4+1 online business teaching tips
In our previous post, we looked at how a general English teacher can conquer the world of business English teaching, and now, we’re going to look at a couple of questions this teacher might have as they are getting to grips with the ins and outs of one-to-one teaching, especially online. There are a number of characteristics that can turn an aimless chat into a well-designed, focused developmental course that provides continuous support to the student beyond the four corners of the laptop screen.
Teaching one-to-one usually means that your student is looking for something intensive and tailor-made. This can be quite demanding to cater for in an in-person setting already but if we move this entire course into the online sphere, we somehow get a very delicate balancing act between keeping your lesson focus and keeping the human touch as well. Trying to find the balance could also lead to an extremely dull or overwhelmingly haphazard lesson experience. To avoid the most common pitfalls, check out the following 4+1 tips!
1. Virtual classrooms for one-to-one students? I’m not *that* scatter-brained!
I have seen this question pop up in several teacher support groups on social media. Teachers were wondering whether setting up a VLE (virtual learning environment), such as Google Classroom, Edmodo or Microsoft Teams is a good idea even for just one student, as these environments seem to have been instinctively made for groups. My answer is an absolute yes! Staying organised is one of the key requirements for a successful online course, no matter how many students you have. It is quite easy to chuck files into a shared folder or to send them via email before every lesson, but if you think ahead and consider how many students you should do this with, you’ll soon realise the imminent chaos this decision is going to bring with itself.
And these VLEs are not only good for keeping files arranged but you can also use their other inherent functions too, such as setting deadlines for homework submissions or giving proper feedback on them with the help of grading rubrics. If you think about it, your one-to-one student will not feel whether there are more students doing the same exercises that they are doing, but they will certainly get all the benefits as if they were in an organised class setting. On top of that, you as the teacher can also keep track of student deadlines and submissions more clearly and can thus manage your time much better.
2. Online games for business students don’t need to be childish
One thing we tend to always associate with business students is that they are serious people who need to get down to work and reach results as quickly as possible. This automatically means that all the interactive online content creator websites, such as Wordwall, Learning Apps, Quizizz, or Bamboozle, which we have already successfully managed to integrate into our post-pandemic teaching style, can be thrown out the window. But don’t be so rash to jump to conclusions!
It is definitely true that business students (or clients) wish to have a goal-oriented approach. However, if we can have a transparent negotiation (like in the case of any business meeting) about the aims and the gains, we could convince our students to see the advantages of these activities.
Of course, to seal the deal, it might be a good idea to steer clear of whack-a-mole type of games, but who knows really? I remember having a student working as a very high level executive, who enjoyed such games as they were a breath of fresh air in the middle of their taxing workweek. So, stay transparent – discuss why you think these activities could bring in some variety, but accept if your client would like to stick to more traditional activities.
3. So, what shall we do then?
One of the best things in online teaching, I think, is that everything’s at your disposal. It would be a shame to stick to static pdf versions of course books if there are practically trillions of up-to-date resources just at our fingertips. I’d recommend using Insertlearning, for example, for this, which is a Chrome browser extension that you can use to insert questions and activities into any text-based website.
Apart from using more current sources, another advantage of creating online materials is that it can be tailor-made but reused with slight modifications. Moreover, you can also work on cloud-based documents (for example, on Google Slides, Google Jamboard, and now even Zoom offers asynchronously editable whiteboards in their latest update) together collaboratively, and your student can even continue working asynchronously that you can track if you wish.
4. Meaningful connection outside the classroom
There’s a very interesting dilemma here. Stephen O’Sullivan explores in his article why private lessons cost more than group classes, and one of the main reasons he gives is time that the teacher dedicates to their student between classes. This meaningful connection and additional attention, which can range from sending an article over that might be of the student’s interest to providing extra help or sending short supporting activities every now and then, is what makes a difference in pricing. However, a thought-provoking chat with language coaching expert, Gabriella Kovacs, revealed that business students actually prefer not to be bothered in their free time because they are so busy that they wish to maximise the efficiency of class time. They might still ask for urgent help from you, though.
Again, this all needs to be agreed on in the form of a learning contract before the course starts. You can agree on whether your student would like to receive some additional resources via text or on your VLE if you happen to find any, and whether you are available to help if something urgent comes up for them.
+1. The story of Ranting and Venting and the Egg timer
Let’s imagine two characters that walk into a bar, we’ll call them Ranting and Venting. They are very impulsive and emotional characters, and the moment they step into any bar, people know their peace is over once and for all. These two can talk incessantly for 60 or 90 minutes straight, they never take a breath, and they keep interrupting each other. “How can you possibly get a word in?” thinks the bartender. So, he just leaves them be until they run out of things to say for the week.
Now, imagine that you’re the bartender, and you meet these two characters disguised as your student every week. You might be thinking that your student is amazing because they talk non-stop, but this also raises the question of “What is this class really for? Are the aims achieved at all?” Eventually, your student might confront you to say that they have not been feeling any progress lately. What can you do in this case? Especially, in the online sphere, where stopping somebody from talking can be achieved less delicately than in a face-to-face setting.
Well, you could send them a message in the chat box (they might not see it), you could show a card up in the camera (could come off as rude), could loudly say “So, let’s see what we have for today” (could also be quite rude).
Or you could just let them rant and vent for a limited amount of time. Tell them that this is their moment, they can say whatever they wish for 10 minutes, but after that, it’s class time. Don’t jump on the bandwagon and start having a conversation with them because it can hijack your whole lesson. Stay consistent. Use maybe the timer function on Classroomscreen to let them see or hear that their ranting time is over, it’s time to work. And you could also turn this into a developmental opportunity, if you mention 3 things at most in the form of delayed feedback. I’m saying three maximum because, again, the focus of the lesson might shift if you spend too much time on this part but it could still yield some benefits.
Main takeaways
Although we tend to think that one-to-one teaching is less troublesome than group teaching since there are fewer students to manage, these lessons still need proper planning and setup to leave the client satisfied. I’d say these are the most important points to keep in mind:
- Use a VLE even with just one student to keep things neat and tidy for both you and them
- Don’t be afraid of using some online games and activities but make sure there’s always a proper aim
- Make use of up-to-date sources by turning them into online materials. Or just use an expanding cloud-based document that both of you can add material to collaboratively.
- Agree on how frequent you’d like your online connection to be
- Let your student rant and vent if they cannot focus otherwise, but make sure to set limits
