Being an ESL tutor can get quite intimidating. While some get to become experts at teaching foreign students the English language, others just stumble from one job to another cursing their bad luck. Now come to think of it, the difference between the two sets of people above might not be that the latter are not good enough to teach, it is more like they have not yet pre-conditioned/prepared themselves to being an esl tutor. You may have all the necessary qualifications needed to teach foreign students but you still would not be able to get the message across successfully. Instead of cursing your bad luck at not been able to keep a teaching job with a school, why not read this article and transform yourself into one of the hottest esl tutors in town.

Think of teaching foreign students the English language the same way you where taught when you were small. Most of us, found it very frustrating or in some cases hard. This brings us to the first point.

Be Patient

Nothing can be used to stress this point. Teaching English as a foreign language successfully can be the hardest thing you have ever done yet the simplest if you know what to do. In taking classes it does not matter if you are taking little kids of 5 or adults of 90, what matters is your ability to transfer knowledge into the people been taught and this can only be achieved through patience. Before taking any aspects of the language, make sure you are prepared and you have assigned a little part to teach for that day. Take for example, you are to teach the present perfect tense to your students. The present perfect tense is very wide and is best taught over as many lessons. As a tutor, try taking things one at a time so as not gobble your students with too much information. Know that they most likely do not know anything as regards the language and that their own native language may be worlds apart from the English language thus teaching them to many things within a lesson is definitely not going to help matters. Being patient with your students also requires you to not expect too much from them. If you direct questions at a particular student and he or she is not able to come up with an appreciable answer, this should not be a reason for you to bark at such person and don’t think that dumbness is being encouraged here. In such cases what is recommended is to direct the question to any other student. If that student is also not able to answer the question, you should know you have a little problem on your hands but don’t give up, why not ask the most brilliant person or the person whom you think is most brilliant in the class. If your brilliant student is able to answer the question, well, you would still have to revise the lesson answering the question you asked by just going through ideas answering the question but not giving the question directly. It’s just like using a bait. You dazzle the answer to any random student and see if they realize their mistake. If this option still doesn’t work then be sure to teach a full revision another day.

Know your onions and be prepared

As simple as this may sound, many esl tutors still fall prey to this.

 First, being able to speak the English language does not guarantee your ability to take an esl class. And if indeed you are qualified, make sure you are up to date in what ever aspects of the language you are going to teach. Instead of lazying around or playing with friends, you should go over materials for what you are going to teach the next day. Scribble jottings on a paper that will ensure you don’t jump the gun while teaching. There’s nothing more embarrassing than a tutor coming into class and saying ‘the topic you would be learning today is uh… am coming.’ That happening to you will not only ensure sound damages to your confidence level, it also diminishes the confidence your students may currently have in you. Be sure to always go over what you would be teaching the next day, make jottings, think of questions that might probably come up and find good solutions to them.

Know or learn how to handle situations

Giving your students the impression you know everything is a very good default stance but what happens when a student throws a question at you and you don’t have a clue of the answer. In this case, you best bet and get out option would be to throw the question back as a general question or give it out as an assignment. Mind you, this should not be done in a way that will give your students the impression of your not an answer. First acknowledge and praise the student for coming up with such intelligent question (if the question isn’t intelligent enough for you to know the answer, you definitely aren’t prepared) and then sound as if you know the answer but would not want to give it away so soon. Give it such importance and feel that would make the students want to know the answer then throw the answer back at them. Once you have done this successfully, you have probably saved your face for the day and can now thank the stars. Once you get free time, you should go over the question and try to find an answer as it is most likely your students would bring up the same topic another day.

Another technique or get away option is to make the question seem a distraction to the day’s lesson, this is if in fact it thoroughly is. When you are taking verb tenses and a student asks a question on past participle, you can either answer the question directly which is not recommended so as not to confuse your students or refer the answering of that question to your next lesson. Mind you, when you refer questions to another lesson, you should try as much as possible to bring up the topic during that lesson. Something like ‘oh! As regards the question Billy asked me the other day, here is the answer’. Stalling to answer the question any further would give your students the impression that you really don’t know the answer.

Always admit any mistakes you make

Do this and your students would love and remember you for being a great tutor. Do not do it and you get the scorn you truly deserve. Come to think of it, in as much as your students think of you as their mentor in whom knowledge is abundant, not acknowledging the silly errors or mistakes you may have made would be a big undoing on your part. Take for example, you give out an answer to a question, and while at home you suddenly remember the correct answer to that question, instead of bottling up the next day why not come to class and give out the correct answer to such a question. Follow the saying ‘there is greatness in humility’ and your confidence would certainly come up.  

Eat or do something you like before coming for lessons.
 
You love salads, why not eat a mouthful before coming to class. Especially if you are going to be taking the class for the first time, you need to sum up courage from all quarters and this includes your likes. Avoid dislikes at all costs.