Extra content

[cloa]

Dear all teachers,

I am teaching two adults separately who are a couple. I am employed through a company and they are on a plan which has far more lesson time than they can take (they are paying for lessons that they don't take). They only have a few lessons a month that fit with their schedule. The problem is standard lesson content is useful for them but a bit much for their elderly minds so one student who is an adult beginner has only one hour and the other student who lower intermediate has only one and half hours of lesson. The other student has medical English content as she is a doctor- ENT with some American English. How can I make it easy for them to have longer lessons- so I get paid more? We communicative lessons- mostly role plays at the moment.

Michael
Teacher in Japan.

[NinjaTurtle]

For ideas on how to teach a beginner, look my post, post #8, in this thread:
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/t...olute-beginner

For a beginner, concentrate on grammar not vocabulary

-----

For ideas on how to teach an intermediate student, the whole idea is to get some kind of discussions going. Take a look at my post, #7, in this thread:
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/t...ng-verb-tenses

Pick a topic and ask yes-questions, no-questions, and Wh-topics on the topic. Have the student ask you back the same questions. With practice the student should be able to make a three-minute speech on every topic. (And, once in a while, you can begin the lesson with YOU making a three-minute speech.) Then begin asking questions. Here is the basic list of topics that should be used with an intermediate student:

Self-intro
Family
Friends
My house-apartment
My dream house
Shopping
Cooking
Eating out
Getting sick
Getting injured
Hanging out – free time
Typical day, typical weekend
Chores, cleaning, laundry, vacuuming, taking out the garbage, sweeping, mopping, etc.
Sports, doing and watching
Exercising
Music – listening and playing
Watching movies
Watching TV
Traveling in Japan
Traveling to foreign countries
Transportation (bus, train, etc.)
Car
Money
Weather
Pets
Animals
National holidays
My life story (includes elementary school life, high school life, etc.)
College life
Studying English
Work
My life plan
My career
Fashion
Getting my hair cut/done
Generation gap
Japanese culture
- Food
- Language
- Chinese characters
- Japanese art and paintings
- Japanese music (karaoke, enka, etc.)
- Japanese dance
- Games – Go, Shogi, Mahjong, etc.
- Japanese history
Air pollution
Bus exhaust
Water pollution
Supermarket plastic bags – good or bad?
My hometown’s environment
Religion
British-American English

No one likes to discuss all of these topics. Before each lesson, both you and the student should a topic that both of you want to discuss, and then you can discuss that topic in that lesson.

You should be able to come up with at least ten questions on each topic. "How often do you take out the garbage?" "What kind of pollution bothers you the most?" "What happened at the Battle of Sekigahara?" "How many strokes does the Chinese character for 'fish' have?" If you need help in coming up with questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Remember the technique: ask a yes-question, then ask a no-question, then ask a Wh-question, have the student answer, then have the student ask you back the same question.

[cloa]

Thanks but I already have content that they want to do- one hour for one student and one and half for the other student. The problem is that it requires thinking just like yours. I want content that is easy on the brain for 50 year olds. The beginner student is a bit low for a lot of content that you suggest- he is doing restaurant and hotel - dialogue scripts and questions- tired after one hour. The intermediate student is doing Medical roleplays/terminology, using how questions and American lingo- a lot to think about rather than simply too much.

[NinjaTurtle]

I want content that is easy on the brain for 50 year olds.

Sing songs. Can you play the guitar?

[cloa]

No, I can't play the guitar or any other string instrument.
How about suitable poems which cover a lot of vocabulary?

[Tarheel]

I went to the grocery store with my friend Betty.
We got some fish and some spaghetti.


Do they have spaghetti in Japan?

[NinjaTurtle]

How about suitable poems which cover a lot of vocabulary?

Poetry only works for a few people. I doubt it would be successful for you.

I find myself going back again and again to my list of 52 topics. I think that everyone has one or two of those topics that are interesting to them. Try it. It's all about asking questions on those topics. If you need help coming up with questions on one or two of those topics, please do not hesitate to ask.

[Tarheel]

I went to the store to get some milk and bread,
But I brought home some beer instead.

[Tarheel]

If you need help, just ask!
I'm sure I'll be up to the task.

[cloa]

The beginner student is doing these lessons for a purpose- he travels to Finland, Denmark and New York and teaches Kendo there- he is a highly rated Kendo expert. He wants to be able to talk to students for a drink or talk to hotel or restaurant staff. More likely for English to be a reasonable common language for at least the Finns and Danes. His wife is also learning for purposes- she wants to be able to able to talk to some English speaking patients or their parents and to be able to talk in New York- she doesn't go overseas as often as her husband. They are unlikely to have a lesson together but it could happen.