Advice for teaching an advanced adult one-on-one

Teaching ESL to adults

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gogogadget
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Posts: 1
Joined: 16 Jan 2014, 15:47
Status: New Teacher

Advice for teaching an advanced adult one-on-one

Unread post by gogogadget »

I have an advanced adult student that I don't know what to do with (I am a new teacher).

She's intelligent, generally doesn't have any problems with understanding me, and expresses herself pretty well, but still makes a lot of errors with verb tenses and seems to lack vocabulary. She really has no use for English in her work or daily life, so our class is the only time she practices. (I'm not allowed to give homework in my job.) She mostly wants conversation, but doesn't seem to object to me instructing her in grammar and things like that.
When I quiz her she knows most of her grammar rules, but fails to apply it to her speech naturally.

What activities can I do to force her to use the correct verb tenses in conversation and increase her vocabulary? And also not bore her. I'm not a fan of most of the activities I find on the internet, which seem very childish and silly to me.
robert_007
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Posts: 2
Joined: 15 Oct 2014, 16:51
Status: Teacher Trainer

Re: Advice for teaching an advanced adult one-on-one

Unread post by robert_007 »

Hello,

I suppose that 10 months later that a reply to your post may not be the greatest but here goes ...

I think many ESL / EFL teachers experience the same challenge with students who display an excellent mastery of the rules of English grammar but face challenges putting the rules into practice during regular conversation.

I teach mostly on-line, although I am sure that the following little trick could be adapted to in-person classes.

I find that when I do not interrupt the flow of conversation but instead send an IM with grammar corrections as they are needed that students will repeat the erroneous section with the grammar correction provided.

Hope that helps.

Take Care,

Robert
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