any ideas for the first lesson in this intensive course (mornings - Monday-Friday for 4 weeks) - this is my first experience with a starter with no experience in english. thanks
I briefly taught a complete beginner in Spain. I will readily admit that it was a struggle for the first few days, and there was a lot of miming!
However, for our first lesson, I simply concentrated on the obvious: hello/goodbye/I am/My name is. That took the best part of 2 hours. Constant repetition and correction helped to reinforce every word but, as I say, I felt like a mime artist with all the waving and pointing and thumbs up/down going on. I was determined to try not to use Spanish in the classroom.
I think you'll find out very quickly whether your student is a fast learner and you'll have to adapt your materials constantly, depending on how (s)he's getting on.
I didn't use any formal course materials for the first class - I simply made it up as I went along and wrote relevant words in block capitals in black marker pen on pieces of paper and dotted them round the room, then sent him home with them to revise.
Good luck!
PS - If you come back and this post has vanished, it may have been moved to the "Teaching English" thread which is specifically for teachers to talk to other teachers!
