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The Latest Trend: Personal ESL Trainers
By Miriam Lavi
The field of ESL for adults is
booming. Even so, it is
barely able to
keep pace with the ever-growing needs
of today’s world.
Registration for English courses at
international language institutes
(Wall Street, Berlitz etc.) is at an all-time high.
Locally owned language schools and chains are mushrooming all
over the globe.
Alongside all of this, ESL for adults
is witnessing an exciting trend: The
rise of the personal trainer.
Why do people prefer to hire a
personal trainer rather than join a class?
For the same reason that the idea of
personal trainers caught on in the world of physical fitness!
Needs and abilities vary and one program cannot possibly
encompass them all.
Both individuals and companies have
realized that study time is far better utilized in 1:1 sessions.
This is especially true in
‘conversational English’ courses
where actual speaking time has to be shared with others.
For this reason, many language institutes offer individual
instruction programs.
Why do English speakers prefer to work
as personal ESL trainers rather than as classroom teachers?
Firstly,
it affords them a more flexible work schedule.
It is usually possible to arrange lessons on days/at hours
that are convenient for the teacher.
Also, commitment is only to the duration of courses for
individual students and this can facilitate their travel plans.
Secondly,
the work is very stimulating because it brings them into close
personal contact with interesting people. Interaction on this level does not normally occur in a
classroom situation.
Thirdly,
it’s the highest paid sector in the field.
This doesn’t apply to private institutes, where owners take
their profit margin - but it most certainly applies to freelancers.
Finally
(and for many, this is the deciding factor) no certification is
required.
A word about certification: The
overall picture is uneven. Some
institutes will only hire certified teachers; others demand advanced
qualifications and/or prior experience; but most don’t care one
way or the other because they prefer to train their own staff in
their own particular approaches and techniques.
The trend towards personal ESL
instructors is gaining momentum.
For prospective
teachers, this is an alternative well- worth exploring
. . . and for
prospective teacher-travelers, this an alternative well-worth
taking advantage of.
Miriam Lavi (B.A. American Literature/Education, City University of
New York, January,'65) is a certified teacher and
has been working in the field of ESL - both in NYC and abroad -
for 40 years. She is
LLICEB certified to teach ESL to professionals (1995), owns and
operates an English language institute and is author of the e-guide:
How to Become a Personal ESL
Trainer.
The article The
Latest Trend: Personal ESL Trainers
has been reprinted in the following professional newsletters: Benzhi
– Teach EFL in China Hong Kong, Korea & Taiwan
(Oct.2004); ESL Abroad
– Trendwatch Series
(June, 2004); ESL Teachers' Board
– Top-rated ESL employment site (July, 2004).
The e-guide How
to Become a Personal ESL Trainer
has been very favorably reviewed in: Essential
Teacher, the new TESOL Quarterly (winter
,2004); ESL Newsletter about.com
– by the search engine's ESL guide (Jan, 2005).
To view these reviews and other
articles by Miriam Lavi, please visit her site: www.esltrainers.com
When
I first starting teaching ESL in the 60's, the
Israeli Board of Education was using short story
books ('This Wide World', 'New Horizons') as high
school ESL textbooks.
Each story was followed by comprehension
questions, but no language exercises - teachers were
expected to write their own!
When I became a partner in an English
language institute, the adult classes were using Robert Dixon's grammar books as course books,
supplemented by photocopied dialogues ('In The
Bank', 'At The Post Office', etc.) – and these
were considered conversation courses!
ELT
publishing has come a long way in the past four
decades: To meet the ever-increasing needs of a
burgeoning industry, it has been turning out very
professionally-done materials at an extraordinary
pace.
No wonder, then, that I approach each new ELT
catalogue with the delight of a child in a candy
store!
Nowadays,
there is a vast selection of course books for every
age group and ESL level to choose from - most of
them accompanied by audiocassettes, some by
videocassettes, CD's and, most recently, interactive
material; there are ESP (English for Specific
Purposes) course books for an incredibly wide range
of particular
needs; there is supplementary material – graded
readers, music, word games – to complement almost
any teaching style.
Selecting
appropriate material is one of the crucial factors
in the success of a course.
Note
that I said 'appropriate', not 'good'.
Almost all of the material being produced
nowadays is of high quality; the question is how to
determine which EFL material is most suitable for
your student/s. To best accomplish this, let me suggest the following:
1.
Familiarize yourself with what is available.
Check out the online catalogues of
a.
Major ELT publishers:
Oxford
University Press
www.oup.com/elt
Longman
Publishers www.longman-elt.com
Cambridge
University Press www.cambridge.org/elt
Macmillan
Heineman www.onestopenglish.com
Penguin
graded readers www.penguinreaders.com
b.
Worldwide distributors:
www.ebcoxford.co.uk
The
English Book Centre
www.altaesl.com
Alta - California
2.
Profile your student/s.
a.
If you are looking for a course book, what level is
most suitable?
Which skill/s do you
want to concentrate on? General courses
integrate the
four language skills (listening comprehension,
speaking,
reading comprehension, writing) in an organized and
carefully
graded manner. Other types of course books are
structured
in such a way as to emphasize one particular skill.
b.
If your course book has already been selected, what
kinds of
supplementary
material could enhance it?
3. Get as much input as you possibly can before ordering.
a. Publishers and distributors employ
consultants for this
purpose. Use them.
b. Some
ESL websites have teachers' forums.
Ask others what
their
experience has been.
c.
Ask around locally.
Teachers are very approachable on this
issue -
as are students.
GOOD
Miriam
Lavi
(B.A. American Literature/Education, City University
of New York, January,'65) is a certified teacher and
has been working in the field of ESL - both in NYC
and abroad - for 40 years.
She is LLICEB certified to teach ESL to
professionals (1995), owns and operates an English
language institute and is author of the e-guide: How
to Become a Personal ESL Trainer.
The
article The Latest Trend: Personal ESL Trainers
has been reprinted in the following professional
newsletters: Benzhi – Teach EFL in China
Hong Kong, Korea & Taiwan (Oct.2004); ESL
Abroad – Trendwatch Series
(June, 2004); ESL Teachers' Board –
Top-rated ESL employment site (July, 2004).
The
e-guide How to Become a Personal ESL Trainer
has been very favorably reviewed in: Essential
Teacher, the new TESOL Quarterly (winter ,2004);ESL
Newsletter about.com – by the search engine's
ESL guide (Jan, 2005).
To
view these reviews and other articles by Miriam Lavi,
please visit her site: www.esltrainers.com
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