![\"James](\"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/james-taylor-1-150x150.jpg\")
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I\u2019ve taught English in a variety of settings. Business, test preparation, general EFL, teacher training, I\u2019ve done them all. Teenagers, students, adults, executives, diplomats, retirees, even other teachers, been there, done that. From sixty minutes to one hour, tick. From one to one to twenty five in a classroom, it\u2019s on my list.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s fair to say that in my teaching career so far, I\u2019ve had a fair bit of variety, but as a language learner, I\u2019ve had almost no variety at all. Every language class I\u2019ve ever had, from school, where I studied French in groups of around twenty and came away with a good grade and a complete inability to speak the language, to the Portuguese lessons I had in Brussels to stop me from getting rusty (it didn\u2019t work), have been in groups. Now for the first time, I\u2019m learning a new language, Spanish, one-to-one so I\u2019m here to report back to you on how it feels from a learner’s perspective. Let\u2019s start with…<\/p>\n
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Time and Space<\/b><\/p>\n
Like some kind of language Timelord<\/a>, I feel that my one-to-one classes give me the ability to control time. I can slow things down to suit me as I wish. If my teacher gives me an activity, I\u2019m the kind of student who likes to calmly, slowly and deliberately get it right. I like to look at my coursebook, handout, notes, or the board, take my time and choose the right answer. One-to-one classes give me that luxury.<\/p>\n I can make spaces too. If I feel I want to spend more time on a particular part of the lesson, whether that be on a grammar bit or the general conversation that inevitably kicks off a class, I can. I have the freedom. Obviously my teacher has a plan, but luckily she\u2019s not the prescriptive type, so she\u2019ll happily allow me to slow things down or follow me down a particularly tangential rabbit hole. Subsequently, that means there is no\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pressure<\/b><\/p>\n No matter how good the teacher is at creating a pleasant, cooperative mood, in a group class there is always pressure. Firstly, there is a pressure to perform to the same level as your peers. I remember my first ever Portuguese lessons a few years back and how most of the other students, whose first languages were also of Latin origin, sailed through the elementary levels, leaving me feeling like the class dunce. At least in a one-to-one class, as well as being the slowest student, I\u2019m also the top of the class!<\/p>\n And who can forget the pressure to finish an activity? There you are, calmly, slowly and deliberately working on the task when you hear a couple of other students muttering to each other. They\u2019ve finished and you\u2019re barely halfway through. Who hasn\u2019t felt their heart quicken, their grip tighten on their pen, and their forehead moisten as that happens? Well, not me anymore, I\u2019m free to dawdle all I wish! Which may not entirely be a good thing, even though this\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No Pressure<\/b><\/p>\n \u2026 environment means I\u2019m free to do what I want, teacher permitting of course. I\u2019m not sure, however, that that is exactly what I need. Like any student I need motivation to progress and maybe I need some external pressure to get where I need to go. Do I need other people in the classroom to push me along?<\/p>\n I do have some internal motivation. I live in a Spanish speaking country so it would be nice to interact with people, plus it would make my life a bit easier. And when I think of my friends and family back home, the non-teachers, the civilians, as actors would call them, very few of them speak a foreign language and I\u2019m proud of the fact that I do, even if it\u2019s only one and a bit.<\/p>\n But I don\u2019t need Spanish, I can live without it, I just like the idea of it. Is that going to be enough motivation? Only time will tell, but one thing I\u2019m sure of is that, for me\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One Is The Magic Number<\/b><\/p>\n … and not the loneliest number, as some would have you believe<\/a>. I\u2019m an introvert, I don\u2019t like to perform, I don\u2019t enjoy peer pressure and I prefer my own time and space. Like any learner, I need some external motivation to help me succeed, but feeling slow and useless is not it. I don\u2019t feel that I\u2019m missing out by not being with other people. On the contrary, I enjoy the fact that my teacher and I can get to know each other despite my linguistic shortcomings in a way that would be impossible in a group class.<\/p>\n I\u2019m aware that not every student shares my characteristics and situation (and I\u2019m sure my old teachers would be horrified to know that one of their students felt the way I often did). More extroverted types might enjoy the things that I can do without. Good luck to them, but if you can excuse my rampaging ego for a second, this article isn\u2019t about them, it\u2019s about me and one-to-one suits me just fine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Connect with James and other iTDi Associates, Mentors, and Faculty by joining iTDi Community. Sign Up For A Free iTDi Account<\/a> to create your profile and get immediate access to our social forums and trial lessons from our English For Teachers<\/a> and Teacher Development<\/a> courses.<\/p>\n Teaching One-to-One: How It Feels From A Students Perspective\u00a0 – James Taylor I\u2019ve taught English in a variety of settings. Business, test preparation, general EFL, teacher training, I\u2019ve done them all. Teenagers, students, adults, executives, diplomats, retirees, even other teachers, been there, done that. From sixty minutes to one hour, tick. From one to … Continue reading More Teaching One to One – James<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-teaching-one-to-one"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Like what we do? 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