11/2/2017 OnetooneMethodology:Tenactivities|Onestopenglish

NumberoneforEnglishlanguageteachers

OnetooneMethodology:Tenactivities
ByNicolaMeldrumandLindsayClandfield

Type:Teachingnotes

Tenactivitiesforteachingonetooneclasses

1.Guessthenewsstory
Collectaweeksworthofnewspapers(inanylanguage)andcutoutpicturesofnewsstoriesfromeachone.Aimfora
selectionoffiveorsixtopicalnewspicturesfromthatweek.ThentakeanA4orlettersizesheetofheavypaper(or
card).Cutasmallsquareoutofthemiddleofthiscard.Whenyoucometoclass,placeapicturefromthenewsunder
thecardsothatonlysomeofthepictureisvisible.Thestudentmust1)speculateaboutwhatthepictureisabout,and
2)tellyouasmuchastheyknowaboutthenewsstory.

2.Writtenconversationorroleplay
Conductaconversationbutonlyinwrittenform.Takeapieceofpaperandwriteaquestiontoyourstudentandgive
himorherthepapertowriteanansweron.Gobackandforthlikethisuntilyouhaveagoodsizedsampleofwriting.
Thiscanbeusedasthebasisforcorrectingwrittenmistakesandplanningfurtherclasses.

3.Postitmania
BringapackofPostitnotestotheclassoneday.Lookaroundtheroomandwriteawordofsomethingthatisinthe
roomonapostitnote.Giveittothestudentandaskhimorhertostickthepostitnoteonthecorrectobject.Dothis
untilyouhavelabelledmanythingsintheroom.Attheendofthelessoncalloutthingsandaskthestudenttobring
youbackthepostitnote(unlesstheywouldliketoleaveitontheobjectasamemoryaid!).

4.Sighttranslationactivities
ManyonetoonestudentsarebusinesspeoplewhoareexpectedtolearnEnglishfortheirjob.Onetypicalareathat
peopleatworkneedEnglishforissighttranslation.Someonecomesintotheofficewavingapieceofpaperandasking
ifanyonecantellthemwhatitmeans.Dothisfromtimetotimewithyourstudent.Givethemadocumentrelatedto
theirworkandaskthemtoexplainitquicklytoyouinEnglish.IfyouspeakyourstudentsL1,givethemadocument
inEnglishandaskthemtogiveyouaquicktranslationintotheirlanguage.

5.Getoutoftheclass
Onetooneclassesareoftenextremelymobile,andteacherscantakeadvantageofthis.Askyourstudenttotakeyou
onaguidedtourinEnglishoftheirhomeorworkplace.Doashoppingclass,whereyouandyourstudentgotoseveral
shopstogether.Orjustgoforawalkoutsidewithyourstudentanddoyourclasslikethatoneday.Achangeof
environmentisverygoodforrefocusingthemind,andtherearelotsofnewtopicsforlanguagestudythatyoucanget
justfromwalkingdownthestreet.

6.Questionnaires
Prepareaseriesofquestionpromptsonatopic.Forexample,ifyourtopicwassportsyoucouldhavethefollowing
questionprompts:

/likesports?
what/sports/play?
what/sports/watchontelevision?
ever/win/sportsaward?etc.

Firstinterviewthestudentusingtheprompts.Thenaskthestudenttodothesameforyou.Whenyouhavefinished,
reviewanyspecialvocabularyorgrammarthatcameup.Tellthestudentthatforthenextclassheorshemustprepare
asimilarlistofquestionsonadifferenttopictointerviewyou.

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11/2/2017 OnetooneMethodology:Tenactivities|Onestopenglish

7.Cuisinairerods
Cuisinairerodsarelittlecolouredwoodensticksthatareusedinteachingmaths.Withonetooneclassesandvery
smallgroups,therearelotsofthingsyoucandowithcuisinairerods.Askthestudenttomakearepresentationofthe
companystructureusingtherods(likeanorganigram).Youcanalsouserodstoteachwordstress(rodsforevery
syllable,adifferentcolouredrodforastressedsyllable).JimScrivenerhasmoreinformationonCuisinairerodsinhis
bookLearningTeaching.

8.Indexcards
Onepieceofequipmentthatisparticularlyusefulforaonetooneclassisasetofindexcards.Usethemtokeeptrack
ofnewvocabulary.Thecardscanthenbeusedfromtimetotimetoreviewthis.Youcanalsouseindexcardsascue
cardsforapresentation.Helpthestudentwritetheircuesforaminipresentationonatopic,thengetthemtogiveyou
thepresentationusingonlytheircues.Youcanalsowritedifferentconversationtopicsorroleplaysonindividual
cards.Askthestudenttochooseoneatrandomandtalkaboutoractoutthesituationonthecard.

9.Thinkofsomeonewho...
Manyteachersofonetooneclassesarefrustratedbycoursebookorresourcematerialthatisonlysuitableforlarge
groups.However,someoftheseactivitiescanbeadapted.Forinstance,theclassicFindSomeoneWhoactivitycanbe
changedtoaThinkofSomeoneWhoandusedwithonlyonestudent.UsingaFindSomeoneWhoworksheet,askthe
studenttowritethenamesofpeoplethatheorsheknowswhomatcheachcategory.Thestudentmustdothiswithout
tellingyouanything.Heorshemustalsowritethenamesdowninadifferentorderthantheyappearontheworksheet.
Dothesameyourselfwithanothercopyofthesamesheet.Thenswappapers.Theobjectiveistoaskandanswer
questionstofindoutwhichpersonwrittendownonthepapermatcheswhichcategory.

Youandthestudentwillthereforebeaskingandansweringthequestionsseveraltimes,justlikeinaFindSomeone
Whoactivitywithalargeclass.

10.Speakinglessonsononestopenglish
Letustakesomeofthepressureoffyou.Thereareseverallessonsononestopenglishthatcanbeeasilyusedwithoneto
oneorverysmallclasses.Specifically,thedeckofconversationsandthedeckofbusinessconversationsaretwo
speakingclasseswhichareidealforsmallgroupsorjustonestudent.

Readers'comments(3)
CBA|Sat,7Sep20134:06pm

Muchissimothanks!

cs90|Sat,18May20134:27pm

veryusefulthankyou!

Maria|Tue,9Apr201312:54pm

Manythanksfortheaboveinfo.Helpsenormously.

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