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My first private lesson

Davey

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Tomorrow I will be having my first private lesson as an English teacher, and to be honest I am a bit scared about it.

I normally teach elementary school kids, the easy stuff, but tomorrow I will be teaching 3-4 adults. In the first our I will be teaching adults with already some experience in studying English, while the second hour is for the beginners.

I am not sure what to do, besides talking about my country and my life (as if that is that interesting).

Are there any experienced private teachers that can give me some advice and make me feel a little bit more positive about it?

(I am also not that confident about my English level... waaaa)
 
Good luck! And don't worry to much.. I'm sure they'll have bunch of questions for you.
but I have one question too. since you are not native speaker, how come that you are teaching English there? what kind of licence do you have?
 
My English is not that bad, and it is perfect for teaching children (I am just not sure about teaching adults, and grammar points). I got a spouse visa, because of that it is also easier to get work for me than other Non-native without a spouse visa.

I have 9 months experience teaching children, and I have an Online Tefl certificate.
 
I never said your English is bad, in contrary, I think it is really good. I asked ''how come'' more as ''do you have university degree to teach'' or as I asked ''which licence do you have''. (actually, I was wondering if I could do something like that when i come to Japan)
anyway, good luck with your class, and tell us how it went.
 
Your written English has vastly improved since you joined the forum, so I wouldn't worry to much. I don't know about your spoken ability, but all Dutch people I have met speak English very well and seems to be the second language in the Netherlands. I still find it amusing to think of a Dutchman teaching English to Japanese though. Do you ever give them a few dutch words on occassion, just to point out them similarities bewtween the two languages?
 
Privately arranged lessons with more than one adult can be difficult, since sometimes you have a case of one person with a real interest bringing along for moral support a friend who is less motivated, or at least of a sufficiently different level of ability as to make teaching them together difficult. It sometimes happens that it doesn't work out well and when one of them drops out the other one will do likewise.
 
A lesson I used to break the ice with young adults...

I talked about the difference in animal sounds. Such as a dog in English, bow wow/woof woof and Japanese wan wan.By the time you throw in some dutch animal sounds, ought to use up an hour. My class laughed like crazy over the way each person made the sounds. Working on words and names with the "R" sounds was another fun class I had. Telling time took a class to cover. I always acted laid back and tried to make my classes fun, not much of an authority figure.

Uncle Frank

 
Uncle Frank said:
I talked about the difference in animal sounds. Such as a dog in English, bow wow/woof woof and Japanese wan wan.Uncle Frank
Click to expand...

The dogs I heard in Japan also said "bow-wow" or "woof-woof." I have yet to hear one say "wan-wan." ;-)
 
As long as the adults realize you aren't a native speaker and made the choice to come anyway, I'm sure you'll soon relax and it will go very smoothly. . The main thing is to be informed. In a situation like that, I don't see any reason you should be nervous.

Let us know how it turns out. Best of luck !
 

Great idea! Did you know that japanese pigs say: Bu bu ?
 
Congratulations Dave. I am really impressed at how much your English has improved since you have joined Jref. Like Elizabeth said, if they realize you are not a native speaker and choose to come anyway, go for it.

I've found that if they can hold a decent conversation, the best thing is to get them talking about something they'd like to talk about or are interested in. This could be a recent movie, the latest celebrity gossip, recent news items, etc. If they come across a phrase that they don't understand, write it on the board and explain to them how it is used. It can also be a great time to teach them slang terms and idioms. The more they talk, the better for you and for them, but make sure to correct them when they make even a minor mistake as then they will feel as if they are learning something and that it is worth their time.

It would also be a good time to teach tounge twisters like

"She sells seahells by the seashore"

"I love the river, but I don't love liver"

"I live near the river"

"I love how you rub me"

"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Picked a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many peppers did Peter Piper pick?"

"If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

"Unique New York" (say it five times fast!)

There are others, but it sure helps the students.

ArmandV said:
The dogs I heard in Japan also said "bow-wow" or "woof-woof." I have yet to hear one say "wan-wan." ;-)
Click to expand...

That is really funny Armand! LMAO!
 
Last edited:
Dutch-san!

I have lots of ideas in my bag of tricks.

1) Determine their ability levels.

2) Throughout the lesson, you should not talk more than half the time. What they want to do is just sit there, and listen to you tell hilarious stories from your childhood. Do not let that happen. Get them talking.

3) If you have a textbook, get right into page one.

Let us know how it goes. You will get plenty of ideas from all of us.
 
The first lesson I usually ask them what they expect to get from the lesson. Chat, book lesson, etc. I usually don't charge for the first lesson.
 
Yeah, and when they're proceeding nicely you can get them to work on some riddles like: 'What gets wetter when it dries?'
Just kidding... I wish you the best of luck with your lessons.
 
ET_Fukuoka said:
The first lesson I usually ask them what they expect to get from the lesson. Chat, book lesson, etc. I usually don't charge for the first lesson.
Click to expand...
Those have been my first lessons as well. Go over the text and your system a little to see how well they might fit it, making adjustments on the fly if necessary, etc...If it isn't over by now, HTH !
 
so, Dave, how was your first lesson? share with us!
 
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their support, it made me feel more positive to go there.

The first hour was very interesting, and I enjoyed myself having a conversation with them. I did not really know what to do that much, so we just introduced ourselves, and talked about our lives. I also tried to correct them on their mistakes as many times as possible (thanks Pachipro). In the first group the youngest had the same age as mine (22), and the oldest was a man in his 70s. I think they enjoyed it as well, because they were looking forward to see me again in the future, so we decided for a new topic for the next time.

Then the second group was a little bit difficult because their level was really low, and it was hard to keep the conversation going on because of their short replies and they only had a few questions for me. So next time I will take a list of questions that I can ask them (about 100 questions should be enough), and I think next time I will us a text book as well.

So yeah, all by all, I think it went very well, and I think that a conversation class is pretty good for me. A grammar class would be a little difficult, but possible.

Thanks again for the help.
 
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