Starting out as an English teacher can be a daunting task to say the least! I began by teaching one-to-one lessons thinking this would be easier than teaching large groups. And while I would say this is true for several reasons, one-to-one lessons can still present some challenges.
One such challenge is coming up with fresh one to one lesson plan templates for your students. Many online resources only provide lesson plans for large ESL groups which incorporate games and discussions with fellow students …not all that useful for what we want! So to help you out, here are a few ideas which have gone down a treat with my students.
“Try to introduce relevant expressions to the student beforehand which the role-play will super glue into his or her active vocabulary.”
Real life conversation
One of the primary reasons a student has chosen to take lessons with a native speaker is because they want to learn conversational or every-day English. However, often these ‘conversational lessons’ can become repetitive, discussing the same subjects each time: what you’ve done during the week, hobbies and interests, and travel. These lessons do not lend themselves to teaching slang, not do they help the student prepare for common situations they may encounter day to day.
My suggestion? Write out some typical conversations. Make them as natural as possible. Think about common situations you find yourself in each day and the vocabulary you use to tackle them. Then annotate the conversation, picking out expressions, vocabulary and grammar structures to teach. Get the student to explain why you used a particular tense and how you could phrase the question differently.
If you have time, record the conversation with a friend. Have the student listen and then try to pick out key information from the dialogue. Although time consuming, doing this will help the student with comprehension and pronunciation.
Role play
This can be an entertaining exercise for both student and teacher. Invent some common situations, perhaps tailored to the needs of the student. For example some situations I have used in the past have been:
- Calling to make a complaint
- Enquiring about a Job
- Speaking to a neighbour
- Conducting an interview
Have fun with the scenarios, depending on the student, you could make them far fetched and wacky. For example, I played out a scenario on board the space station with some of my younger students and ended up crashing into a black-hole!
Try to write down the students’ dialogue. That way, you can revisit what they said, correct any mistakes and suggest ways to sound more natural. Also, try to introduce relevant expressions to the student beforehand which the role-play will super glue into his or her active vocabulary.
Games
Games are a great way of helping a student relax, as well as a way to trick them into studying grammar. For example, you could fire off a barrage of questions on irregular verbs and watch your student slowly die inside from boredom. Or, put the exact same questions on an online game of jeopardy.
There are a multitude of online games you could find to play with your students to teach specific objectives or to encourage conversation. I actually know people who swear they learnt English by playing Xbox or PlayStation online! But don’t underestimate the power of good old fashioned non-virtual games, these can be great too. One of my personal favourites is the oh so simple “20 questions”.
As it stands, this article is incomplete. Many more one to one lesson plan templates to come! And please if you have any ideas, let me know in the contact form below.
