Seems the more adults’ teachers I talk to, the more I find out how many still think that “just chatting” is a good way to teach privates. What those teachers inevitably discover, however, is that A) their students never significantly improve B) such classes are tortuously boring and C) ten minutes before class is supposed to start, their students suddenly start sending them text messages that say, “Sorry, teacher, something’s come up…” (lonely housewives whose primary motivation is not learning English excepted)
So to cut it short, here’s how I do a 1-on-1 class:
Materials needed (by teacher):
- at least one convo textbook. Exploring English is a good starter if you like a clear structure, although I also use Excellent English, International Express, Working in English, and World Pass for higher levels.
- a copy of Phonics Pathways or similar phonics textbook
- a folder and notebook for each student
(by student):
- a tape recorder or MP3 recorder
A. PHONICS/PRONUNCIATION: I always start off with phonics practice. I’ve never met a Taiwanese student of ESL who didn’t need it. The important point isn’t spelling; the important point is that if they can’t HEAR the difference between a short e and a long a, that certainly won’t be able to pronounce that difference. If you think this isn’t an important issue, I’ve got a list of about 100 similar-sounding word pairs (many with potentially embarrassing consequences) that might convince you. How many times have you heard students say things like that they went to the bitch last weekend or had dinner at a nice restroom last night? The fact is, most adults teachers don’t do phonics/pronunciation practice simply because they don’t know anything about it. That doesn’t make it unimportant.
Anyway, for this purpose, I’ll usually have them recite their vowel sounds to me as a warm-up (short vs. long A,E,I,O,U, etc. I can give you a complete list if you want it), then read a page from Phonics Pathways. Next I’ll check their dictation from last class. I give them dictations every class (usually a few sentences directly from Phonics Pathways) which they tape and transcribe for homework. Again, the important point isn’t spelling; I never use words containing irregular spellings. Basically I just want to get them listening to English at home and trying to identify different English sounds.
If their dictation contains too many mistakes, I’ll have them underline the mistakes and re-assign it for next class. Otherwise, I’ll then tape a new dictation for them.
NOTE: I usually only do this step for the first half-year or so of a private. By then, they’ve either basically got it or they’ll never get it!
B. REVIEW NOTES: I then have the student take out their notes from last class and give them to me. I take notes every class on everything that comes up: new vocab., mistakes the student made, new sentence patterns, words they badly mispronounced, etc. I usually try to separate their notes into words/phrases on the top half of each page and sentence structures on the bottom half. At the end of class, I give these notes to the student, and they have to copy them at home. We go over them the next class, and then they have to give the notes I took back to me. Those notes go into my file for that student, which I use as described in “C” below.
By ‘going over’ the notes, I mean they pronounce the words/phrases in the “words” section and make sentences with them. Depending on the level of the student, I may dictate structures for them to use. For intermediate students, I’ll give them a grid like this:
+ - ? (+ means affirmative, - means negative, ? means question)
past 1 2 3
present 4 5 6
future 7 8 9
They have to follow this order when making sentences. Once the words are done, they read and translate the sentences from the bottom half of their notes. Often times I’ll have them make their own sentences following the same structure.
Note that the note-taking step is key. By having them copy the notes you wrote down, and then (your) taking them back the next class, it forces the students to review everything covered each class, and the collective notes you produce give you a reference book on what’s been covered, which you’ll use for review each class as follows:
C. TEACHER ASKING QUESTIONS: After we’ve gone over the notes, I use their entire note-file to ask them questions. These questions could contain previously learned grammar or vocabulary items. They tape me doing this: I call it their VAQ (Vay asking questions). They are expected to review this tape at home – not just listening, mind you! When practicing, they are supposed to stop the tape every time I ask a question and try to answer, then listen to their in-class answer and any corrections I gave.
While I’m asking these review questions, anything they screw up goes into their notes again with stars to show it was previously learned material and the ought to know it. If they make too many mistakes during the VAQ, I point out that I’m aware they’re not reviewing their notes and not practicing with their tape enough. If this happens too often, I’ll warn them that they’re wasting both of our time and that I “fire” students who don’t do their outside-of-class work! It sounds bizarre, but for serious adults’ teachers (the few of us there are) it’s necessary. Adult students are notoriously guilty of thinking they can just somehow absorb English from their textbooks and therefore need to be whipped along just like kids - often moreso.
D. BOOKWORK (drills, sentence transformations, etc.): After the VAQ, we’ll do whatever bookwork I assigned last class. I always give them stuff to preview and write it in their notes, so I can see what they were supposed to have done as soon as I collect their notes each class. It’s usually a couple of pages from whatever text we’re using. Aside from whatever format is presented in the book, I’ll generally also have them do a lot of other stuff with it like talking about whatever pictures are there, sentence transformations (changing present tense sentences to past, making positive sentences negative, changing statements to questions, etc.) and whatnot.
How to use a textbook is beyond the scope of this post, but suffice it to say that there are innumerable variations. Used properly, one or two pages should be plenty to fill an hour or so. Don’t just rush them through the book, or the result will be they retain nothing and you’ve basically accomplished nothing.
As we do the bookwork, I make notes for use next class as previously described.
E. STUDENT ASKING TEACHER QUESTIONS (AKA “free conversation”, though I hate that term): Finally, we always finish the class by them using their notes to ask ME questions. This is where they get to practice English convo in a less structured format. Although I’m less strict about accuracy at this point, they usually hate this part the most, as it requires them to be spontaneous. I will allow them to prepare questions beforehand if they prefer, but they have to be able to ask enough questions and follow-up questions to fill the 15-20 minutes I usually allot for this part of class.
That’s it. A no-prep class that actually gets results.
Will read through this again but just wanted to say thanks for sharing.
