.
2. No office politics.
3. Freedom to work your own way.
4. No BS. Your job is 100% teaching (plus a little admin).
5. More enjoyable (subjective, of course).
6. You see improvements more vividly.
7. More free time to pursue hobbies and other interests (or spend on Dave's... )
8. Less stress, less classroom management.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, and you have to have the right attitude and professionalism towards this work, but it's the way I like to work and over the years I've built up a successful working methodology. I think many teachers have problems with one-to-one because they don't take it seriously. It can be seen as an on-the-side earner and this is definitely the wrong attitude to take. If you are not serious about it, how can you expect your students to be any better? However, approached correctly it can be very satisfying and profitable.

Mike

[James_T_Kirk]

You have already received some great advice. There is only one thing that I would like to add. When you work with someone so closely, feelings can develop (I guess you can view this as a pro or a con). This is what happened with the one private I had in China. I lived in Shenzhen, and she was a rich single girl (mainly because her Hong Kong boyfriend, who of course was married to a Hong Kong women, hooked her up with crazy cash) with a lot of freetime. She was really attracted to me and came on to me bigtime.

Before our teacher-student relationship turned into sexual tension, I really enjoyed teaching one-on-one. However, it required a lot of work, because if you want to do a good job, you have to take the time to be prepared. Good luck and have fun.

Cheers,
Kirk

[Cleopatra]

I think teachers can be divided into two groups: those that like one-to-ones, and those that hate them. I hate them.

Firstly, I don't think it's a good way to learn, as it's too intense and you lack more "natural" interaction. I've always been amused when students talk about their "individual" language needs and then are happy to do a very expensive one-to-one course based on Headway!

The way I see it, 90% of students do not "need" private lessons. And, as an above poster correctly pointed out, most studetns acutally know their own speciailist vocab well (often better than the teacher) and really need help in general, conveersational English.

More importantly (!), I think one-to-ones are really hard work for the teacher. There's none of the 'down time' when students are busy 'working in groups' and the teacher can stare out the window and daydream for a precious 2 minutes. It's all so intense.

Of course, one-to-ones are very profitable, which is why schools promote them so much and insist that students "need" them. And who can blame them? It's a business, after all - a cut-throat one, at that.

[johnslat]

Dear Cleopatra,
If so, then I'm in both groups: I love them and hate them. That's because, in my experience, it all depends on the student involved. It can be close to heaven or it can be almost hell.
Regards,
John

[Sonnet]

I really enjoy one-to-ones, even if some students can be a little... testing, shall we say? But no more so than that one self-assured little so-and-so you get in most large classes of kids. Personally I'm quite happy working part-time with one-to-ones over here to keep me sane while I pretend to be a happy student in the rest of my time. I couldn't imagine ever making them my primary line of teaching at any point in my future career though; I just prefer actually being in a classroom situation, but that's pure personal choice.

-s

[Mike_2003]

Hi Cleopatra,

As a full-time one-to-one tutor I'd just like to respond to some of your points:

[Cleopatra]

Mike,


I accept most of your points fully.

i was really referring to one-to-one courses run in language schools, which is what I'm used to. In this situation, the teacher often has litttle time - or responsibility - to influence the shape of the course. Schools (well, the ones I've worked for anyway) often see it as a prime money spinner and aren't really bothered with making the courses truly "individual". Only the fee is done on an individual basis.

As for private lessons being more suitable for busy people, that is obviously correct.

However, I still think that few people have "language needs" so "individual" that they have to have one-to-one lessons. It may flatter them to think so, and it's obviously very lucrative for schools, but a language is a language and - at least in my experience - it's very rare to find someone with needs so specific that they can't be catered for in a small group.

Or maybe I'm just biased. Personally, if I were learning a language, I can think of few things more excrtiating than 2 hours alone with a teacher. Then again, maybe if he was really good looking...

[waxwing]

Very interesting stuff. So, I have two questions:

What's the optimum group size? I tend to think 3-6. I guess there are advantages to having 6-12 or even higher, but they're less important than the disadvantages.

And, are we conflating private teaching with one-on-one? Is it possible to do privates in small groups? I tend to think that would be ideal (I also find one-on-one rather intense, and can get dull when done for long periods, as if you were at a party and had to talk to one person for the whole night), except that of course placement (student level) and scheduling are issues there.

[Cleopatra]

For pragmatic "teachery" reasons, I tend to think anything between 6 and 10 is the ideal group size.

Fewer than that, and it can be hard to get an "atmosphere" going, esp. if the learners are beginners or are reluctant to talk. Also, when you have at least 6 or so in a class, it's not such a disaster for "classroom managemnt" if not everyone comes. Bigger than about 10, though, it becomes a bit harder to manage and to give everyone attention.

[basiltherat]

i agree ,although i think 12-15 should be max. im doing 32 in a group. its a real headache. still, i guess its not so bad since ive heard that in china, class sizes can reach 50+. ugh.
basil