Comments on: The One-on-One Teaching Life

By: Clarissa

Clarissa — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:38:53 +0000

Sorry, I’m having trouble with replies, Kris. Short answer: No, if you have a certification and you’re serious about your job, of course you wouldn’t be doing more harm than good. But yes, you could learn even more in an MA program, even though it’ll be geared toward teaching groups. (You can always focus your paper and research topics on one-on-one work, too.) Just my two cents…

By: Kris

Kris — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:56:53 +0000

I’m excited to have found your website! Since graduating from college, I’ve been doing ESL/ELL work, but found that I enjoyed one-on-one tutoring much more than classroom teaching. I’m working with a few students at the moment. So far I have only gotten the initial boot-camp one-month certification to teach English from a local university (thinking originally I’d teach abroad).

I’m wondering if you think someone without their Masters would be doing more harm than good as a language consultant (agreed–much better than “tutor”). I enjoy the work I have done so far, but I keep wondering if there are techniques/theories/strategies I’d learn in a Masters program that could be doing my students a lot of good. (Current students are intermediate to advanced, wanting to “improve their fluency”–particularly to be able to understand “real” American English to operate in the business and medical world more comfortably.)

Sorry so long! Any input you might have is much appreciated. Thanks for your site–I’ll definitely be back.

By: Clay Burell

Clay Burell — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:12:14 +0000

Interesting. I’m leaving classroom teaching for similar free-lance private teaching here in Korea. Look forward to many of the benefits you mention – particularly the focus on learning instead of making grades

Will be back. Thanks for pulling me in.