Lesson Planning for 1-to-1 Classes

1. Group vs. 1-to-1 Lessons

1-to-1 and group lessons have a variety of differences. Here are the most important.

Relationships are more important

In group classes, you do not have a lot of time to interact with every student. This is
different in 1-to-1 classes, where your relationship with the student is crucial. Since you
spend so much time with one student, you need to have a good rapport.

Making a good first impression is important, but so is every subsequent impression.

Sometimes you need to be more flexible with 1-to-1 students because you want to target
the class to their needs and wants. Here are some other strategies to build strong student
relationships:

 Be professional.
 Ask questions and show an interest in the student’s life.
 Talk about yourself or tell personal stories when appropriate. This humanizes you as
a teacher.
 Give your students confidence.
 Be fair and consistent in your rules.
 Celebrate student success.
 Watch for student body language that shows distractions or unhappiness.
 Be sincere.
 Show enthusiasm for your teaching.

Distractions are fewer

Big group classes generally have more noise and distractions. Teachers need to make
priorities and sometimes teach through the chaos. 1-to-1 classes have fewer distractions,
which is a benefit. However, your students may still be distracted, especially when the class
is online. You should make sure your students are not using the internet for things other
than class. Observe their body language in the camera to get an idea when students are
distracted. You should be able to tell when the student is looking at something else or not
paying attention.
Classes can vary depending on the student
While group classes are often very similar, a 1-to-1 class changes depending on the student.
Your student could be tired, having a bad day, or overwhelmed with other schoolwork.
While this may not affect a group lesson very much, you can imagine how it would impact a
1-to-1 lesson. As a 1-to-1 teacher, you have to be more aware of the mood of your student.

Classes are more frequently modified

In a group class, if the lesson is not working for one student, you have to worry about the
entire group. This means you often do not make any changes. However, in a 1-to-1 class, if
the lesson is not working, you need to change something. You need to be ready to change
depending on how the student is performing. If the student has already studied the
language point, you may need to think of something new. Or, you may need to take more
time when a student struggles in an area you had not planned.

1.1. Challenges of 1-to-1 Lessons

1-to-1 classes provide an extra set of challenges that do not exist in group classes. Here are
some of the most important ones.

Classes can be low energy

While you never want to think of your classes as dull, 1-to-1 classes have a lot less action
than group classes. Your students do not have any friends to interact with, so they can only
rely on you.

This puts extra pressure on you to be exciting and engaging. You can follow these tips to
inject some energy into your 1-to-1 lessons.

 Use animated body language. Hand gestures and body movement will project more
excitement to the student. 
 Use a cheerful tone of voice. You want to show energy when you are speaking,
especially with younger learners.
 Smile. It is the fastest way to project a positive image.

Students may be shy

It is nerve racking to have to perform in front of the teacher for the entire class. In group
classes, students can chat with their friends, take breaks, or not pay attention. In 1-to-1
classes, the student is always with the teacher. This can mean students are extra shy, as they
may be nervous speaking English with you.

You can combat student shyness by making them feel welcome and comfortable. Pay
special attention to your feedback and correcting. You need to monitor each student’s
reaction to feedback. Consider these questions:
  Should you give direct feedback in the moment? Should you wait?
 Should you give feedback in speaking or writing?
 How much feedback should you give?
 Should you focus more on the positive or on the errors?

These are questions you will be able to answer as you build your teaching skills and learn
more about each of your students. 

The teacher is on the spot

There is nowhere to hide in a 1-to-1 class. You always need to be “on”. In group classes, you
have the chance to move around the room or speak with different students. In group work,
the attention moves away from you. However, in 1-to-1 classes, the attention is always on
you. Even when you are practicing, you are still a part of the role plays or conversations.

Your first task is to try not to be the center of attention. Leave this for the student. Also,
preparation helps, as you will not feel overwhelmed by the attention.

1.2. Advantages of 1-to-1 Lessons

 Personalized teaching allows for a better chance of having a positive impact in the
student’s learning process. It allows the teacher and student to better understand
each other, which facilitates learning. Some of the benefits are:

 It boosts engagement.
 It creates good rapport.
 Teachers can select resources about topics the student enjoys.

Personalized lessons can have a positive impact on learners that are at an early stage of
development. As 1-to-1 classes are very different from the student’s regular learning
environment, it often allows them to explore much further than they can in their school.

1.3. Reflection Exercises

Using your own ideas or the ideas from this topic, make a list of the similarities and
differences. 

 1-to-1 Classes                Group Classes       

2. Planning 1-to-1 Lessons

Now that you have thought about the differences between 1-to-1 and group classes, you
should consider how these impact your planning.
2.1. Determining Learner Needs
Your first task as a 1-to-1 teacher is to determine the needs of the student. This is
something you can do through assessment, but you also have other tools to help you.

Special Requests
Your students can make special requests for their classes. This is the easiest way to
determine student needs. Some of those requests could be like these examples:

 Not asking students to introduce themselves

 Focusing on free talk
 No explicit or extensive grammar correction

Each request poses different challenges that teachers need to navigate to follow school or
parent instructions.

Learning Intention
Each student has a different purpose for learning English, and whenever possible, lessons
should be tailored to meet this purpose. Since your students are young learners, you will
mainly find a few key reasons for taking classes:

 To improve English grades in school

 To go to high school or university in an English-speaking country
 To complete an English requirement for entering high school or university
 To please the parents

The reason the student is taking classes should impact your lesson planning. For example, if
the student wanted to study abroad, you may include more cultural aspects from the
desired country. If the student only went to class because of the parents, you would want to
find manys to make it more interesting.

However, you do not want to put too much thought into the reasons the student is taking
classes. Most students need a wide range of topics and lessons. You do not want to restrict
a student from specific topics because of the learning intention.

Tutoring Tool
It is crucial for teachers to explore the tutoring tool they will be using prior to starting the
lessons. You should know how the tool works, how it can be optimized, and how to ask for
help.

In addition, teachers need to know what course students are currently studying and how
much material they need to cover during the lesson. Lastly, before the lesson starts, teachers
need to ensure that the material can be previewed.
2.2. Assessing Student Skills
Once you start determining student needs, you will begin to have a picture of the skills that
need to be improved. Here are some considerations you should make as you evaluate
reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Reading skills
Students can struggle with reading for a variety of reasons. You need to discover the
student’s reading challenges and plan solutions. Here are some common reading challenges
your students face:

 There is too much new or challenging vocabulary.

 The reading texts are too long.
 The grammar is above the student’s level.
 The topic is new, difficult, or not interesting.

You can also see reading challenges stem from the students. For example, they may not
read well in their first language, may not have any motivation to read, or may have
decoding issues. Your job is to find how you can help each of your students improve
reading skills.

Writing Skills
Writing is often one of the toughest skills for students to master. They tend to be more
exposed to listening and speaking, but rarely have opportunities to write in English. This
could manifest itself into a wide variety of challenges, including the following:

 Spelling
 Punctuation
 Capital letters
 Grammar
 Vocabulary use
 Organization
 Planning
 Editing

Once the teacher has established that the student struggles with writing, it becomes
important to determine the aspects of the skill to which they are having the most problems.
Through targeted feedback, you can help students correct the areas of their writing that
need the most attention.

Listening skills
After you have exposed students to different types of listening pieces, you should be able to
determine if any weaknesses exist. Like reading or writing, your students could have
problems with the grammar, vocabulary, or topic, which would make it challenging for them
to understand videos. However, they could also struggle because the audio is too fast, the
speakers are too quiet, or there is too much background noise. If the audio is acceptable,
then you need to focus on the areas the student struggles with while listening.

Speaking skills
When the teacher notices that the learner is failing at communicating effectively, it is
because they might be having trouble with fluency, accuracy or pronunciation. Here is a
review of those important three terms.

 Fluency is the ability to speak without hesitations, pauses, or fillers.

 Accuracy is the ability to use correct grammar and vocabulary.
 Pronunciation is the ability to use the correct word and letter sounds.

You need to help your students in all three areas, in addition to teaching format-specific
skills, such as organizing a presentation or using past tense verbs to tell a story. You can
diagnose your students’ abilities by giving them multiple opportunities to use English in
speaking.

Examples
You have thought about how you can determine where students have areas for
improvement. The table below gives you sample situations with recommendations for
lesson planning.

2.3. Planning Strategies

As you plan your 1-to-1 lessons, you should incorporate some of these strategies to help
you.

Assess progress constantly

It is important for the teacher to be constantly monitoring the student and looking for cues
that suggest whether the plan is working well. The teacher should know that re-configuring
the plan is at their discretion and does not need the involvement of the student. By
assessing progress constantly, the teacher has a much easier time identifying the success of
the plan, or what needs to change.

Optimize your time

The number one priority in a 1-to-1 lesson is to work towards the student’s specific needs
and the best way to do that is by planning the lesson efficiently by optimizing time. All new
materials should be introduced at the beginning of the lesson, that way the student has
enough time to interact with it throughout the remainder of the lesson and has a better
chance of remembering it in the future.

Here is a chart of common mistakes teachers make with timing and how to fix them.

3. Personalizing 1-to-1 Classes

Each of your students learns differently. It is your job to discover what is unique about all
your students. You then use that knowledge in your planning and teaching. Consider some
of the following factors.

Personality
As you know, each student has a different personality. This impacts the way they interact
with the language. Consider some example students:

 Sandra is shy and introverted. In class, she is nervous to make mistakes or speak in
front of the teacher. She usually only gives a few words in her answers.
  Violet is outgoing and talkative. She makes several mistakes when she speaks and
writes, often from not paying attention to details.
 Peter often makes mistakes, but he does not pay attention to feedback.
 Sam is easily distracted. He struggles to focus, and he seldom completes longer
tasks.
 Gina is controlling in class. She tries to give directions and determine the activities
for the class.
  Andy is unmotivated. He does not want to be in class, and it shows.

Of course, these are only a few examples of personality types in the classroom. Each student
you have will be unique. As you learn more about your students, you will be able to plan the
lessons better. Here are some general strategies you can use.

 For shy students, you should improve your ability to ask engaging questions or

manage conversations. Using open-ended questions is a helpful way to encourage
your student to speak.
 For easily distracted students, you should focus on the topics of your lessons. How
can you make it more interesting while still achieving the lesson goals?
 For students who do not pay attention to feedback or mistakes, remind them of
the learning goals and vary the type of feedback you give. You can use direct
feedback, indirect feedback, and self-assessment.

Age
The way teachers interact with young students should be different from the way they
interact with older learners or adults. Each age group has a different way of processing
information and different needs that should be met by the teacher in each class.

Young learners often need more engaging classes, have a shorter attention span, and are
less likely to ask questions.

Experiences
The experiences people live are what shapes the way they interact with the world, and it is
vital for teachers to know that each learner might have a different view on life. When this is
considered, it is easier to find topics of interest for the student or even learn how to avoid
certain matters that might not be pleasant for them.

Culture
Understanding the cultural differences allows teachers to avoid the use of stereotypes or
assumptions that could be detrimental to a student’s learning process, and at the same time
it shows respect for the learner’s background. Knowing about the student’s culture is key to
having and inclusive and welcoming atmosphere in the classroom.
Likes and Dislikes
There are many ways to teach a class, but the success of a lesson often depends on how the
teacher incorporates material that the student finds interesting. Therefore, it is important to
get to know the student’s likes and dislikes as early as possible.

4. Creating Flexible Lessons

One of the negative aspects of 1-to-1 lessons could be that they might turn out to be
monotonous, so teachers need to implement a variety of activities in each lesson to
maintain the student’s engagement.

Here are some examples on how teachers can use multiple activities in the classroom to
keep the lesson interesting and engaging. 

Use a variety of activities

Regardless of age, learners can become bored when teachers use the same activities each
lesson. It is vital to change the mood of the lesson by using different ways to present a topic
and to practice it. By doing this, teachers keep the student alert and focused. If the student
always knows what it is coming, the fun of anticipation might be lost as well as their interest
in the lesson.

Use activities that change the mood

Some students might like some activities more than others, but it is important that if they
happen not to like writing, immediately after a writing exercise the teacher has something
prepared for them. That way an exercise they do not like could end on a positive note.

Use movement in the lesson

Students, especially young learners, enjoy performing different types of physical activities.
Whenever possible, try to incorporate activities that make the students get up from their
seats at least for a moment, especially when they are tired and are getting a little sleepy
during the lesson.

You can investigate total physical response, a methodology that promotes movement from
the students. In this methodology, you coordinate language learning and physical
movement to achieve better results. If you study this methodology, you will earn some new
techniques for using movement in your online classes.

You can also see think about games and activities that allow students to move. Using
physical movement to describe words is fun and useful. This could be something like acting
out an animal, sport, or celebrity. The movement will help the student stay engaged.

Use games
Students have a higher chance of enjoying the lesson when they are doing something they
like, and sometimes that means playing games. Games allow students to have fun, and they
also facilitate learning when planned properly. In addition, if there is a game that the
student likes to play, teachers should incorporate it during a lesson that seems to be
particularly challenging.

Use different auditory stimuli

Learners should be exposed to enough material that will help them understand the target
language. It could be authentic material or resources designed specifically for learning
English. It is a good idea to plan the lesson with enough exposure to listening activities that
can be interesting and fun for their age.  This could be songs, riddles, poems, or short
stories.

Use resources that target the four skills

Helping students develop the four skills is essential in an English classroom. Depending on
what students need the most, teachers should prepare activities that enhance and foster
learning through each of the skills:

 Listening
 Speaking
 Reading
 Writing

Focusing on one single skill can make the lesson become monotonous and students can fall
behind in the development of the use of the target language.

5. Back-up Activities
One of teachers’ biggest fears is running out of activities to do during a lesson, whether it is
because the student took a shorter amount of time performing the tasks or because of a
miscalculation on the teachers’ part. It is crucial that there are enough activities to last
throughout the lesson.

Why back-Up activities?

Back-up activities are more important in 1-to-1 classes because it is more likely you will
need to make changes. Your lessons may not work with the student, so you will need to
adjust. The reason why teachers need back-up activities might vary from lesson to lesson,
but some of the most common reasons are the following:

 The student already knew the language you planned to teach.

 The student went through the activities quickly.
 The student is not engaged in the topic.
 The teacher went through explanation quickly.
Therefore, teachers need to have a variety of back-up activities to expand the main activity
of the class or on the main topic that the teacher is working with the student. Here are some
examples of back-up activities that teachers can use.

Games are the easiest ones to use as a back-up activity for their adaptability. When using
games, teachers need to make sure that they have a purpose in the lesson and are age
appropriate. In addition, games work better at the end of the lesson when students have
already accomplished the lesson goals.

The table below has some other activities you can use for back up.