Teach English in Dajin Zhen - Chongqing

teaching one to oneI have been teaching at a private English school in Warsaw, Poland for about 8 months. Apart from teaching at the school I have private lessons with 2 students outside of the school so I will base this article on my own experience. student 1 is a woman in her mid twenties and student 2 is a man in his mid thirties. They are both upper-intermediate level students and both of them had experience with learning at an English school. I was contacted by these students for extra conversation and vocabulary lesson since they felt could learn more with individual attention. This article will be about my experience and observations with having one to one lessons with both students. student 1 said she tried learning at an English school, but decided to stop since she felt it wasn't for her. She is mostly interested in conversation and vocabulary and we have our lessons out on the town, usually walking around. My experience with this student is very positive since after an initial period we have become comfortable with each other and were able to establish rapport. While this leads to very informal lessons it also leads to greater understanding between student and teacher. Our lessons consist of various conversations where I correct her on word usage, pronunciation and word order. While we talk, I make notes for her about new vocabulary that come up during our conversation. During our lessons we usually walk around town where I ask her to describe certain situations, or things that we see. This is a good way to introduce new words and concepts and makes things more interesting than sitting in a room. While this type of private lessons have their advantages there are also disadvantages. One disadvantage is that due to its informal nature and lack of structure it is hard to gauge progress. We meet up at least once a week for 2 hours, but once the lesson is over it is hard to say how much information was retained. She says these kind of lessons suit her. However, sometimes I feel while she might not be progressing at a great speed, her language skills are not regressing due to inactivity. student 2 attends an English school, however he felt that he needed more practice with speaking than the school was providing him with. With student 2, I have one to one lessons at his house which creates an informal and easy atmosphere. However this does not allow me to do the same kind of walks that I have with student 1 where it is easier to introduce new things. While lessons with this student are based on conversation we do review materials that he receives from the school. This is very helpful for him since he has the double benefit of school lessons and a private tutor and it allows me to expand on the things he is learning. During our lessons I have a notebook where I write down new words and expressions for him that we review at the end of each lesson. He later reviews these notes and during subsequent lessons I can hear him using the new vocabulary, which of course is very important step in learning. Overall student 2 is very motivated and there are moments where I feel like we are making progress. I am fluent in Polish and with both students I sometimes use Polish to explain certain ideas, or translate words. I know that using the students native language is discouraged, however my students appreciate this fact since it makes learning and communication easier. One disadvantage is that sometimes the student will stop using English exclusively when talking. Both students have their strengths and weaknesses, and so do my methods of teaching, however the most important thing is to remain flexible and keep the student happy and interested in learning.