Teach English in Longwangmiao Zhen - Heze Shi

Being a teacher is not just a job, it's a vocation. I have been always dreaming to be a teacher abroad. Students can choose how to learn English. There are two ways: group and private lessons. These lessons have both advantages as disadvantages. So, what are the best advantages and disadvantages of teaching one to one or groups? I think if you have private (one to one lessons) you must be creative and have strong sense of fun as well as possible. In my experience I have private lessons with students. All my students are willing to learn English. Accordingly I can emphasize the most important benefits and recognize the difference between private and group lessons. One to one lesson: 1. The student has a great chance to learn more using the teacher as a resource - ask questions, practice skills, if the material is unclear to require a repetition from the teacher. 2. The student get an individual attention - more communication, more feedback and more practice. 3. The student can plan his time as convenient as he wants. What about teacher? 1. Teacher has full interaction with the student, he perfectly knows his weaknesses. 2. Teacher analyzes all mistakes and carefully helps to avoid it. 3. There are not such problems as in large groups - peer pressure, noise and naughty students. It would seem that individual lessons are perfect, but there are also some disavantages. 1. Students can be shy sitting in front of a teacher. 2. The student afraids to make a mistake cos teacher is concentrated on this student. Thus psychologically it's more easier for student to make a mistake in group classes. It's an important difference. 3. The lesson may be boring, if teacher are using the same teaching structure, activities, songs etc. In my experience the student felt bored because there was no chance to interact with other students, get a lot of fun and interest. Group lessons haven't such problems. 4. If the duration of the leson is more than one hour student can be exhausted. The most important thing is to give student a list of points that have been covered during the lesson as it is not always apparent to them what they have practiced. I think, teaching English one to one is more difficult than teaching in group classes. From my own experience I can say it requires more time to prepare for such lessons in case you want to make it interesting and motivating. What are the benefits to teach group of students? I have one group of students which consist of 8 students. I can easily say you will never feel bored. The lesson is always energizing and entertaining. It includes different activities, vocabulary tasks, pronunciation drills, role games etc. Such group lessons are stimulating students creativity. The best benefits of group lessons are: 1. Students can develop communication and teamwork skills. Discussions and debates is very practical. Students can work in pairs, share their knowledge and abilities with each other. 2. Usually group lessons are rather more productive than private lessons. Students are observing other students and trying to be on the same level, do their best as well as possible. I guess it's a great motivation. What negative points can occur in groups? 1. Conflict between students. From my experience I know some situations when students competed with each other, sometimes it had negative consequences. 2. Loss of creativity and less individual thinking. 3. Timing. Time should be scheduled, it must be as convenient for each student as possible. As far as I know sometimes it can cause a problem. In conclusion I would like to say that one to one and group lessons are absolutely different, they have both positive as negative points. Some students like to work individually, another prefer to work in a group. I think it depends on the personality.