Teach English in BishAn Zhen - Chongqing

The difference betweeen teaching one to one and groups In recent years the EFL industry has seen a significant increase in demand for the one-to- one English lesson, particularly in the international business world. students in the international community have realized the personal benefits of individual lessons. Courses can be geared towards specific language needs and exclusively focused on preferential or required communication skills. As one-to one is the preferred choice of many language learners, in retrospect this method of teaching presents many challenges for esl teachers. Most TEFL/tesol courses and language schools train their teachers to employ a method of presentation, practice and production with an emphasis on teaching language learners using the ESA (engage, study, activate) method of instruction with a focus on task based learning activities in an interactive group dynamic. Therefore; many effective techniques that teachers routinely draw on to instruct groups are inappropriate with one-to-one classes apart from general pair-work activities. The dynamic of one-to-one lessons make it counter-productive to use traditional, situational and grammatical based presentations. Most EFL teachers find it difficult to adapt their trained methods and acquired group based teaching skills to tutor a single learner in a one-to-one classroom environment therefore; specialized training courses are taken to acquire practical one-to-one teaching techniques. EFL Teachers that are new to one-to one teaching are quite often unprepared to deal with the teacher-student dynamic. One-to-one teaching is entirely different?. Many of the personal and educational skills that have been developed in the EFL classroom are designed exclusively for working within a whole group dynamic. An emphasis; on interpersonal factors and extraordinary teaching methods have influenced mixed views pertaining to the one-to-one teaching topic. Such views are; the learners expectations tend to be high, close encounters can become claustrophobic, and personalities are often challenged. Teachers can become exhausted from working in such an unnatural way which has a negative effect as; they become unbalanced and tend to lose their edge outside of the group dynamic. These mixed views are quite understandable due to the fact that there are so many unique challenges of teaching in a one-to-one classroom setting. Some distinct challenges of one-to-one lessons are that a teacher and a student must spend hours alone together and the teachers will often become the direct partner of the student by; helping, prompting and working with only that one particular learner. Teachers must have patients and exceptional interpersonal skills whilst fostering and maintaining an optimistic and professional manner when dealing with the potentially scrupulous nature of an individual learner which is the most important element to ensure a mutually successful one-to-one learning program. Lesson material can become informal and may not be structured to encompass the wide-range of standards that are required within a formal syllabus. The varied lessons make it difficult for a teacher to measure the progress of an individual student without a formally structured curriculum and other language learners to compare. There are also several lateral challenges for individual learners in this regard. Working one-on-one removes the opportunity to work in a group dynamic, which is extremely beneficial to language learners that actively learn new language skills through social interaction and as; a means to asses and compare their own strengths and weaknesses, whilst they participate in tasks and group activities. With such challenges?, it is easy to lose sight of the positive advantages that individualized teaching can present a single learner and a teacher. The one-to-one classroom dynamic offers great potential to work with a student collaboratively. The individual learner will have the invariable attention of the teacher which allows them the opportunity to listen to and speak more English than in a group. students can utilize specific authentic lesson material that suits their particular interests. One-to-one lessons also have many advantages for the teacher; there are no mixed levels and a teacher can adapt and develop lessons based on a learner?s individual needs and personal level of progression to make the students learning experience more beneficial. While; teaching one-to-one is a rewarding and a challenging task, both students and teachers within the international EFL language community have realized the distinct opportunities, challenges and benefits of individualized lessons.