Teach English in MalingshAn Zhen - Xuzhou Shi

Adults from every country are trying to model their english skills after a native english speaker. Here I have some techniques, methods, and tips for teaching english to adults online and how to make their experience, as well as your own, the most effective and efficient. With adults being typically motivated when making the decision to take an english course online, we need to make sure we understand their needs and goals to set them up for success. Although they are motivated by themselves there is no saying you can’t motivate them further. Teaching techniques and Materials online could be very different from those in the classroom as well, so here I’d like to share with you how to teach english to adults online. As I mentioned before adults are most likely motivated to learn english in this situation, so you want to make sure you are helping them achieve their own goals they set out for by taking your class. A great way to begin your class with the student is with a “Needs analysis Questionnaire”. Simply a questionnaire where you can identify what the student thinks they need to work on, their strengths and weaknesses, interests/ reason for taking the class, as well as helps you design future lessons that would be more interesting to the student. Doing a one-on-one class is easy for you to be able to maximize on the students interests, for you have an advantage to get to know them better. When creating the needs analysis or finding one online, you should make sure the questions are for the most part very forward, letting the student explain exactly what you asked without beating around the bush, for example “What are your hobbies and interests?” They should be able to explain themselves thoroughly this way without you having to assume their interests within another question. Ask what they want to work on but also challenge them with questions to help you pinpoint sentence structure/grammar issues etc. When teaching adult students you should never stop trying to motivate them further just because they are already motivated themselves. Not correcting every mistake is vital as this could lead to discouragement and frustration when constantly being told that they are incorrect. Instead write the mistakes down and squeeze them into a later lesson. Also using real materials, real sources (authentic materials) once in a while makes the adult student very happy and much more confident since they are dealing with real things and not created materials. Keeping a low stress level within your student could also be motivational for them. If they are anywhere from 18+ they could be working and have a busy schedule. If you sense this is the situation you should be mindful of their schedule outside of class and avoid giving them pounds of homework that would stress them out more. You can switch to a homework assignment as simple as reading a quick article before your next lesson together. Another way to avoid discouragement with adult students is breaking them out of habits such as comparing english to their native language which can confuse them immensely later on. Also learning about the meaning of EXCEPTIONS early on is very helpful so the whole idea of “not having an explanation” for the way something is conjugated or spelt isn’t super aggravating to them when they hear about it in later lessons. Lastly since we are talking about teaching online there are a number of things we should consider just because it is an online class. For one, having a good source of communication with your students whether it be email or a phone number is very helpful for scheduling issues. Also taking advantage of online resources such as youtube, slideshows, websites, audio etc. can make it very easy to share since you are both already at a computer. This makes visual learning very easy as well. Not to mention it is just you and the student during a one-on-one so they are naturally getting plenty of personal listening, and speaking practice which is very good for receptive and productive skills. In the end, these students are very motivated which should motivate you as well! Being clear with them from the beginning and seeing them reach their english language goals is extremely rewarding. The tips and techniques I have mentioned here should make sure that your student is getting the best suited learning experience for them and the least amount of confusion. The online teaching world is growing and is a great opportunity to begin or continue your english teaching career and make people’s goals and dreams come true!