On the ESL help forums, one often sees teachers asking for help teaching one-to-one. Unfortunately, many teachers suffer when teaching children English individually, which is a shame because teaching one-to-one can be very rewarding and often a good source of extra income.

This article is broadly divided into four parts as follows:

1. The importance of making your lessons fun
2. Tips for using one-to-one games
3. Ideas for short plays
4. Added value ideas to enhance your teaching and reputation

1. The Importance of Making your Lessons Fun

By far, the best approach with children for successful one-to-one teaching is to use games and songs. If you want to inspire your pupil and have them want to come to your lessons instead of being forced to go by mummy, you have to make the lessons fun. One of the tricks is having a substantial library of games that work for one-on-one teaching. Another bonus is to have a strong sense of fun and be prepared to join in the games.

If you teach using games, children will love your private classes, and their parents will appreciate your results. A bi-product of this successful combination is to establish a link between enjoyment and learning, enhancing the rest of that child’s whole life.

2. Tips for Using One-to-One Games

Here are some ideas to use games successfully when teaching one-to-one. Most games need more than one player, so you often need to join in and play too. You could say, “well, then I’d just win all the time,” and that can be true. So if you are playing a game that is not just pure luck, where you would generally win all the time, you can do things like this:

– Give your pupil a head start of 10 to 30 seconds.

– Make your task harder.

– Double the task you complete in the time your pupil completes it once.

– Award your pupil three points to your one.

– Award your pupil ten bonus points at the start of the game.

– Lose deliberately by being slow (but pretend to hurry), or ‘accidentally’ drop your pen.

Stopwatch

Another way of adding an element of fun to a one-to-one lesson is to use a stopwatch or timer to add excitement. A timer allows your pupils to race against themselves rather than constantly competing or playing against you. Time your pupil each round and see if they can beat their previous time.

You can also use the stopwatch to give a time limit to an activity, aiming to allow just enough time to complete it. A timed challenge can stimulate a pupil rather than working methodically through an exercise. Oven timers that tick and have a bell that goes off after the given time is up are also good. Your pupil must complete the task before the bell goes off. Substitutes for an oven timer could be an alarm clock, a wind-up musical box, or an egg timer.

Bells

Bells you find on hotel reception desks are also fun. Students race to tap the bell when they have their answer. Of course, using a bell is more effective when you have two or more students but is still an added fun element for the younger children, even in one-to-one lessons.

Sensitivity

And finally, always be sensitive: be careful that one person does not lose all the time. Additionally, only use competition if you see that it enhances the mood rather than causes unnecessary tension or a loss of morale. With children between the ages of 3 and 6, any form of competition is best avoided.

You can play the game or use the timer as usual, but make sure that you play until the end, so everyone wins – not just the person who finishes first. Also, with the timer idea, the child must complete before the time is up – even if you have to extend that time indefinitely. If a young child does not finish in the required time, it upsets them, and they will probably cry – and that is not the aim of the game. Instead, you want the child to succeed so that they feel great about learning English.

Video demo

Visit this link for free one to one games and a video: Free video of one to one games here!