Would You Rather Teach One-to-One or a Group?
All English language learners learn differently. The kind of environment they study in dramatically affects their learning experience. Teaching one to one and teaching in groups both have their advantages and disadvantages. English language teachers may come across both situations in their teaching career and what the student gains from each case is unique.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Paulina T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Planning
One to one English teaching requires a detailed plan and consistency on the teacher's part. The teacher needs to focus on the individual student's needs and build upon the student's knowledge. In that way, the teacher should remember the students' wants, interests, goals, etc. By doing so, the teacher can bucanort with the student. A one-to-one intimidating for the student, so being able to make lessons based on the students' interests, needs, and wants will create a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. One to one English learning provides students with direct and immediate attention from the teacher. Their needs and wants can be addressed directly.
Classroom Activities
Typical classroom activities like pair or group work don't work in one-to-one English teaching. Instead, the lessons can focus on using more tailored authentic and non-authentic materials—for example, short stories, horoscopes, quizzes, pronunciation, and personal history. One-to-one lessons can significantly benefit the student because the classes are taught at their pace, and problems can be located and addressed more efficiently. Because of this speediness, teachers should be prepared with extra materials as one-to-one teaching can move faster.
Teaching groups require different plans and solutions compared to one-to-one teaching. More students, so naturally, the planning needs to be tailored to benefit the group better. Each student's individual needs may not be immediately attended to, but with good lesson planning and an attentive teacher, the individual needs can be met.
Group Dynamics
There are different things to consider when it comes to groups. The size and level of the group play a significant role in how the teacher may approach teaching. A large classroom size may be a problem, so worksheets and pair/group work can benefit the students. Designating group leaders and learning about the class dynamic can make large classroom teaching successful. With group learning, there will most likely be differences in English language level. To combat that, teachers can use different materials for the different levels of students. Teachers can also give other students various tasks based on their level.
Another approach is to pair stronger students with weaker students, careful not to have the stronger student dominate the pair activity. Using more pair and group work allows the teacher to reduce teacher talking time and note students' understanding. Unfortunately, because group learning can't focus on every student's needs and concerns, the teacher must stay vigilant of common mistakes and then make time to address them. In order to better understand and address the students' needs in a group setting, tests and surveys can be incorporated so that teachers can hear from the students individuallyToaching can also be affected by multilingual and monolingual classrooms. In multilingual classrooms, having students from different backgrounds can promote more English communication and discussions among students.
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On the other hand, common language mistakes and pronunciations can be addressed easier in monolingual classrooms. Overall, group teaching comes with many more factors to consider. This may require more work for teachers inside the classroom as well as outside.
In both one-to-one and group teaching, the teacher's actions are extremely important. Being prepared and attentive are ways teachers can build rapport with students and encourage participation. A student's ability to learn English is largely due to their motivation and goals, but the teacher plays an immense role in shaping the students' motivation and learning experience.
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