Being a private teacher means walking a lonely road. We miss other teachers to exchange experiences with as well as the constant academic support and training that schools usually provide. In the long run, we start feeling a bit loose, lost, and insecure as to whether we are on the right tracks or still applying top-notch teaching techniques in our lessons.
To make things worse, if we consider that language acquisition is an unconscious process and happens when we are communicating with others in the target language (Krashen, 1982:10), we also run the risk of eventually absorbing our students’ English because we listen to their English much more frequently and for many more hours a day than we listen to highly advanced English. So, what to do? How can we make sure our English is not, pardon the word, slowly deteriorating? How can we keep up with the latest effective teaching trends? Here are some suggestions.
Language Proficiency
What is our real English level right now? How can we (double) check it? We may have a C2 certificate which we took in 2012, for example, but does that mean our English is still C2? In order to keep up with your real level, the easy way is to try a reliable placement test, such as the one at the Cambridge English site. It will take us no longer than 30 minutes to have a quick answer. The most accurate way, however, is to download a real exam and try the test. Cambridge is kind enough to offer a complete test (with audio and answer key) for every CEFR level. Once we are done, we may check our answers and have a sounder idea of our real level.
Whenever we find out we do not have the English we thought we did anymore, we must look for authoritative sources and courses and study hard again. On the other hand, if we look for just a way to maintain our good level, one good idea is to have fun with language games on authoritative sites (to make sure the games are actually accurate). One good tip is to sign up at online dictionaries, such as the Cambridge online dictionary. There are many games for vocabulary and grammar that we can use to maintain and brush up on our English. One way or another, we teachers need to study forever. After all, we need to lead by example!
Teaching Performance
The first step is to join a major publisher’s site. For example, if you sign up at Cambridge One, you will have access to several courses for teachers of English, which will help you keep updated. Of course, there are thousands of “teacher training” clips on YouTube, but if you worry about quality assurance, make sure an authoritative party actually endorses the source you have chosen. Otherwise, you might end up making your teaching deteriorate as well. Reading good books on new teaching trends, such as Using Corpora in the Language Classroom (Reppen, 2010) among several others is always a safe way to keep up, too. Last, search for courses for teachers of English. They will put you in contact with other teachers and this exchange of ideas and experience is really enriching.
Course & Student Management
We should constantly seek ways to look professional and organized. For example, when we get new students, we may ask them to try the same quick placement mentioned above. Even though we are perfectly able to place a student in a 10-minute interview, the electronic placement test will make the student feel we are more business-oriented. When selecting a book, we may also access Cambridge One. There, we may browse through several options and pick the one that most suits our students’ profile. Of course, we can select material from other sites, too, but at Cambridge One, we will have the chance to check whether there is video training to teach with that book, which is a plus. Last, it is a good idea to keep a students’ data centre where we can store information on the student, and on the lessons we teach. That will give us perspective, that is, we will be better able to follow our students’ progress in the long run, and it will prevent us from getting lost or confused about what to teach each student each lesson.
Teaching privately does not mean we should look amateurish anymore. Now we can take advantage of the internet to keep our good English, to hone our teaching skills, and to manage our students and our lessons professionally. I hope some of the ideas here will help you feel more confident and more empowered in your teaching career.
Wondering what life is like for private teachers around the world? Clara Prado gave us an account of her life as private English teacher in Brazil – read her blog.
Krashen, S. D. (1982) Principles & Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press Inc.Reppen, R. (2010) Using Corpora in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press.