One of my most popular videos on YouTube is an arranged trial lesson for Preply. I created this video for one purpose: to help other professional online tutors deliver better first lessons to potential students. The video is available below for those that have not seen this. 

I decided to record a real-life, authentic first lesson with a potential student. He booked a first lesson with me but did not share much information about himself, nor about his language goals. I thought this would be the ideal lesson to record and share, to demonstrate how I develop rapport with someone that I have never met before. Furthermore, this was not a pre-arranged trial lesson with a person pretending to be a student but it was authentic as it could be.

In this post, I will be sharing ways to teach students online (but it is also applicable for face-to-face teaching) whom you know nothing about. Read on for more ideas and there is also a video at the end of the post where I share exactly the same scenario with a real-life student.

How To Start With The Unknown

When a student books a first lesson with you and does not share any information about themselves, it can be a challenge. There are a few important things to focus on, first of which is developing rapport and second is establishing what the aims and objectives are with the student.

When you first start the lesson, you will obviously be slightly nervous – this is natural – but you also need to establish some common ground. I would recommend that you find out more about the student as much as possible; hobbies, work, family, friends, etc. For the student, you could tell them “As it is our first lesson and you are assessing me, you can ask me anything. This is your first and only chance as I am not your teacher yet.” This will give potential students the opportunity to learn more about you from a non-teacher perspective, and they are likely to ask things such as “Why did you become a teacher? Are you married? Do you have any children?” 

After you feel a little more comfortable with the student and vice versa, it is a good idea to find out why the student is wanting to achieve with their English language skills.

Student Aims With English

There might be a number of aims for students when it comes down to studying English, either professional or personal reasons. Professional aims could include passing an exam for a promotion, being able to communicate better with English speaking colleagues, or having to give a presentation to colleagues in English. Personal aims could include improving overall language skills, going on holiday and wanting to communicate with locals, or surfing the internet in English.

When you meet a new student, regardless you have communicated with them or not, it is important to find out more about their objectives and I tend to spend some time on this with potential students. This informs me what lessons students are expecting, and how I could help them achieve their goals. You could ask the following questions to get a better idea:

  • Why are you studying English?
  • How long have you studied English?
  • Where do you see yourself in 6 to 12 months time with your English?
  • How do you expect your teacher to help you achieve your goals?

You will get a better idea about the student once you have asked these questions and the final question will help you understand what the student is expecting from you as a teacher.

Agree The Next Steps

Once you have established that much needed rapport with the student as well as discovered what they are hoping to achieve with English, it is now important to decide the next steps with their studies.

I spend around ten minutes on this and share a little information about how I organise my lessons, and what I expect from my students during our live lesson as well what they need to beforehand. It is also useful to find out how often this student wishes to have lessons and how long they expect the course to last.

As an average, most of my students who are studying informally and for personal development have one lesson a week and this is more indefinite meaning that lessons could last three months to a number of years. For those students who have a more definite goal, such as passing an examination or wanting to improve their business English, then they are usually willing to commit to two lessons a week for a shorter period of around a month or two.

Final Words

There are a few final words that I will share. Much of the information shared in the post can be applied to students whom you have already communicated and discovered their reasons for booking a lesson with you. There is still a lot that you can glean from meeting the student online (or in-person) to see if you both ‘click’ and whether lessons are conducive for both parties. If you would like to see my suggestions in action, then the following video with a real-life student who booked a lesson with me and did not share any information beforehand could be useful.

If you have any suggestions about teaching students that have not communicated with you leaving very little to no information about them, please feel free to share your ideas in the comments.