Know Your Students Learning Needs

OVERVIEW | Overview: Online English Tutoring | Why Become an Online English Tutor? |

FINDING STUDENTS | The International Market for Teaching English Online | Where to Find Your ESL Students |

Many educators have emphasized again and again the importance of involving students in the curriculums development. As an online tutor, this is very important advise to keep in mind whenever you prepare lesson plans. Even if you already have a textbook or a curriculum guideline to follow, helping students to effectively learn English means keeping the students learning goals and interest in mind. If you provide 1-on-1 online tutoring or you tutor a small group of students, the best to get input from your students is by taking a survey, or preparing a questionaire for your students to fill out.

Keep the questionaire simple and focused:

What are the students learning goals?
- What are the learning goals and expectations of student(s)?
- What specific subect areas do they need help with? Some examples includes filling in forms, ordering from a menu, or asking for directions.
- What specific parts of the four language skill do they need help in most? reading, writing, listening or speaking?
What teaching approaches works best for your students?
- Do students learn best through dialogue, oral presentation, debate, grammar analysis, group work etc.
- How long can they spend on their homework, and what can you do to provide support?

You can administer these questionaires as a form for your students to fill out, or you can fill in the questionaire as you get to know your students on their first day of class - if it's a small group, we suggest the latter.

Next: Teaching Strategies