Long one-on-one sessions early in the a.m.

[redcranes]

Hi.
I work at a school and have just taken on a new student – beginner, one-on-one lessons twice a week, 7-8:30 a.m. I dread it.
Do you have any advice on how to pace a 7 a.m. 90-minute lesson so that neither the student nor I are completely wiped out by the end?
He’s a bank manager, so I’m not sure if he’ll be up for classroom antics like charades or TPR activities.
Oh, and we don’t have a language in common, so verbal communication will be very, very limited – no chitchat, no jokes to loosen up the atmosphere.
I’d be very grateful for any advice!
Thanks,
redcranes

[Lucy]

Hi Redcranes,

I fully sympathise with you. I am not a morning person at all and I think such a class would be a nightmare for me.

Here are a few ideas:

Use short activities, rather than long-drawn out things such as difficult listening exercises.

Change the focus regularly: have parts of the lesson that are teacher-led, student focused, study the book, use a recording.

Break the lesson up with focus on pronunciation, vocabulary. There are many useful short activities that focus on vocab and pron.

Use video if you can, in short chunks.

If the culture/atmosphere in the school allows it, take a coffee break together. You can continue speaking English while drinking coffee.

Look for short activities that focus on social English and practise that language while having coffee.

Ask the student what he would like to do in class; find someone to help you translate this as you don’t have a common language.

Get as much together as possible the night before the lesson.

Enjoy!