Teach English in LeijiAdian Zhen - Huanggang Shi

Just like more and more individuals require for 1-1 personal trainers for the elevation of their physical fitness, in recent years there is a growing demand on 1-1 tutoring for individuals’ particular needs and purposes of English acquisition. While a group course might not easily give individuals sufficient attention, 1-1 Tutoring, for the teacher the role is more involved in a personal level. Individual guidance is necessary in the class, and sometimes the teacher even needs to briefly give encouragement as an emotional support. This essay will focus on the advantages of 1-1 tutoring, how its drawbacks can be turned to benefits, as well as the essences that make 1-1 tutoring unique. Some advantages for 1-1 tutoring are quite obvious, such as highly motivated students, no mixed levels, easier material selection, needs of students could be easier to clarify, and so forth. Other than these, for class arrangement, the teacher can pace the lesson to mirror individual’s understanding, since it is normally easier to judge in 1-1 tutoring. Therefore, the ESA procedure can be followed with flexibility according to the student’s need. As a result, one more noticeable benefit is the SST is generally higher, since the student is usually less stressed but more motivated to contribute, under the condition that the class is tailored made to suit him/her. Another unique advantage is, a very good rapport can be built between the student and the teacher when there is mutual understanding and when the cooperation goes well. Nothing is perfect, so is 1-1 tutoring. There are indeed some well-known disadvantages, but the good news is, they are not unsolvable. In fact, once the drawbacks are found and adapted well, they could surprisingly be turned to advantages. For instance, the lack of energy are often found in tutoring classes. Nevertheless, this issue could be solved by a thorough need analysis at the initial meeting, by finding out the student’s language problems, by using a variety of techniques, or finally by maximizing on the students’ interests and experience. The class could thus become fun and full of dynamics. As for the lack of pair work, so long as the teacher is ready to try different activities and be the partner of the student, prompting and working with him/her, the student usually gets feedback of high quality from the teacher as a partner for activities. On the other hand, some may say there are few dedicated resources for one to ones. Still, the teacher can always adapt what is available, and usually the finished product as an English activity material, is way more interesting and efficient than the original. As a matter of fact, there is only one real challenge, and it might be the personality differences between the teacher and student. If it does happen, the key to change the situation around is always to be professional at all times, and try to find out a common interest by exploring different themes. Even though this is not the best situation, facing challenges is the time for a teacher to grow in skills and experiences. One unique essence of 1-1 tutoring is, a good rapport between the student and the teacher normally does not only stir up the student’s potential to language acquisition, but further result in the elevation of other phases his/her life. One famous example is Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. In this teacher-student relationship, Sullivan as a teacher knows Keller’s physical and emotional weakness, and she tries to give help with creative techniques and individual attention to Keller where necessary. … It is true maybe not every teacher could have a student that becomes a great academic award winner like Helen Keller, but all 1-1 tutors surely in a way become windows to their own native cultures to the students. In some cases of teaching younger students, the teacher in a way becomes a role model for the student, as they are in the age to imitate and mimic; what’s more, the tutor’s life experience and the way he/she carries himself/herself could surprisingly be influential to the student. When the teacher are attentive in the above mentioned phases, his/her encouragement and the nudge he/she gives to the student, will play a very important role to the growth of the student’s language acquisition, the confidence and fluency in application, as well as the depth and width of the cultural understanding. It is commonly agreed that education itself is rewarding. 1-1 Tutoring in a way, is like the teacher journeys with the student through his/her process of learning, and it is fulfilling to both the two parties. For the student, not only the progress of language acquisition may further lead into a breakthrough in his/her career life, but the language may also become a great tool for his/her adjustment in a new country. For the teacher, tutoring requires the full attention to guide and support the student, so there is good space for creativity and elevation of teaching skills. Of course, there is also a great sense of achievement from 1-1 tutoring, since the teaching is not only a support to the student’s knowledge and language skill, but a key for them to open the doors to various opportunities in life. Other than these, the best gift one can give to another is Time. In 1-1 tutoring, both the teacher and the student gives each other a gift that is beyond valuable.