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I have chosen one of the suggested topics from the list, which is item number 3, teaching one to one. The reason why I have chosen this topic is because obviously I feel that this is a subject which I find most interesting and also one that I have personal experience of. Firstly, I have one taken a course for a foreign language in a one to one setting, and it was both a good and bad experience. One thing that stands out the most for a one to one class compared to any other group setting is that the set arrangement of classes can be easily changed, and it does all so often. As there are only the teacher and student involved, each party is relatively free to change the timing of the class easily, without having to accommodate anyone else or risk missing the lesson (as compared to a group setting for the student) As this is done all so often, both teacher and student, especially the student, would often lose focus as there is a high chance that a long period of time has passed from one lesson to another. Another key observation that I find about teaching a one to one class is that the teacher can so easily be influenced by the student in terms of their focus and direction in his /her teaching. This is because as there is only a single student, the said student can basically control the pace of the class, and it is possible that he or she may take a very relaxed pace in the course. Of course, this depends very much on the goal and thus motivation of the student in learning the language and if he or she is anything but highly motivated or with a clear goal, the pace of the lesson can be highly compromised. Nevertheless, teaching one to one does have its huge advantages and benefits to teaching in a group setting. For one, the teacher only has to deal with one person and thus it is very easy to monitor the student's progress, and the class can be personalised, and often should be, to best cater to the needs of that single student's interests and learning ability. Also, the stress of the teacher is so much lesser when he or she only has to deal with one single person. Perhaps that is why some language teachers decide to only teach in a one on one setting! Another great thing I find about one on one teaching is that there is a higher chance that the student would wanna learn the language for a longer period of time, as it is much easier to build "chemistry" with the teacher in a one in one setting. Familiarity will help both the student and the teacher to excel in each of their field, obviously that is to learn well for the student and teach well in the case of the teacher. To sum up, in the ideal scenario, I feel that most, if not all students, should choose to learn in a one on one setting if the situation allows. However, in the real world, with conditions such as limited budget or availability of such lessons, one on one teaching is definitely more of a rarity or even a luxury to have in language classes!
