By: Tutor Elliot
Picture this: you log on for your first Priority Hour of the day, and your first call is from a complete English beginner with minimal English skills.
Oh no!
I get it; teaching English to complete beginners certainly feels intimidating, but if you relax and focus on five essential rules, your lesson will run super smoothly.
And you’ll even have some fun!
Here Are 5 Easy Tips for Teaching English to Beginners:
Keep these tips in mind every time you meet a student who is just starting their English journey.
Tip #1. Smile
Smiling is so important, and you might be surprised by how much a simple smile can change the overall feel of the lesson.
Students who are new to speaking English will often feel apprehensive, and learning a new language can feel like a daunting task.
They’re unsure what the lessons will be like; they’re worried about how their tutor will approach them and how they will perform in the class.
By smiling, you remove that barrier and knock down the wall of apprehensiveness.
Tip #2. Keep it Simple
If our language, lessons, or communication is too difficult, we will not benefit the student or discourage them.
Remember to keep everything extremely simple. We want to ensure that our speech and communication is easily understood, and we want to speak at a pace that corresponds to our learners level of English.
Start with the vocabulary basics such as:
- Introductions
- Family and Friends
- The Weather
- Directions
Tip #3. Practice, Practice, Practice
Reserve lots of time during the lesson for practice. To be honest, we can never have enough time for practice when it comes to beginners!
As a tutor, we may feel tempted to do a lot of the talking. While this may be necessary initially, depending on the student, we want to decrease our talk time and give our students more opportunities to speak.
This allows us as tutors to listen and assess the student on their English level and common errors, enabling us to assist them in their language learning better.
Tip #4. Be Patient
And, don’t be a bore!
If you’ve ever watched paint dry, you know that agony of boredom. We don’t want our sessions to be like that.
So, what can we do to make our sessions fun and engaging yet informative and educational?
There are limitless ways to make our lessons exciting while enabling our students to learn. Focus on fun games or funny tasks that will make you both laugh!
Pro tip: Play on their interests! Ask them what they enjoy doing in their free time, what they got up to over the weekend, and tailor a lesson around their hobbies or interests. Focusing on their interests will keep the lesson engaging because they want to talk as much as possible about their passions!
I promise your student will look forward to every session with you.
Tip #5. Help Them to Believe
Now, this is probably your most important tip of all because a lack of confidence will betray your students in their language acquisition process.
So, instil confidence in your students through regular and genuine encouragement during each session.
If you instil a solid base of confidence in them, their English skills will flourish incredibly fast.
Confidence is key!
& That’s How You Teach English to Beginners Like a Pro!
How do you handle teaching English to beginners? Are there any tips or tricks that you can add to this list? Let us know in the comments below!
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