new esl tutor needs help getting started

[Jason t]

I just finished esl tutoring training course.

I was assigned my adult student. He is from Russia, and would like to work on conversational skills. [intermediate]

The training course did not cover specific lesson plans for conversation.

Any suggestions

[oregeezer]

What do you talk to new friends about?
The weather
Hometown
School
Family
Travel
Etc....
I just bet your courses covered SOME of those topics!

[KYL]

Do a quick assessment to find out what does he really needs and what does he want to do? The two issues are totally different. Although you did mentioned that he is in intermediate level, you still need to narrow thing down and the best way to establish this is by asking him to write out his goals and use it as an performance indicator (review this goal - met or unmet by mid-term and then evaluate and implement new goal).

The next step, perhaps look for material that he really needs and want to develop could be formulaic conversation at a customer service..., how to negotiate or conflict resolution...

When you have the topic/ material-
1. Let him know the goal for that lesson.
2. Go thru some of the English words - Pronunciation, spelling and definition (the word in context).
3. Practice some of the formulaic sentences to build up confident.
4. Once the warm up is out of the way, challenge the student by creating different case scenario or same case scenario but with different respond to give the student a good practice in quick registration and flexibility like a real life scenario!
5. Have fun with role-play and case scenarios!

So Good Luck!

[acecrystal]

get to know the person first,so that establishing rapport is easier.