Guest Posted August 18, 2001 Report Share Posted August 18, 2001 What are the best course books to teach one to one? I intend to set up on my own in the next month or so and would appreciate any advice on the best books to buy and familiarize myself with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman Posted August 19, 2001 Report Share Posted August 19, 2001 You intend to teach one on one, yet you do not know what are the best course books? You must be joking right? One one one requires teachers to be TOTALLY ON THE BALL. It is not like teaching in a class. Students pay 5 - 8 times the price to study one on one and expect to study with a teacher who can get the best out of them, can identify their weaknesses and concentarte on them, a teacher who knows what they are doing. To answer your question, it depends on what the student is studying, what their needs are, how old they are and a whole host of other things..... Stick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2001 Report Share Posted August 19, 2001 Blackcat, You'll be right. Teaching one on can be quite fun if you get the right students. Many students are happy enough to just sit and engage in conversation with be pulled up and corrected when they make mistakes. A good book that's specifically ESL , The Practice of English Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer might be a good start, all that current methodology stuff and many examples of some good activities. You'll find it in DK I think. There are many good books out there the English Grammer in Use Cambridge series is good, Practical English Usage (Michael Swan) also good. These are just reference books really...well actually the English Grammer in Use books are full of practice exercises to give students on whatever grammer points you wish to entertain. Though, I recall reading in a previous post you mentioning you'd completed the Celta course so maybe you're already famililar with these type of books . As for course books for your student you needn't bother at first. Find out what they like and what their interests are. With one student it's easy. You can centre on whatever their interests are and find material around it. Not too much effort to be really 'ON THE BALL' once you get used to it. Can be time consuming if they are too demanding though. Money is not an issue to some. I've tutored rich thai/chinese kids for 700 per hour and also average thai office workers for 300 per hour. With the former, the parents are normally just happy that their kid is doing something constructive and gets him/her out of their hair for another hour or so. With the later, the students generally just want chit-chat and conversation with some basic grammer. It's only the pain in the arse uni students that require all the solid grammar structure. They more often than not need this as a basis for writing essays and academic papers in English. I practically rewrote a thesis for an engineering student over the course of a year once! Boy that was worth more than what I ever got! Having said that though, grammar is essential for all learners. So handy if you can learn a few rules as you go. Good luck and happy teaching ========================= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2001 Report Share Posted August 19, 2001 Many thanks for the help. In response to Stickmans post I would say I am not going into this blind. I have been teaching at a established language school for 6 months and am Cambridge/RSA Celta qualified. I am familiar with the Reward, Matters and Business objective coursebooks. I was merely try to find out if there were any others that more experienced teachers could particularly recommend. I went into DK books last week in Pattaya and there must have been over 30 different coursebooks to choose from. You have been a great help to me in the past Stickman both via your website and also with responses to my e-mails (remember emails exchanged regarding info on Cambridge and David Willaimson and his Cambridge compensation clauses) but I did think your response to this posting was an unnecessary flame. Maybe I'm just a bit too sensitive. Cheers Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2001 Report Share Posted August 20, 2001 Blackcat, Maybe Sticky had had a hard day in the classroom. I'm going to be approaching the topic of 'suitable textbooks' in my next 'Teacher Monthly'. Many of the 30 textbooks that you saw, although excellent books, just don't work with Thais because they lean heavily on student's imagination. My own favourite series is 'True to Life' but Thais find it too challenging. You might be better off with Wanky Jack's 'Interchange' series or something else that 'holds' the students hand. [ August 19, 2001: Message edited by: Bangkok Phil ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted August 24, 2001 Report Share Posted August 24, 2001 Look into the New Interchange series. p.s. Rots o' ruck. Thai students get bored quickly. Besides simply teaching, you have to keep them entertained. As Sticky says, the students are VERY DEMANDING in one on one teaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 24, 2001 Report Share Posted August 24, 2001 True To Life is good, although it is no good for younger learners as a lot of the lexis covered are specifically for EMPLOYED adults. Stickman's response may not have been thjat helpful, but it wasn't a flame either. Actually, your initial question does invite criticism as it could appear that you have never taught before, and presumably that was why Stickman replied the way he did. To answer your original question, Reward is an excellent series for one on one as nt only does it have some interesting lexical sets, the way it handles grammar anmd functions is ideal for one on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 24, 2001 Report Share Posted August 24, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Sexy Eyes: ..your initial question does invite criticism as it could appear that you have never taught before.. So what!! Criticise someone for trying to get a start? Fuck, gotta start somewhere. And asking someone who presumably knows is a good way to start if you ask ME. Besides, if anybody had bothered to look at this fellow's previous posts before coming across and sounding a right tosser they would've noted that the guy has actually done more than most to initiate himself into the profession of ESL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted August 25, 2001 Report Share Posted August 25, 2001 I agree with stickman. You must be "on the ball" with one on one lessons. For those teachers who just want to sit and talk and babysit them, you should hang your head in shame. Taking 1000 bhat/hour for a 50 bhat/hour nanny job is criminal. And if you call yourself teachers, please dont come to thailand. We have enough unprofessional teachers here. I am not flaming you , you seem to be making an effort and doing some prep work. That is more than a few teachers at my school who are on a 6 figure salary. Useless!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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