[Ellio]

Hi I'm newish to ESL and I have been asked by my new employer to carry out three 3 hour one to one sessions in a weeks time to a Paster from Israel. The only information I have is that he can speak some English and can write e-mails. He needs to improve his confidence particually with spoken English... any advice? I don't know where to start! The sessions will be one after the other, e.g. 3 hrs Mon, Tues & Wed.

[mesmark]

Do you know where or how he'll be using English?

Can you contact him now via email to discuss what he wants to get out of the classes?

That's a big bulk time slot. I assume the first day will be the hardest, but after that you'll have some idea on how to progress.

[Ellio]

Thanks for your reply; unfortunately I do not know a lot about him and the person who has arranged his lessons hasn't provided his e-mail address, although I guess I could go back to him.

Three hours is a long time and then being followed up by two further days stragitht afterwards is worrying me... hence why I am up early on a Saturday!

I guess I could pick some topics to talk about, perhaps stick to safe ones like home, work etc. but then it may not be that exciting!

[STCrowley]

Maybe this is too late, but my advice is to just start talking. . . start really simple with "where are you from" and "what's your name" and make notes to yourself about the mistakes you hear him make. (Some students freak out about notes, others like to see you 'working,' is my experience.) And go from there. A pastor should be a communicative person in general, so, with luck, you're job will be just to draw him out in English a little.

[Ellio]

Thank you for your reply, you are not too late.. the first session is this Monday! I think you have made a good point; I will start it simple and take it from there. Hopefully after the first morning I will be able to plan a session for his level for the next day.