I have a private student who wants 4hrs/week of tutoring (all at once in one day), and his English is very very bad. Any suggestions?
What would you do in this situation?
Assuming the learner is not handicapped or infirmed, take him/her out. Visit museums, cultural events, movies, coffee shops, go to the airport, supermarkets, hotels, hospitals (if you dare), department stores, restaurants, parks, to view apartments for rent, computer shops, furniture stores (ikea), etc.
Theme your lessons around survival english. Prep learner about lexis and functions for part of the class time, and then move it on out and explore. Have him/her prepare what they choose to learn next. Not your choice, but theirs. Give lots of homework to do within the week since you only meet once. Tell them they must prepare questions, or a learner’s diary that they’d share with you each time. This student doesn’t need a bunch of grammar if their language ability is poor, they need real life practise.
You can kill those four hours easily and efficiently if you focus on tasks and activities that will primarily focus on their needs. Be creative.
If i asked someone to help me improve my Chinese four hours once a week, this is exactly what I would want to do. However, do find out what skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, etc) the learner wants to improve the most by carefully evaluating their preferences and integrating them within the context of the chosen theme of the week. Let us know how you succeed. [/b]
[quote=“mixer”]I have a private student who wants 4hrs/week of tutoring (all at once in one day), and his English is very very bad. Any suggestions?
What would you do in this situation?[/quote]
Run.
Tell him that he will get better value for money by having two 2hr lessons than he will by frying his brain. You’re the teacher. Teacher knows best. If he thinks that he knows more about learning than you do then why is he paying you for your expertise?
Try the “Learning Through Cartoons” method for part of the class. You won’t tell if he doesn’t 
You’d be better off telling us more about the situation. How old is the student, exactly how “bad” is his/her English, can you go on field trips, how long the classes are to last, are they a primer for going abroad, etc.
“Run” does sound sensible…
[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]You’d be better off telling us more about the situation. How old is the student, exactly how “bad” is his/her English, can you go on field trips, how long the classes are to last, are they a primer for going abroad, etc.
“Run” does sound sensible… [/quote]
Of course it is. Can you imagine starting the lesson and then after what you think is ages, you look surreptitiously at your watch only to see that exactly 3 minutes and 12 seconds have passed. Pure torture.
I hope I never have to teach again.
…or the one-on-one from hell who sits there and doesn’t say anything, doesn’t respond…and you look at your watch…
I’ve even given up trying to teach my dog anything.
Thanks for the feedback guys… well here’s the situation:
Male 27ish student who has taken 5 years of English at school (the mandatory here in Taiwan) wants to learn “Business English” because his father’s family business sells medical supplies abroad (U.S, Europe, etc). They do trade shows in Vegas, Germany, etc. I feel he wants to learn English because his father asked him to do so.
In my hands is one copy of Time for Students. 
It’s all I have to work with right now. I went searching for material but didn’t find anything suitable. What would be great is a textbook with exercises, vocab list, etc all in one.
I love the idea of survival english - going out and using English for everyday uses. I’m going to write a syllabus somehow tying this in…
BTW can someone post the exact address of Cranes/Caves Bookstore?
Thanks a ton!!
I like Side by Side for teaching one-on-ones. It is quite grammatical in its approach, but still introduces lots of vocabulary and some more colloquial expressions. It is extremely easy to teach from–in fact it virtually teaches itself!! The pictures allow you to avoid explaining or translating too much vocabulary.
You might also consider getting the Oxford Picture Dictionary with the teacher’s notes.
I thought all students studied six years of English.
AHHH no matter!!! This dude canceled on me because he’s “going to Europe for 2 months” … GRRRR!!! 
How’s he going to communicate?
Yeah right and I’m going to Mars.