English Teaching Script
English-Teaching Script Tutor Bill Has Crafted Carefully
Make sure you’re dressed appropriately, even for an online lesson (I tend to favor a classic white button-down shirt)
Make sure that you’ve checked yourself carefully in a mirror (a postage-stamp image of yourself on-screen doesn’t cut it)
Use an online platform that allows virtual backgrounds (I’m a big fan of Google Meet and their off-the-shelf backgrounds)
I wait until the hour of the lesson to email a Google Meet link to the student, to convey the impression that I’m busy with all the other students demanding my services (which is usually only-too-true anyway)
If you don’t know how to pronounce the student’s name, that’s a great first question to ask as the first strike of the ice-breaking ice-pick
“Welcome to your first lesson. Glad we finally connected!”
Thank you
“By the way, if I’m speaking too fast, just let me know. My father spent his last years in South Carolina, and I’m … not … really … exaggerating … when … I … say … they … talk … like … this.” [Regardless of how the student responds (see below), this reminds me to speak more slowly, no matter how much there is to cover lesson #1, because I naturally speak fast.]
Ha-ha. No, we’re good.
“Great. Now let’s get right into your first lesson. Thanks for completing the placement test! You tested at [X-X], which puts you in the [intermediate/fluent] range/”
Explain homework
“Now let me explain homework. I’m jumping ahead to that because you might think of the homework I assign as vocabulary homework. Each and every lesson I assign a list of 20 vocabulary items. I call them ‘items’ because they might include entire phrases and different ways of saying things, in addition to individual words. The reason I’m bringing homework up now is that I start with the answers you got incorrect on the placement test. Then I’ll add any vocabulary that comes up during the lesson, words that either you seem to be entirely unfamiliar with or are simply mispronouncing.
“Now I’m not going to quiz you about this vocabulary or anything like, like my Preply German tutor did once (we’re not in grade school). What I will do is ask you to write a text for me [in Google Meet’s tab mode, I share the latest weekly “shared homework document”] using that vocabulary (usually 12 out of 20 words or so to start off).
“So, let’s get to your first reading, partly to see how well you read English. We’ll actually read the aritcle together. Have you heard of the American businessman Tom Hopkins?
No.
“Not many of my students have. [By this point I’ll be sharing in a separate tab the article “Setting Means Getting” by Tom Hopkins]. Let me tell you a little bit about him, before we start reading. Back in the 80s, 1988 to be exact, Tom Hopkins wrote the national bestseller How to Master the Art of Selling. This article is a condensed version of the chapter on goal-setting in that book. Like I was saying, we’ll read this article together: I’ll read the first paragraph [start scrolling down], I’ll have you read the first five points, I’ll read the next five points, and we’ll switch in and out and get this article read. Does that make sense?” [This is another mini-test: if the student keeps reading after the first five points, I’ll have a clue there might be an issue with their verbal comprehension]
[Once the reading is completed, I provide the student with kind-yet-honest feedback regarding pronunciation, etc.]
“Now, let’s test your reading comprehension. What advice is Tom Hopkins giving us here?”
Goals homework exercise preview [I share new tab; an exercise based on the “Setting Means Getting” article by Hopkins]
“Now let’s put the advice we just read into practice. As you can see, this is a goals exercise based on the article we just read; in fact, you can see a link to it on the web.” [Slowly scroll down as you speak, until you reach the five-year goals section.] “Also note the link to a PDF I’ve created, outlining the 16 tenses of the English language. This goals exercise will be a language exercise as much as anything else, and it’ll give you practice using the future tenses.” [Stop before reaching the 30-month red bar.] “[x], to the point, I’ll be asking you to write six five-year goals that you’ll be happy to share with me next lesson. Now, you might be instantly thinking, who is this tutor Bill guy you just met to ask you what your goals are? Well, I’ve made it easy for you: first, I don’t bother with the 20-year goals, and I used the 10-year goals to create those six examples. Also, in case you have trouble coming up with six goals you’d be happy to share, I have a few suggestions:
“First, consider goals you know you can only achieve with improved English, like career and educational goals. Also consider goals directly related to improving your English. For example, one of my students had a one-year goal of learning a thousand new English vocabulary words, and, last time he and I talked about that goal, he was ahead of schedule to learn a thousand new English vocabulary words.
“Does all of that make sense? Great, now I’ve been very chatty, so let’s switch gears and get you talking with one of my Conversation Kickstarters.”
Conversation Kickstarter (I give the student a choice between two): I use the remaining time going through a CK
“And how’s the weather in [location]?” (While such a question might seem trite at the beginning of the lesson, I like to sneak it in the end as a way of testing a student’s general proficiency with the English language.)
“Please be sure to confirm the lesson and let Preply know I showed up and did my job today. Enjoy the rest of your [day/evening]!”