Leveling the Playing Fields for One-To-One

Rosie Norman, Germany

Rosie Norman is a Pilgrims teacher trainer and the owner of the Language Center in Erlangen, Germany. She is interested in both learner and teacher development and ways of enhancing learner autonomy. She is also interested in cultural aspects of learning a second language and enjoys working with colleagues and students of other nationalities.
E-mail: rosienorm@gmx.de , info@LC-erlangen.de, www.LC-erlangen.de

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‘Sent’ students
Help for this particular student
Half the battle – Winning over the student
Paving the way to enjoying English
Leveling the playing fields
Looking closely at what your student needs
Humanising through using ‘his’ agenda
Don’t wait to be perfect!

‘Sent’ students

Teaching one-to-one may sometimes seem quite a challenge. And should your student be a man or woman of “one syllable” then you are certainly in for a more challenging time but should this perturb you? Like most teachers I actually quite like this kind of challenge. The students I teach are mainly adults and generally have an intrinsic interest in learning the language. However, just now and then one comes along that has been “sent”. Yes, most of you working in a language school have experienced this at one time of the other – a “sent” student.

I’m sure you can picture him, a middle-aged manager who really has much better things to do than spend his time learning English in order to communicate with people who – 20 years his junior, of course - he is just that little bit afraid or suspicious of. And to top it all he is an engineer!

Now I am not saying there are not technically-minded engineers who are incredibly talented when it comes to languages but they do, I my experience, tend to be a rather rare species.

Help for this particular student

However, one thing we must never forget about are our goals – it is exactly this student who needs to learn or improve his knowledge of English in order to be more successful or simply keep up with his peers. Of course, if you have a student who has been “sent” your job will be just that little bit more difficult! So what are your alternatives? How can you make the best of the situation and how can you alleviate his “suffering”?

Half the battle – Winning over the student

I think it would be fair to say that “winning over” a student and inspiring him or her to improve or even learn a language must be one of the most rewarding feelings language teachers such as ourselves can ever experience. Inspiring a “sent” student must therefore by default be the epitome of achievement.

Paving the way to enjoying English

So what are the ways we can pave the way to a successful and an enjoyable lesson?

Our first job is to break down the barriers and to get rid of inhibitions - in short, to take away any fear the student may have of coming in contact with the language and being expected to ‘perform’. So why not start by inviting the student to interview you? The advantages of this method are quite stunning – because you are handing over the oars to him, you are also empowering him to take over that particular part of the lesson, you are inviting him to take command and to put YOU on the spot. Of course, it is advisable to give him some kind of kick start in the shape of a framework or else both of you may be sitting in silence (not really conducive to getting rid of inhibitions).

Leveling the playing fields

So what are the advantages of putting yourself in the hot chair? Simply to level the playing field. No longer are you the almighty teacher who knows everything and dictates what is to be done, you become a facilitator, a partner in the language learning process.

Here, of course, your psychological prowess is required: If at this stage you elect to correct your student at every opportunity, you may see him retreating, seeking refuge in his or her shell, shrinking away from the harsh spotlight – let’s face it, in this part of the lesson, he should be king – not you! He is in the chair and he is the one asking the questions. You have empowered him – why would you want to spoil it by correcting him now, thus taking the very power that you had given him away again!

So the first step has been taken. Your student has lost his initial fear, you have shown him that you and he are a team and he has begun to trust you. On to the next step!

Looking closely at what your student needs

If you want to inspire your student, your first goal must surely be to find out exactly in which way he learns so at this stage a conversation about learning styles and strategies would certainly come in handy. Again, why should he be the only one being scrutinized? Tell him your preferences, that way you can encourage him to share his feelings and ideas with you. Once you have found out how your student likes to study half the battle has been won.

So now you know how he prefers to learn, the next step is to find out exactly what he wants to learn!

It is a fact that, given the opportunity to choose what we want to learn, we would probably not choose the textbook as it stands, but would select situations which we need for our jobs, i.e. Language and skills which are ‘meaningful’ to us – not something someone else (in this case, the teacher or trainer) considers useful.

Humanising through using ‘his’ agenda

Encourage him to bring his own materials with him; examples of his emails, his agendas, his situations. It is a recipe for instant success! Personalize his lessons – he is a one-to-one student with his own agenda and his own very special wishes and no-one else in the class to stand in his way or waste his time!

So he now feels comfortable. He and you, the teacher, are more or less on the same level and trust is being built up between you. Now is the time to let him know that even native-speakers are not perfect when they speak English. In fact, some are extremely difficult to understand. Have you never had a ‘bad hair’ day when you just can’t get your tongue around the words?

Your student needs to be aware of that and develop a yearning to communicate – fluency rules over accuracy! I’m not saying he should not speak English well, correctly and use good grammar – but does he have to speak English perfectly? No, he needs to be able to communicate with others using English as a vehicle.

Don’t wait to be perfect!

Where would we be now if we had waited to open our mouths for us to become absolutely perfect in the language (and don’t forget we are talking about our mother tongues!). It is so important to give your students the impression that what they say in the L2 is interesting, and creates the same response as if they had used their L1.

So now you have the perfect scenario:

1. The student now feels comfortable
2. You have broken down the inhibitions
3. You have given him confidence to speak
4. You have given him the input he needs by using his own materials
5. And you have given him the reassurance that he ‘can’ speak and express himself however elementary his knowledge is.

My own personal agenda today (in this article) is to encourage you to facilitate learning by leveling the player fields – knock down the inhibitions and ‘humanize’ the process of learning.

Please check the How to be a Teacher Trainer course at Pilgrims website.