Hi there,
I am about to start my first one-to-one teaching job, with an intermediate level adult, and am struggling to find any useful advice or resources for such teaching. There is planty of information on teaching groups of teenagers and youngsters but very little on teaching one-to-one such as good exercises, materials and just simple advice. Can anyone help?
One-to-one teaching - help please!
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Hi ouraka,
I think that first of all you will have to sit down with your student and his/her parents and ask them what exactly their expectations are. Does your tutee need general English or English for specific purposes? What does (s)he want/need to improve most: speaking, writing, grammar, reading or pronunciation? Are there any type of exercises that your future student find boring, useless and a waste of time? (It doesn't mean that you should not do those type of exercises, though. It means that you might have to explain your student what the benifits of seemingly useless exercises are.)
Asking for your student's (or his/her parents') input will help you figure out what directions your tutorials should take. I would also recommend asking for regular feedback from your student and his/her parents to make sure that you keep your customers satisfied.
I think that first of all you will have to sit down with your student and his/her parents and ask them what exactly their expectations are. Does your tutee need general English or English for specific purposes? What does (s)he want/need to improve most: speaking, writing, grammar, reading or pronunciation? Are there any type of exercises that your future student find boring, useless and a waste of time? (It doesn't mean that you should not do those type of exercises, though. It means that you might have to explain your student what the benifits of seemingly useless exercises are.)
Asking for your student's (or his/her parents') input will help you figure out what directions your tutorials should take. I would also recommend asking for regular feedback from your student and his/her parents to make sure that you keep your customers satisfied.
Thanks, some great advice. Certainly feedback was one thing I was very keen on getting and having spoken to the student I know that speaking/listening are the two primary areas that they are keen to improve. I have some good ideas of my own but would appreciate any resources you can point to that don't just consist of big groups of teenagers working on 'fun' topics!
Well, I don't work with teenagers, but you might want to check out "Children BBC" on the web. You can listen to their articles, and you can use them as a spring board for conversation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/default.stm
You might find this one interesting as well:
http://www.brainpop.com/health/seeall/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/default.stm
You might find this one interesting as well:
http://www.brainpop.com/health/seeall/
My method might not be the best for everyone, but I almost teach adult one on ones exclusively and it seems to work for me.
Because yoiur student is intermediate, the most important thing for them, as others, is to talk. Because there is only one person, you have it easier in some ways and more difficult in others. The easy part is that you can tailor your lessons to one person and find topics that she/he is interested in. The more difficult part is you have to cover more ground because you have to get them to do all the talking to you instead of interacting with each other.
Follow Stromfi's advice, it's good, but a few things you should look at.
1. Lesson books I think are almost useless in this situation. If you want to use one, limit it to about 30 min. of class. I'm assuming a 2 hour lesson. When I say 30 min., I mean use it for an hour, but encourage tangents if the student goes that way. After a couple of months (my one on ones typically last just over a year) you and the student will have a feel for each other and you can go with the flow.
2. Don't be afraid of assigning homework. It all depends on what you've found out about the student, but I'm a slave to Murphy (English Grammar in Use) and give the student one or two units a week to go over. Remember they've seen it all before, but have forgotten half of what they've learned (or been taught wrong in the first place).
3. Along with the grammar homework, writing is always a good thing. TOEFL practise essays are nice, but also business letters, etc. It all depends. Remember to make them short (half page) as going over them in class ends up taking a huge amount of time.
4. Possibly assign readings every week and come up whit discussion questions. Think of what might interest the person, that's the most difficult part. Don't be afraind to push them, they want to feel that they are learning and being pushed does that. Then come up with some good questions and have them come back at you with some vocabulary they learned or had some problems with (I hate teaching vocabulary, though).
5. Flexibility is the key - remember you only have to please one person, so they set the pace. I have one student right now I've been teaching for 17 months (pre-intermediate) and we still haven't got through one New Headway book.
6. As well, students like to be corrected. This is an art as a teacher. I had one student just send me an email (she's in NZ now) complaining that nobody corrects her and she misses it. I've also subbed when I was working for a school and been told on occasions that they are unhappy with their regular teacher because they don't correct enough. Saying that, be ready with the "why" and be willing to say "Because English is stupid sometimes".
Have fun, teaching one-on-one is scary to begin with as the separation you have with a full class isn't there, but it can also be very rewarding.
Because yoiur student is intermediate, the most important thing for them, as others, is to talk. Because there is only one person, you have it easier in some ways and more difficult in others. The easy part is that you can tailor your lessons to one person and find topics that she/he is interested in. The more difficult part is you have to cover more ground because you have to get them to do all the talking to you instead of interacting with each other.
Follow Stromfi's advice, it's good, but a few things you should look at.
1. Lesson books I think are almost useless in this situation. If you want to use one, limit it to about 30 min. of class. I'm assuming a 2 hour lesson. When I say 30 min., I mean use it for an hour, but encourage tangents if the student goes that way. After a couple of months (my one on ones typically last just over a year) you and the student will have a feel for each other and you can go with the flow.
2. Don't be afraid of assigning homework. It all depends on what you've found out about the student, but I'm a slave to Murphy (English Grammar in Use) and give the student one or two units a week to go over. Remember they've seen it all before, but have forgotten half of what they've learned (or been taught wrong in the first place).
3. Along with the grammar homework, writing is always a good thing. TOEFL practise essays are nice, but also business letters, etc. It all depends. Remember to make them short (half page) as going over them in class ends up taking a huge amount of time.
4. Possibly assign readings every week and come up whit discussion questions. Think of what might interest the person, that's the most difficult part. Don't be afraind to push them, they want to feel that they are learning and being pushed does that. Then come up with some good questions and have them come back at you with some vocabulary they learned or had some problems with (I hate teaching vocabulary, though).
5. Flexibility is the key - remember you only have to please one person, so they set the pace. I have one student right now I've been teaching for 17 months (pre-intermediate) and we still haven't got through one New Headway book.
6. As well, students like to be corrected. This is an art as a teacher. I had one student just send me an email (she's in NZ now) complaining that nobody corrects her and she misses it. I've also subbed when I was working for a school and been told on occasions that they are unhappy with their regular teacher because they don't correct enough. Saying that, be ready with the "why" and be willing to say "Because English is stupid sometimes".
Have fun, teaching one-on-one is scary to begin with as the separation you have with a full class isn't there, but it can also be very rewarding.