TEFL Yaroslave

Whether it is english, or any other subject South Korean parents view one to one education as the best way for their children. In 2011 South Korean government ended classes on Saturday in attempts to give students free time and emulate the more relaxed education system of the Unite States of America. However this created an opportunity for students to receive more private tutoring. Currently it is estimated that South Korean parents spend up to 20% of their income on private tutoring. Due to South Korean parents paying $1, 700, and others up to $2, 800, for classes it starts to become clear that the country has an addiction to education, and answers the question to why their government started night raids for these education institutions that stay open past 10 p.m. Here in my research I aim to clarify the benefits of one to one teaching, and allow the reader to understand why those in South Korea see it as the best method to educate their children. The points I will make to show the great benefits will show one to one teaching in a positive light, yet it should be noted that due to the differences in teacher-student relation, class dynamic, personal attention time, and teaching strategies this teaching style and group teaching are like comparing apples and oranges; they are both fruits, but different types of fruits with different benefits. Nevertheless I will still paint a picture based on my reading and personal experience on one to one teaching and its values. Attention and time are the key factors that are lacking in group teaching. One to one teaching provides a controlled environment where teachers are able to address the student’s problems, interact with the student on a personal level, modify the class to the student’s personal preference, and can rely on the “Natural Method”. This would not be possible if other students were competing for the teacher’s time or if their english levels varied or had gaps. More importantly as Dan Kirby and Tom Liner point out “extraordinarily successful teachers of writing have one thing in common: they spend little time in isolation…and a great deal of time responding and discussing student writings…” They point out the value of time. Rather than just aimlessly correcting, and marking assignments teachers are able to immediately correct a problem, and then focus on the foundation problem that caused this issue. Furthermore with the ability to spend time with a student, teachers can learn about the student’s interests, needs, and goals in order to focus the lesson plan and garnish achievable and desired results. One to one teaching does have down sides. It is possible to exhaust the student, reduce their “sink in” time, and create monotonous lesson plans this in turn can burn out the teacher, reduce time for note taking, and eat up limited prepared activities for individual students. However from my own personal experiences I have come to see that during this type of teaching it is pertinent there are “active” breaks. This can be something like playing cards while talking, or just have a student explain one of their hobbies. My teaching time ran for a full hour. This focused time was very stressful for students and myself. Therefore we would usually have 5~10 minutes when we played cards and reviewed either vocabulary words, or talked about the day. Towards the end when we are winding down I would do something for another 5~10 minutes when we would watch part of a show talk about the grammar we studied in relation to the show, and then end with assigning homework. This teaching style allows for fast results through personalized lesson plans. It can be a good stepping-stone for beginner teachers who are not skilled with the chaos of multiple students or controlling groups, and also for experienced teacher. Just keep in mind the dynamic changes as illustrated above. Time, and attention must be managed differently, and more importantly the outside factor of parents can play a much larger role. Works Cited Harris, Muriel. Teaching One-to-one: The Writing Conference. Urbana, IL: National Council of teachers of english, 1986. Print. "How-To: Teaching One On One." How-To: Teaching One On One. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. . Kim, Sangim, and Rose Kim. "Tiger Moms Hire tutors As Korea Scraps Classes." Bloomberg 29 June 2011: n. pag. Print. "One-to-one: Methodology." Onestopenglish: Number One for english Language teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. . Ripley, Amanda. "teacher, Leave Those kids Alone." TIME [Seoul] 25 Sept. 2011: n. pag. Print. "Teaching english One-on-One: Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Lesson." Teaching english One-on-One: Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Lesson. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 July 2012. .