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Methodology article
by Nicola Meldrum, with ideas and activities by Lindsay Clandfield
Why is
1-2-1 'special'? | Advantages for
teachers | Disadvantages for
teachers | Student advantages |
Student disadvantages |
10 tips on how to
minimise advantages |
10 things
to do with one to one classes
Having talked to fellow teachers and done a workshop on this subject I
realised how strongly teachers feel about aspects of this kind of
teaching.
The topic of One to One teaching provokes personal, sometimes passionate
responses from many English language teachers. This is especially true
when it comes to teacher-learner roles and the startling lack of
published ELT material. One teacher neatly described the teacher role as
being “blurred” between teacher, psychologist and friend. One minute
learners complain the teacher is not pushing them to do enough homework
then the next they are talking about work problems or family life.
This seems to be a challenging situation for teachers to be in, and a
situation which, unfortunately is not covered much in ELT discussion.
Apart from Peter Wilberg’s One to One teacher’s handbook (1987), on
looking through published material on Language Teaching I failed to find
any sections on teaching one to one, while there was lots advice on the
classroom management of groups. It is somehow assumed that teaching
English as a foreign language means organising huge groups of students,
while the reality is that one to one is a normal and often significant
part of our teaching lives.
What are the advantages and disadvantages for teachers and learners of
One to One Teaching? We asked many teachers this question. These were
the results:
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Only one level -
This means no mixed abilities or fast finishers to deal with.
-
Material can be
supplied by the student.
-
We as teachers can
learn something too. Students can teach us about their interests, work
and experiences.
-
We can select
material we are sure will interest and motivate the student.
-
There are fewer
time constraints. This means we can spend as long as necessary to
address our student’s needs, and explore areas of personal interest.
-
The teacher is
always “on”. One common comment is “When else would we spend ninety
minutes talking constantly to one person?”
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Teachers find it
difficult to take notes for correction without distracting the
student.
-
There are a limited
range of activities. This means no pair or group work, which can be a
bit monotonous for the teacher, and the student.
-
We might feel bad
about doing reading and writing. Teachers worry that students will see
it as a “waste of time”.
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There is an
astonishing lack of materials and teacher’s notes hardly ever take
this situation into account.
-
The role of
counsellor can be stressful. Teachers might feel uncomfortable
listening to personal problems of their students.
-
The same window or
wall to look at each day can be boring.
-
Student/ teacher
personality differences or opposing opinions can make life difficult
as teachers are afraid to respond to comments they strongly disagree
with.
-
Often schools don’t
give a syllabus for one-to-one classes so it is more difficult to
record and show progress to the student.
-
Students have the
constant attention of the teacher so they can listen to and speak more
English than they might in a group situation.
-
Student can
contribute to classes more and feel part of the learning process by
bringing material like books, songs, articles from local newspapers to
class.
-
Their strengths and
weaknesses are addressed more consistently and fully without the
competition of other students for the teacher’s time.
-
They can become
better learners through learner training with their teacher.
-
There are less time
constraints so they can go at their own pace and not feel pressured by
the progress of other students.
-
According to the
Natural Method as suggested by Stephen Krashen, learners acquire
language best through the modified input of the teacher. This means
that the teacher adapts their language to the level of the student and
in one-to-one classes the amount and type of input can be maximised by
the teacher to benefit the student.
-
There is a similar
potential for exhaustion as they too can be in constant interaction in
an unnatural way with the teacher.
-
It can be difficult
to measure progress without other students to compare with and the
possible lack of a syllabus.
-
There can be a lack
of individual study time. They might not have the same “sink in time”
as they would have in a group. This can go against the acquisition of
language, especially if teachers don’t give enough restricted practise
(Scrivener, 1987) of new language and students don’t absorb the
language as effectively as they would if they had more time to reflect
and process input in a class where the teacher might be more
comfortable with silent periods.
-
The lesson format
can become monotonous if a teacher lacks the confidence to experiment
with change of pace and type of activity. They might assume a student
would not be open to activities such as dictation, songs, moving
around the class, chants, drilling etc
-
Be prepared to take
on different roles. Talk to colleagues if you are feeling stressed by
being a ‘counsellor’. We can guarantee other teachers will have
similar experiences.
-
Set clear goals. It
is important to set long and short term objectives which include types
of activities such as reading, role-plays, watching videos as well as
language points. Also do feedback regularly to check if these goals
have been met. The student then has a list of achievements and an
opportunity to review things they are still not sure of. You can also
get feedback on types of activities they have enjoyed. Try to do this
once a month.
-
Do a thorough needs
analysis.
-
Embark on learner
training from the start of the course, emphasising how they can
improve through better learning strategies.
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Why throw out all
of the good things you do with groups, like drilling, games, standing
up to do a dialogue and so on? Students in one-to-one classes can
enjoy this too. It could be argued that they need it even more,
especially if monotony is setting in. At the very least, change the
room around and change your sitting positions from time to time.
-
To combat the
strain of extensive, unnatural periods of concentration and
interaction for both parties, go and get a coffee or have a walk for a
few minutes while your student reads or does some other individual
activity. They’ll probably appreciate the time out too!
-
Take notes openly.
Explain why you are doing it. This could be for correction purposes or
for things to address in future classes or good things they have said
you want to reinforce. The student will enjoy the fact that you are
paying attention to their language problems.
-
Take part in pair
work activities - be student B. This can be a great listening exercise
for the student as well as a speaking activity.
-
Communicate with
other teachers who are doing similar teaching to you**. If you are
using published ELT material organise idea sharing sessions with other
teachers on how to adapt coursebooks and supplementary material.
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Take time to
discuss real concerns of the student. Depending on your relationship,
it’s a great opportunity to talk about things which are meaningful for
them such as family, stress at work, their plans and goals. You’ll
find that students often come out with their best English if what they
are talking about is real to them. Teach the person not the material!
1. Guess the news story
Collect a week’s worth of newspapers (in any language) and cut out
pictures of news stories from each one. Aim for a selection of five or
six topical news pictures from that week. Then take an A4 or letter size
sheet of heavy paper (or card). Cut a small square out of the middle of
this card. When you come to class, place a picture from the news under
the card so that only some of the picture is visible. The student must
1) speculate about what the picture is about, and 2) tell you as much as
they know about the news story.
2. Written conversation or role play
Conduct a conversation but only in written form. Take a piece of paper
and write a question to your student and give him or her the paper to
write an answer on. Go back and forth like this until you have a good
sized sample of writing. This can be used as the basis for correcting
written mistakes and planning further classes.
3. Post it mania.
Bring a pack of post it notes to the class one day. Look around the room
and write a word of something that is in the room on a post it note.
Give it to the student and ask him or her to stick the post it note on
the correct object. Do this until you have labelled many things in the
room. At the end of the lesson call out things and ask the student to
bring you back the post it note (unless they would like to leave it on
the object as a memory aide!).
4. Sight translation activities.
Many one to one students are business people who are expected to learn
English for their job. One typical area that people at work need English
for is sight translation. Someone comes into the office waving a piece
of paper and asking if anyone can tell them what it means. Do this from
time to time with your student. Give them a document related to their
work and ask them to explain it quickly to you in English. If you speak
your student’s L1, give them a document in English and ask them to give
you a quick translation into their language.
5. Get out of the class.
One-to-one classes are often extremely mobile, and teachers can take
advantage of this. Ask your student to take you on a guided tour in
English of their home or workplace. Do a shopping class, where you and
your student go to several shops together. Or just go for a walk outside
with your student and do your class like that one day. A change of
environment is very good for refocusing the mind, and there are lots of
new topics for language study that you can get just from walking down
the street.
6. Questionnaires.
Prepare a series of question prompts on a topic. For example, if your
topic was sports you could have the following question prompts:
- /like sports?
- what/ sports/play?
- what / sports /watch on television?
- ever / win / sports award? etc.
First interview the student using the prompts. Then ask the student to
do the same for you. When you are finished, review any special
vocabulary or grammar that came up. Tell the student that for the next
class he or she must prepare a similar list of questions on a different
topic to interview you.
7. Cuisinaire rods.
Cusinaire rods are little coloured wooden sticks that are used in
teaching maths. With one-to-one classes and very small groups, there are
lots of things you can do with cusinaire rods. Ask the student to make a
representation of the company structure using the rods (like an
organigram). You can also use rods to teach word stress (rods for every
syllable, a different coloured rod for a stressed syllable).
8. Index cards
One piece of equipment that is particularly useful for a one-to-one
class is a set of index cards. Use them to keep track of new vocabulary.
The cards can then be used from time to time to review this. You can
also use index cards as cue cards for a presentation. Help the student
write their cues for a mini presentation on a topic, then get them to
give you the presentation using only their cues. You can also write
different conversation topics or role plays on individual cards. Ask the
student to choose one at random and talk about or act out the situation
on the card.
9. Think of someone who
Many teachers of one-to-one classes are frustrated by coursebook or
resource material that is only suitable for large groups. However, some
of these activities can be adapted. For instance, the classic Find
Someone Who activity can be changed to a Think of Someone Who
and used with only one student. Using a Find Someone Who
worksheet, ask the student to write the names of people that he or she
knows who match each category. The student must do this without telling
you anything. He or she must also write the names down in a different
order than they appear on the worksheet. Do the same yourself with
another copy of the same sheet. Then swap papers. The objective is to
ask and answer questions to find out which person written down on the
paper matches which category.
You and the student will therefore be asking and answering the questions
several times, just like in a Find Someone Who activity with a
large class.
10. Speaking Lessons on Onestop
Let us take some of the pressure off you. There are several lessons on
Onestopenglish that can be easily used with one to one or very small
classes. Specifically, the Deck of Conversations and the Deck of
Business Conversations are two speaking classes which are ideal for
small groups or just one student.
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