The Bottom Line
- Innovative approach to ESL career
- Student-centered approach as opposed to syllabus approach
- Gives exact lists of what is needed
- Many points might seem obvious to experienced teachers
Description
- Pragmatic approach to becoming an ESL trainer focusing on individuals rather than class situations.
- Great information on the practical issues such as advertising, pricing, obtaining materials, etc.
- Clear instruction on how to focus on individual needs, rather than syllabus based instruction.
- Informative section on contrastive linguistics - using the learner's native language in instruction.
- Excellent all around recommendations both on teaching to individuals and how to obtain materials.
- Pragmatic approach might seem superficial to some interested in a deeper understanding of learning.
Guide Review - Review: How to Become an ESL Personal Trainer
"Most professional people who have come of age in the past 15-25 years or so (depending on their countries of origin) studied English in the school systems of their countries ... so they don't have to be 'taught' in the classic sense ... And all of them need - and want - ongoing training in English ..."
Taking this as a point of departure, Ms Lavi provides a well-constructed, clear and pragmatic approach to providing ESL training on a personal basis. As such, this guide is definitely not for classroom teaching, but fills an important gap in teaching literature: Teaching on a one-to-one basis.
The guide provides essential elements such as:
-What you will need to work (office space, books, multi-media tools, etc.)
- A guide to making the student the syllabus of the course - in other words, NOT relying on a preconceived idea of what SHOULD be taught
-Professional tips: getting paid, keeping schedules, etc. (important and often overlooked)
-Guidelines for judging student level and improvement
-Finding and choosing ESL teaching materials
-Creating lesson plans with background information on reasoning for given approaches
-The importance of using 'contrastive linguistics' - comparing the learner's native language and English
-Building in flexibility to your lessons
Overall, the best thing about this guide is it's pragmatic nature.
