Teach English in Huayu Zhen - Yuncheng Shi

Teaching One to One The second most dominant language in the United States is Spanish. To increase my skills in Spanish I searched for a Spanish tutor and classes. I had personal goals I wanted to achieve, and I needed help. I started researching local Spanish tutoring schools. Most schools offered group and individual courses. To choose, I weighed the pros and cons of each and which type, of course, most aligned with me accomplishing my goals. After deliberation and research, I determined that the individual one on one classes were the best fit for me. This paper is going to be a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of taking individual one on one classes. Advantages I chose individual one on one classes verse group classes because I wanted all attention focused on what I needed as a learner at the level I was at. I needed the flexibility that group classes would not have been able to accommodate. For example, I worked a full-time job and did not know if my job would keep me longer that usual some days or not. There were days that I had to reschedule. My personal contact with the instructor and the flexibility with her allowed me to reschedule and pick up where we had left off. If I was in a group class, I would miss the lesson taught that day altogether, and I would have to catch up on the material in my personal time. Next, I was at a beginner learning level, but I retained some knowledge I had learned in my formal education. In addition, I wanted to be taught a specific language that I could use in my career in law enforcement. When gauging my level of knowledge, my teacher was able to identify specific needs that I had, my focused interests, and where to start in my learning instruction. Being the only student allowed me and my teacher to go at a pace that was comfortable for me and target learning areas that I was weak in. Disadvantages Unfortunately, one on one class has its disadvantages. One of these disadvantages was the lack of practice in communicating with different people in other language and classroom dynamic. In a classroom dynamic with other students, the individual students can gain a different perspective on the material from their classmates and are allotted more time to process material while the focus is on other class members. The lack of classmates also made it impossible to play some learning games and for the individual student to take a back-row seat to observe other students. When a student makes a mistake or gets something right, the other students get a chance to learn from the other person’s mistake or imitate the positive example that was presented. Conclusion Despite its drawbacks, individual one on one lessons were appropriate for me at that time. It is important to identify the goals of the student, their daily routine, and the class that would be most suited based student needs. From an instructor’s point of view, the direction, class content, time slot, class activities, and the pace is depended on the student and number of students. One on one courses can be very advantageous for a student that knows what he or she needs and wants personal attention to focus on their individual abilities.