The joys and pitfalls of working one-to-one 

by Lynne Hand

When I really think about it working one-to-one is my favourite way of teaching. I have always found it to be highly rewarding and a lot of fun. For me one-on-one teaching sessions are where the most teaching and learning takes place and I often find that the one-to-one learner is better motivated than most students in a classroom situation.  However, it can also be frustrating and the one to one learner can be very, sometimes unreasonably, demanding.

The first and most important difference is that there is much more interaction within one-to-one teaching, it can be a very tiring experience, for the teacher and the learner. Both of you have to participate almost equally and there is no time to take that breather whilst you go round a large class with the same question. Lessons are much more hands-on and you have to use the time wisely to make sure the learner gets the most out of each lesson. To do this you need to carry out needs assessment much more frequently and often make changes to the course design.

It goes without saying that each learner has different needs, background and experience, and different strengths and weaknesses and these stand out much more in a one-to-one situation than in a group. It is very different correcting someone on a one-to-one basis to giving the same general advice and correction to a large group of students. If you feel the student is becoming unmotivated you have to prioritise the corrections you make and give more praise than you would normally.
 
One of the great things about one-to-one teaching is that you can go at the learner's own pace.  It gives you the opportunity to find out where a student is in their language development and to pick up at that point and figure out how best to help him or her move forward.  However this means that you cannot reuse lesson plans, what works for one student may not work for another.  It is much better to adapt each lesson to the strong and weak points of the individual student.

The use of role-play can be difficult as there are only two people rather than a whole group who could contribute more suggestions. So when carrying out one-to-one teaching you have to be a lot more creative, taking on more than one role or bringing in props to facilitate the role-play. On the plus side one-to-one teaching allows students to take more risks and be more open because they're not worried about what their peers think, as long as there is trust between the learner and the teacher. 

Most importantly you have to be flexible and able to think on your feet, as there is nothing to dilute any situation that arises. For instance the learner may come to a lesson in a bad state of mind, mood or with unexpected requests. In addition you need to be aware of signals that suggest tiredness or impatience, it is always useful to go to one-to-one lessons armed with several alternatives to adjust to the situation.

When you teach one-on-one, you act as friend, confidant, sometimes psychiatrist and always teacher. In my experience a close trust inevitably develops between the teacher and the learner. There's an intensity that is missing in traditional classroom teaching and that is what I find most satisfying.

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