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Waluigi
Joined: 09 Apr 2009
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 Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:40 am Post subject: One on one with a 'genius' |
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Ok, so I have just accepted a private teaching job (through my hagwon) which lasts every day for the next 15 days.
The kid is 16 years old, and he is described by some of my co-teachers as a 'genius'. I met him today along with his parents and the kid does certainly seem to have that kind of air about him. He speaks English to a high level, and he had no problem explaining to me how much he loves science and we had a good in depth chat about his life.
Now, I have never taught one-on-one before, so I am looking for some tips on how to approach this from some of you experienced teachers. I have 2 hours to fill in each lesson and he says he wants to work on his speaking and writing... I have a rough plan to have one hour of speaking about a variety of topics and an hour of comprehension/writing. Apparently the kid picks things up very quickly, hence the 'genius' thing.
Any suggestions for me? sorry if this sounds a bit vague, but I really am a bit lost at the moment, having never done this kind of thing before.
Any suggestions warmly received....  |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:45 am Post subject: |
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| Give him a test to actually test his comprehension and grammar skills. Won't he be taking the TOEIC, and all that stuff, tests soon? Maybe you could prepare him for the speaking and writing parts of those tests. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 5:53 am Post subject: |
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There's a book I like to use for my high level discussion classes that you might want to consider (I teach adults, but if this guy is so smart, it might still be okay). It's called "Small Group Discussion Topics" and the author is Jack Martire (blue book).
Some of the topics are quite controversial, so avoid the really racy ones with a teenager, but there's lots of difficult vocabulary and good discussion questions to stimulate debate. I bought it at Kyobo but call them, Youngpoong, and Bandi and Lunis before you go: not all the stores have it. |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| cdninkorea wrote: |
There's a book I like to use for my high level discussion classes that you might want to consider (I teach adults, but if this guy is so smart, it might still be okay). It's called "Small Group Discussion Topics" and the author is Jack Martire (blue book).
Some of the topics are quite controversial, so avoid the really racy ones with a teenager, but there's lots of difficult vocabulary and good discussion questions to stimulate debate. I bought it at Kyobo but call them, Youngpoong, and Bandi and Lunis before you go: not all the stores have it. |
Is that the one with crop circles, Egyptology, wacky ideas about Mars, and normal stuff like GMO, pop. growth and AIDS? If so, that book actually kills. I have to teach it to my co-teachers, and they get a real kick out of it. I've had conservative, 40 year old women yelling at each other about potential life spans. It seems to really spark conversation. |
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Waluigi
Joined: 09 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| Senior wrote: |
| Give him a test to actually test his comprehension and grammar skills. Won't he be taking the TOEIC, and all that stuff, tests soon? Maybe you could prepare him for the speaking and writing parts of those tests. |
yeah he mentioned something about taking those tests soon.
any ideas on what materials I would need to prepare him for them? |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 3:58 pm Post subject: Re: One on one with a 'genius' |
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| Waluigi wrote: |
I have 2 hours to fill in each lesson and he says he wants to work on his speaking and writing... I have a rough plan to have one hour of speaking about a variety of topics and an hour of comprehension/writing.
Any suggestions for me? |
I teach quite a lot of one-on-one classes and most of my students want the same focus on speaking and writing as your genius does. I have a set schedule that works very well for me and my students:
15-30 minutes free talking: take an interest in their life, chat about sports, school, or any other topic they bring up. Make sure to encourage the students to ask questions as well.
45 minutes reading: I find that short, simplified novels work very well. I usually read two chapters with the students (I have the student read the text out loud), focus on pronunciation, vocabulary and comprehension and discuss the plot.
5-10 minutes free talking: as above, but shorter. In this free talking section it is the student that should be doing the talking by asking questions.
30-45 minutes writing: I use a level appropriate text book that provides well structured lessons and follow these.
Homework: I always assign homework based on the reading and writing sections. Usually I ask the student to use vocabulary items highlighted in the reading section in a writing exercise from the textbook - this sometimes requires you to alter the exercises in the writing book.
This plan has served me well for almost a decade now and my students seem to enjoy it too.
Hope this helps. All the best. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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Gnawbert
Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Location: The Internet
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I've been using Breaking News English (http://breakingnewsenglish.com/) with one of my small adult conversation classes for the last couple of weeks while we wait for some of the students to return from vacation and it has gone over wonderfully. They've really enjoyed some of the topics and exercises. |
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Howler Monkey
Joined: 12 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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A kid like that demands something better than an ESL Textbook. What I would do is suss out his interests and then wrap your lessons around those interests.
Have him create a presentation to teach you about that interest and then video tape it. 10 days later, after he has practiced a bit and flexed out his topic, have him do it again and video tape it again.
Play the before and after for him to compare his progress.
Get him to work on enunciation, delivery, confidence, poise, and being knowledgeable in his chosen topic area.
Question him closely and include this in the tape.
10 days should be enough for him to show an improvement if you make sure the first time he presents he only has an hour or so to prepare. |
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oldfatfarang
Joined: 19 May 2005
Location: On the road to somewhere.
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Howler Monkey wrote: |
A kid like that demands something better than an ESL Textbook. What I would do is suss out his interests and then wrap your lessons around those interests.
Have him create a presentation to teach you about that interest and then video tape it. 10 days later, after he has practiced a bit and flexed out his topic, have him do it again and video tape it again.
Play the before and after for him to compare his progress.
Get him to work on enunciation, delivery, confidence, poise, and being knowledgeable in his chosen topic area.
Question him closely and include this in the tape.
10 days should be enough for him to show an improvement if you make sure the first time he presents he only has an hour or so to prepare. |
Thanks for that. One of the better pieces of advice I've seen on Daves.
Well done that man. Carry on! |
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Italy37612
Joined: 25 Jan 2010
Location: Somewhere
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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I have two books that I use for my TOEIC classes. The first one is, "Tactics for TOEIC: Speaking and Writing Tests" by Grant Trew. The second book is, "Jump Up TOEIC Speaking" by Gwen Lee.
The first book is great I have been using it for over a year now and the students always get a lot out of it. The other book is just a collection of sample speaking tests. It comes with a CD program that allows you to take the sample tests on the computer just like the real deal. It records the student's responses to a folder so you can listen to them and grade their answer. |
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Waluigi
Joined: 09 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Howler Monkey wrote: |
A kid like that demands something better than an ESL Textbook. What I would do is suss out his interests and then wrap your lessons around those interests.
Have him create a presentation to teach you about that interest and then video tape it. 10 days later, after he has practiced a bit and flexed out his topic, have him do it again and video tape it again.
Play the before and after for him to compare his progress.
Get him to work on enunciation, delivery, confidence, poise, and being knowledgeable in his chosen topic area.
Question him closely and include this in the tape.
10 days should be enough for him to show an improvement if you make sure the first time he presents he only has an hour or so to prepare. |
That really is an excellent idea. I'm seriously thinking about trying it, so I'll let you know how it goes if I do.
Thanks for all the other ideas too. I particularly like the Guiness Book of Records idea, but since I'm only teaching him for the next two weeks, I'm not sure I'd get a copy of that in time (I wouldn't have a clue where to buy it in Gwangju). I will definitely try that one some day though.
And Gnawbert, that website really is great, thanks a lot for that too.
Great advice guys. I'm happy to report that the first two lessons with Mr. Genius have gone rather well  |
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Waluigi
Joined: 09 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:34 pm Post subject: Re: One on one with a 'genius' |
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| Thiuda wrote: |
I teach quite a lot of one-on-one classes and most of my students want the same focus on speaking and writing as your genius does. I have a set schedule that works very well for me and my students:
15-30 minutes free talking: take an interest in their life, chat about sports, school, or any other topic they bring up. Make sure to encourage the students to ask questions as well.
45 minutes reading: I find that short, simplified novels work very well. I usually read two chapters with the students (I have the student read the text out loud), focus on pronunciation, vocabulary and comprehension and discuss the plot.
5-10 minutes free talking: as above, but shorter. In this free talking section it is the student that should be doing the talking by asking questions.
30-45 minutes writing: I use a level appropriate text book that provides well structured lessons and follow these.
Homework: I always assign homework based on the reading and writing sections. Usually I ask the student to use vocabulary items highlighted in the reading section in a writing exercise from the textbook - this sometimes requires you to alter the exercises in the writing book.
This plan has served me well for almost a decade now and my students seem to enjoy it too.
Hope this helps. All the best. |
I forgot to mention that this also helped immensely. I am making a loose plan for each lesson based on this, and it's working a treat.
Thanks! |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:24 am Post subject: |
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| Due to students heading off to other kinds of camp, my English camp dwindled down to one student and it was on the last day that I stumbled onto Snopes.com. Then when I saw Dave's tip on the Guinness Book of World records, I realized why it was such a good lesson. Unfortunately, I won't get to do any more one on one lessons. I'm an E2 at a public school. |
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WadRUG'naDoo
Joined: 15 Jun 2010
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 6:06 am Post subject: |
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| If he's a genius, maybe he's taking classes from you only to study your habits for a book he's writing. |
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