What do you guys do when you have those 1 to 1 classes. You know the student says they want conversation w/you and you REALLY have to lead them. No materials wanted/needed, just talk. Huhhhh, done this 8-10 times since I have been here and I am frustrated.
Most, but not all students are shy and have little to talk about. Some have very little knowledge about anything international or any real interests (work - school - TV). No problem, we can talk about local things, or general subjects, but that usually never goes too deep it’s kinda flat. And almost any subject can be fun to me, from a big family with lots of diversity. Still I find myself looking at the clock. I had one guy 22 yrs old who was great fun. I felt like I was stealing the $$$. He went off to Canada and had lived 9 months in Australia during his HS years.
Since it has only been 13-14 months since I have been in TW, maybe I am doing something wrong. I give ideas, topics, talk about BS (girls, shopping, etc). I am thinking about giving up 1 to 1. My girl got angry at me cause I turned down her cousin last week. But I met said cousin and got the vibe she was not going to be the best to converse with, my instincts.
Articles, or maybe textbooks for high school age. Chat until they obviously can’t chat anymore, then read through the article together. They read, ask about what they don’t understand (or you ask them questions to find out what they don’t understand), you read it aloud, they read it aloud.
I’m not saying it’s great pedagogy, but it seems to keep them happy. I haven’t tried to build a structured 1-1 “program” in a very long while - never had students that wanted it.
It is kind of sad, isn’t it, that so many can’t find enough to chat about in their own lives or experiences for 60-90 minutes. Most of that comes down to the individual: I tutored one woman for a couple of years who had absolutely no interest in working on her English outside of our class time, and she had the same “boring” office job and overworked life as everyone else, yet she was a blast to talk to and I never had to fall back on an article with her. Always full of stories about work or from her childhood or whatever. Basically she was really good at inane small talk in English - and good for her. I wish more of my students were able to do that. (Or that I were better at eliciting it.)
[quote=“Halo”]What do you guys do when you have those 1 to 1 classes. You know the student says they want conversation w/you and you REALLY have to lead them. No materials wanted/needed, just talk. Huhhhh, done this 8-10 times since I have been here and I am frustrated.
Most, but not all students are shy and have little to talk about. Some have very little knowledge about anything international or any real interests (work - school - TV). No problem, we can talk about local things, or general subjects, but that usually never goes too deep it’s kinda flat. And almost any subject can be fun to me, from a big family with lots of diversity. Still I find myself looking at the clock. I had one guy 22 yrs old who was great fun. I felt like I was stealing the $$$. He went off to Canada and had lived 9 months in Australia during his HS years.
Since it has only been 13-14 months since I have been in TW, maybe I am doing something wrong. I give ideas, topics, talk about BS (girls, shopping, etc). I am thinking about giving up 1 to 1. My girl got angry at me cause I turned down her cousin last week. But I met said cousin and got the vibe she was not going to be the best to converse with, my instincts.
Ideas. [/quote]
Making 1-on-1 Classes Fun 101
Have the class on-site at a movie theater, museum, zoo, site-seeing place, etc…
Follow up the field trip with a meal so you can talk about food and the previous activity.
Note: You must remind your student that you are not on a date, but that you are on a field trip.
Make or copy handouts.
700 classroom activities from macmillan and speaking extra from CUP are filled with activities at all levels that can encourage and direct conversation.
here is a tried but tested trick with a 1-1.
tell them to prepare a topic they want to talk about. they have to email you the link to the website/article.
you don’t know them like they know themselves.
they will prepare a topic they are interested in.
the reason why you feel like you are watching paint dry is because they are bored with your topic.
that’s the only way it will work.
90 minute class.
30 minutes open talk.
40 minutes about their topic.
20 minutes about their week at work and past weekend…you have to learn how to expand a topic or situation.
this way you will keep them for years.
btw, i assume this is for adults.
Well I doubt it, from what you said in the OP [quote]Most, but not all students are shy and have little to talk about. Some have very little knowledge about anything international or any real interests (work - school - TV). No problem, we can talk about local things, or general subjects, but that usually never goes too deep it’s kinda flat. And almost any subject can be fun to me, from a big family with lots of diversity. [/quote]
You have a wealth of topics I’m betting. They lack a wealth of info or have not expressed themselves much in school or life. I have expanded topics before and found that students still have little depth sometimes. When you get good students - conversation wise. That is indeed gold.That being said I still agree with baberenglish. This is a good way to set up the class. They have to find the topic and they are responsible for finding something they wish to talk about. It is a good approach in Taiwan. I used to be frustrated in the early days, now it’s …better.
…better.