How to choose a teacher?

[lnilva]

I am trying to choose a private ESL teacher for my daughter.
There are about a dozen local ads. The question is "how to choose a teacher".
Lets assume that his/her native tongue is English.
Lets further assume that the formal ESL credentials are in place.
Any ideas what questions to ask and how to judge possible answers?

Thank you.

[Tdol]

First of all, I'd check experience of working with young learners- I am dripping with qualifications but have no experience of young learners, so would probably be a poor choice. If you're living in the US, then your daughter will presumably be attending school there, so a knowledge of the requirements of the primary or secondary education system would be very important. These are the most important things that I would be looking for. I'd also ask them to show the kinds of materials they plan to use and have a look through them.

[lnilva]

Dear TDOL,

> I'd check experience of working with young learners
So, one can say "I have been working with kids for XXX years".
Does it make him/her able to adapt to psychological learning patterns of a particular child, or it maybe just signifies that fact that he/she does not like teaching argumentative adults?

> I'd also ask them to show the kinds of materials they plan to use and have a look through them
Now that is rather difficult. There are zillions sets of teaching materials (incl. self learning with keys). Some target grammar, some richness of vocabulary, some concentrate on idiomatic usage. Now a given choice of materials could help me to judge professionalism of a teacher? And, BTW, one of the prospective candidates said that "custom materials will be used"...

I'm still confused

Thank you

[Tdol]

Test how they might behave with your child. Think of a couple of problems, cognitive and behavioural and ask them how they'd handle them. As a parent, you should be able to judge how good they are. get references and check them.

With the custom materials, ask to see samples and test them out on your daughter. The choice of materials can be a guide to the sort of teacher they are, and whether they would fit in with your ideas about what your daughter should be learning. Get them to justify their choice of materials. If they can argue their case cogently, then they're probably up to snuff, but if they fall back on vagueness, then their choice isn't based on anything firm.