Handout for a teacher training seminar at IH Budapest, 2017

1. The 1-to-1 Teacher’s Toolbox
Dealing with emerging language
• Do delayed error correc,on for common
errors you’ve covered previously (even in
the next lesson if you’re not sure).
• Don’t note down mistakes only. Focus on
posi,ve things too and praise the student
from ,me to ,me.
• Ask the student’s preference as well - do
they mind being corrected on the spot?
• You can also have them decide which of
their sentences were correct/incorrect.
• Make sure they have a record of new
language. You can also put new language
on cards, keep them with you and reuse
them every ,me.
Needs Analysis
• Instead of working with a pre-set syllabus
you oIen have to design your own
course, so it’s worth doing a full NA at
the beginning of the course.
• Ask them about their past (how and what
they studied), present (how they’re using
the language now), future (wants and
needs).
• As the student’s needs might be
changing, the NA you do in the first
lesson is not set in stone. However, it’s
good to keep it in mind and come back to
it from ,me to ,me to readjust it if you
go off on a tangent.
Materials
• They should be personalized to keep your
student mo,vated, but you can use
adapted as well as authen,c materials.
• Many ,mes you can use your student as
a source of material and use Dogme
teaching with them. In that case they
supply the focus/topic of the lesson
either by providing a topic or by bringing
in something they are interested in.
• Using a course book can be a good idea
to have something to turn to if you run
out of ideas.
Teaching Differently
• Some skills are not that easy to teach in
1-to-1 lessons but…
• When teaching reading you can use
predic,on ac,vi,es, or use the text to
test/teach pronuncia,on, or create a
cloze test to focus on grammar.
• Wri,ng can be taught by wri,ng shorter
sec,ons of a leVer/essay or by “tex,ng”
with each other, or by using apps such as
“Crea,ve Writer.”
• When teaching speaking make them
aware that this is assessed by
establishing a goal.
Emergency Tools
TED talks Topic/Ques,on cards Blank cards/Post-its
Film English . com Dobble Taboo game cards
Lyrics Training . com Dixit Boggle
Joanna Szoke IH induc@on workshop 2017