How to impress Students in their First lesson?
A fundamental strategy that might hound many teachers in their first lesson is, How to impress the students in their first lesson? You want them to come again for further ESL lessons.
Trial lessons are the first class that you offer free to the students. It is quite essential to grab the student’s attention and match your chemistry with the student, so you build a good reputation in the world of ESL and make your student want to come back.
Make them feel unique
It is crucial to make the students feel special, and you teach them with personalized care instead of treating them like numbers. It is a failure of a teacher if the student doesn’t feel connected and looks like you are repeating a topic to them. Instead, begin with a fresh start, and make them feel the lesson is specifically for them. Go at their pace, let them ask questions, and find themselves comfortable with you. Some people who find their profession a burden take students as numbers and treat them like other customers instead of giving individual attention to them and understanding their needs and requirements.
Know their story
Obviously, the first lesson isn’t going to be about their family and their childhood. Still, you need to keep some information about why they are studying English and what is their experience with this language. This is to know the motivation behind their study and make them learn accordingly.
For instance, some students will easily give up on English because their teacher is too boring or strict. You need to listen to them and make them feel important. The student might want to learn English for their business terms or maybe because their mother said so if they are teenagers or children. Get to know them so you know how to impress students in their first class. Cater to their needs and make it fun.
Ask about their learning preference
You can ask your students what makes learning the easiest or most fun for them. This can help them learn faster and more effectively. For example, do they learn better by looking at visuals, humming something, or repetitively listening to it? Are they better at reading comprehension or interactive material? This can give a very positive expression as they wouldn’t have looked at that aspect, and the students would try to analyze how they learn in a better way.
This will help you better plan your lessons in the future for them as well.
Give them positive feedback
It is very necessary to praise your student in their first lesson so they feel confident enough to continue. It doesn’t mean you should fake it, but find something good and appreciate the student’s skill. There are two ways of doing so.
Firstly, you can send them a really easy and basic level test to examine their knowledge and then share feedback.
Another thing you can do to impress your students in the first lesson is by analyzing their ability in the first fifteen minutes in which they tell their story and admire the good things such as “I really liked the way you structured the sentence” so their motivation increases.
Mention something that you can improve together
One essential element that works with praising the student is correcting their mistakes. For example, Spanish students generally don’t put -ed at the end of past verbs. They might say,” I help her, I work yesterday.” You can correct them by saying, others might not have told you, but it has to be worked and helped. We can work together on this.
Don’t make them feel they are wrong or are making mistakes. Instead, assure them they are doing excellently and need some improvements in pronunciation, grammar, etc.
In this way, the student will learn with a positive attitude.
Tell them how the classes work
To make your first trial ESL lesson stand out, you need to grab your student’s attention by telling them all the necessary things you would be doing in the classroom, such as playing videos, sharing with them free handouts, etc. Make sure they feel comfortable and don’t worry. You can ease them by putting less homework pressure on their shoulders and providing them some flexibility with their self-study hours if they are working.
Take creative tests to assess their skills
One more thing you can do is take a creative test to assess your student. You can spend the first forty-five minutes talking and discussing, and in the last fifteen minutes, you can take a test of students that comprises slides with fun and images, so students take an interest. The tests can be related to vocabulary, grammar, or sentence structure, depending upon what you need the student to do!
Learn how to evaluate your student’s English level HERE.
Are your students up for a challenge?
The personality of students differs drastically. You can check their body language to analyze whether they like being challenged or not. Some students are nervous or shy in their first class and might not take an enthusiastic part in class discussions and challenges. If that’s the case, you can go easy on them. On the other hand, for those students who like being assessed, you can impress them in the trial lesson by sharing some riddles in the class.
Check your Internet connection, webcam, and audio
This is one most important yet obvious things to keep a check on. Your lesson can go from hot to cold really quickly if there is a poor internet connection and the students are unable to interact with you. Not only will this distract students’ attention, but also, there will be a state of confusion and frustration which will make your impression dwindle down. Be sure everything is working perfectly. If you are teaching in a physical class, then check the tv, remote, and slides to deliver one successful class!
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