Teaching one-to-one in esp; basic principles:
ESP is often conducted in form of one-to-one classes (индивидуальное репетиторство). This is a situation potentially challenging since the student is often higher in status, has more professional experiences and well developed ideas about the course – how, when and what for he is to be trained. In order to collaborate usefully and yet not to give in to your client’s ideas which are often unrealistic or vague, follow at least some of the recommendations below:
Be prepared to take on different roles. Talk to colleagues if you are feeling stressed by being a ‘counsellor’. We can guarantee other teachers will have similar experiences.
Set clear goals. It is important to set long and short term objectives which include types of activities such as reading, role-plays, watching videos as well as language points. Also do feedback regularly to check if these goals have been met. The student then has a list of achievements and an opportunity to review things they are still not sure of. You can also get feedback on types of activities they have enjoyed. Try to do this once a month.
Do a thorough needs analysis.
Embark on learner training from the start of the course, emphasising how they can improve through better learning strategies.
Why throw out all of the good things you do with groups, like drilling, games, standing up to do a dialogue and so on? Students in one-to-one classes can enjoy this too. It could be argued that they need it even more, especially if monotony is setting in. At the very least, change the room around and change your sitting positions from time to time.
To combat the strain of extensive, unnatural periods of concentration and interaction for both parties, go and get a coffee or have a walk for a few minutes while your student reads or does some other individual activity. They’ll probably appreciate the time out too!
Take notes openly. Explain why you are doing it. This could be for correction purposes or for things to address in future classes or good things they have said you want to reinforce. The student will enjoy the fact that you are paying attention to their language problems.
Take part in pair work activities - be student B. This can be a great listening exercise for the student as well as a speaking activity.
Communicate with other teachers who are doing similar teaching to you. If you are using published ELT material organise idea sharing sessions with other teachers on how to adapt coursebooks and supplementary material.
Take time to discuss real concerns of the student. Depending on your relationship, it’s a great opportunity to talk about things which are meaningful for them such as family, stress at work, their plans and goals. You’ll find that students often come out with their best English if what they are talking about is real to them. Teach the person not the material!
Testing: achievement tests within ESP should meet the following prerequisites:
They should include prediction as well as understanding – they test what ESP should teach, e.g. producing descriptions how equipment works; checking comprehension of a passage is not the adequate way of testing in this case.
They should be integrated tasks.
The subject knowledge should neither obstruct nor give unfair advantage.
The test doesn’t test subject specific vocabulary, but rather the ability to exploit such vocabulary within a context of general vocabulary – e.g. the learners should extract the specific names from the diagram and use them in their description.
It tests written production.