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During this course we were introduced to many topics that have to do with teaching English to learners. One of those units was a unit called ‘Teaching Special Groups’. It addressed various types of teaching groups and one of those was teaching individuals or one to one. This is when a lesson is comprised of just one student only, so inn effect it becomes a one to one with the teacher. Back in the day this type of teaching was not that common but as time has moved on it is becoming an increasingly popular method of learning. It is most common in situations like the students is homeschooled or particularly in the business world. Students usually feel like the lessons are more geared for their individual needs than a normal group setting. Although this method comes with many advantages it also comes with its disadvantages as well. I will start by giving a few differences between the normal group setting and the individual setting. Firstly, the roles and interaction are vastly different. In a one to one lesson there is more intimacy between thee teacher and students as there are no other people involved. The teacher has to make sure they form a good rapport with the students all the while making sure they keep the respect and order. This requires a totally different method that would be used in a group setting. Another factor that is different in one to one setting is the pressure that is on the student. In a group setting because there are many students sometimes the teacher’s attention will be on different students so it gives the other students a bit of time to relax and not be under so much pressure to answer questions etc. However, in a one to one setting it’s just the students and the teacher and for the duration of the lesson all the attention will be focused on the student and this can be very stressful. As you have seen there are many differences between these two types of teaching and there are many more that I won’t mention. Now I would just like to give a few advantages of the one to one setting over the normal group setting. The first advantage I will give is the lesson can be tailor made for that particular student’s needs. This means that they will get the maximum attention as well as learning opportunity. Another advantage is that because there are no other people besides the teacher the students can be more comfortable and less afraid to make mistakes and express themselves. This is a very big advantage because we learn through our mistakes and if a student is not afraid they learn more form their mistakes. So, having given all these differences and advantages it is important to note that there are also some notable disadvantages of a one to one teaching setting and a lot of caution should be taken when teaching this type of lessons. I personally prefer to teach individual students and some teachers prefer the group setting. Whichever one you like they are both very rewarding types of teaching.
