30 minute one on one classes

peggle · Post by **peggle** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:35 am

Hi, I am a month into my first teaching job, in-company one on one lessons for 30 minutes a time. I took the CELTA course in the UK but as that was geared towards groups I am struggling somewhat in this set-up. I have 18 students of very mixed levels, each with two 30 minute lessons a week (a few have these consecutively so I teach for an hour, but most not). I took over from a previous teacher who had done a very recent needs analysis and left info on all students. Some use business English textbooks (mainly Market Leader) which are fine, some are very advanced and want to keep up their fluency, again fine, but I feel as though I am not giving the best to the rest of them. I am just not sure of the best way of teaching such short lessons - try to plan whole lessons of this length (students are often late so I end up teaching for 20, sometimes 15 minutes) or carry them over into subsequent classess. I am in Japan, most of my students are young and have good grammar knowledge on paper, but have not had the chance to practise spoken skills so much. I have been bringing articles for vocab/idiom building and discussion which they seem to enjoy but I am just not sure how helpful this is. I try to introduce grammar from discussion (for e.g. from last week's golden week, 'If I'd had more time, I would've...) but it feels kind of unnatural in a one on one situation. I have read posts on here saying free conversation is pointless but I am unsure how to stop this, especially as it seems to be what many students want from lessons. Sorry for rambling, any advice on anything, especially ideas for short lessons would be hugely appreciated, thank you.

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Tue May 08, 2007 4:24 pm

It is good to have a plan of where you want the students to be at the end of a certain period of time so that you cans say to them "Look at what you have accomplished in a month, or two months." I used to tape a session every two months or so and play them back the parts that showed they were progressing. That means you have to listen to the tapes and find some particular areas to work on. It also is a check for you to make sure that they are talking more than you. I found that the main thing they learned was questions because they are not used to understanding or answering questions that weren't the pat format they learned in their books. I also tried to talk at increasing speeds until I spoke at a normal conversation speed of native speakers. That took a long time of course. B

But you are a person they can talk to about anything and that is very unusual in Japan. They have grown up in a very small house and their mother sleeps with them until they leave home so they have very little privacy. They learn to keep their thoughts secret to promote family harmony in such a small space. These days there are many economic problems and people are under a lot of stress because of that. So having a half hour to talk to someone about anything that is bothering them is worth the money they spend on your lessons.

It goes without sayiing that you can never repeat what they say to you to anyone. Each community is very tight even though you think you are in a big town and people are anonymous. If you say something to anyone it might get back to your student. You have to be very careful about information you give to others and never say, I know someone who....because they can often figure out who that someone is.

You will make friends for life so look on your experience as a life long investment for them. They will visit you in the years to come or their children.

peggle · Post by **peggle** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:05 am

Thank you Sally, I really appreciate the advice, I especially like the idea about taping lessons and playing them back to show progress. Thanks too for what you said about having someone to talk to being worth it for them. I do feel that students appreciate having someone neutral to talk to - in the past couple of weeks they have started opening up more about work/life problems and it's good to know there is value in this. Thanks again

Heads Up English · Post by **Heads Up English** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:58 am

Don't get discouraged! Consider the classes and students a challenge and a learning experience, which you can use months and years later. And having the chance to live abroad, work in a job that helps others... well, that's pretty hard to beat.

Moving on... What can you do in the class? If your students can see how far they have progressed from month to month, that will likely motivate them to spend more time with you. Use the previous teacher's assessment, and also ask the students: "What goals do you want to accomplish over the next two months." Work towards that.

Lastly, I would focus on speaking in the lessons. Thirty minutes isn't ideal, and doesn't leave much in the way of a traditional lesson structure. But your students are quite advanced, and it seems that they need to work on producing the language. Pre-assign several questions to discuss. Focus more on fluency instead of accuracy at the start, which is more fun. Once they have gotten used to the new lesson structure, you can introduce grammar or vocabulary to practice during the conversation. You can also explain that each question should generate a five-minute conversation.

Just a few ideas, which I hope help. If you have other questions, let me know. I've been in Japan for ten years, so might be able to help brainstorm some ideas with you.

Good luck.

Chris Cotter
Heads Up English - Materials based on current events. Just print, and teach!
www.headsupenglish.com