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Compared to teaching larger groups, teachers tend to feel less pressure when teaching students one-on-one. But there still can be some problems. 1. Some students are too self-conscious or introverted to speak English. It seems more challenging to encourage shy adult students to talk than young learners. Kids are unwilling to talk because they feel nervous or they haven’t known you yet. But as the lesson continues, they will get more comfortable. However, some adult students are so reserved that teachers cannot easily change who they are. And some adults tend to care more about the mistakes they make in the learning process. As a result, the whole class will just be a monologue for teachers. Teachers should control the time of teaching even though the students are reluctant to talk. When coming across these students, teachers should show more patience and try to build a personal rapport with the students. Let them know you two have something in common and you are just a friend who tries to help them with English. For non-native-English teachers, they can share their personal stories of how they struggled to learn English when they were young to show their understanding. 2. Some students do not want to follow the course book and always prefer a free topic. One-on-one lessons are customized to cater for the students’ needs. There are only two participants in the class—the teacher and the student as equivalents. So some independent learners may want to have a bigger say in the lesson plan. Free topics sound relaxing and fun. But teachers can easily run out of interesting topics unless you really have the knack of keeping the conversation going. So when teaching some students with creative ideas, teachers can still follow the outline of the course book and at the same time add some open-ended questions related to the topic to pick students’ brains. It can be risky to go completely off the course book. Be flexible but never let students catch you off guard. 3. Sometimes the relationship between teachers and students gets so personal that teachers become oblivious of their professional obligations. One of my colleagues had a regular student. They had known each other for a long time. During a lesson, my colleague complained about another student who was not very cooperative. And after the lesson, that regular student stopped taking any of his classes any more. Teachers and students can enjoy friendships but there should be a line. When you lose your professionalism, you will lose the respect from your students. Bear in mind, we are teachers first, then friends. In order to build a rapport with students, teachers can ask students some questions about their lives and try to keep some mental notes. For example, if a student told you he/she was going on a trip. Then the next time you saw him/saw, ask about the trip. It is just how we make friends. One-on-one lessons with adult students seem easy, but actually not. Teachers should adopt the suitable teaching methods in line with the abilities and needs of different students. We should be flexible, attentive and professional.
