In this article I’ll give some explanation about how I deal with a private student as opposed to working in groups. There are advantages to both and also to taking language courses through online universities. In this case, my experience in teaching privately is what I will address.

In a person to person situation the best way I’ve found to allow the student to get the most out of the lesson is following this kind of structure:

Warm up: 3-5 minutes where you just ask the student normal conversational questions about their day or week and allow them to get into a “speaking English frame of mind” with familiar and easy questions. Starting off a lesson with this is helpful to the student as they should be able to practise basic communication and not be afraid of making any mistakes.

It also lets you find out more about them which you can use to bring in related vocabulary during the lesson.

Language intro: depending on if you’re following a textbook or using your own materials, and the level of the student, I often start with a picture speculation. Having a flashcard or picture which is related to the topic area you are studying is very useful – it gives the student a visual reference (tells a thousand words…) and directs their attention to the language you’ll be covering. This is very useful for low level students!

Use the picture by asking the student questions about it – What can you see, what are they doing etc. Try to elicit as much as possible from the student and note any errors for later correction.

If the student is a higher level then pictures aren’t that necessary. In this situation I try to bring in recent events or related topics from the warm up to direct the student’s attention to the language for the lesson.

Introducing the language points: After the student has gotten a general idea about the topic for the lesson you can introduce the language points. I always try to introduce a blend of grammar and vocabulary in this section, work on getting the student to understand it and model examples for the student. After they get the hang of it then I give them a chance to practice using their own ideas and feedback any errors with corrections.

Free use: After the input and practice stages I offer students the chance to integrate the new point into a wider conversational setting. Picking up on topics found during the warm up or from previous lessons I encourage the student to try the new language in a natural conversational setting.

This isn’t always easy to do naturally so I always have on hand a couple of ideas for role plays which places the student in a situation where the language can be used.

Roleplays are a lot of fun, especially in groups, but one on one they can really help the student get to grips with the language.

Setting up a roleplay clearly is essential. They student has to understand the situation and be familiar with it to some extent so you’ll need to accommodate their culture and experience into deciding what type of situation to use.

Setting up can be done a lot more easily with lower level students if you have a couple of pics or a quick drawing to help explain the situation. Pics really are your friend!

Some roleplay situations I use are:

At a party (can be used for lots of common social language like greetings, asking about jobs/lifestyle, asking people out on a date or to go out together, register and casual/formal language as well as lots more).

At a shop etc – the obvious choice for business interactions etc.

At the doctors/hospital/chemist – obvious for medical language

On spaceship Earth – either student or teacher is an alien visiting Earth, or Human visiting an alien planet. Good for a range of activities from “What’s this?”, question formation, and explanations of simple things to talking about culture and customs etc.

During the roleplays I encourage use of the target language through modelling and then take note of any errors. When the role play is finished I offer feedback and error correction, first asking the student to try to correct the error themself.

Depending on performance I either start another roleplay or reverse roles or go back over the lesson to ensure that the student understands the concepts. If there is enough time I’ll try to do another quick roleplay to check if the point has been absorbed.

This lesson structure is very similar to a group one, but the main difference is in delivery – you can focus all your attention on the student’s language and really encourage them to open up and talk more freely.