Class setup

Make sure you are in a quite location with a good WIFI connection. A location with a lot of background noise like a coffee shop is not ideal.  You should have video on. Using headphone is highly encouraged.

Pick a topic 

Think ahead of time of a few topics you want to talk about. You are completely free to pick any topic you want. You can talk about a global event, different cultures, a new movie, the weather, cooking, art etc.

Starting the session

Once you have logged on to Skype, you can send a quick chat message checking whether the student a ready. (E.g. Hi, this is Tracey your conversation partner, are you ready to start the class?). If there is no response, call them.

Ask a lot of questions

The objective is to have a real conversation. Ideally, we would like the Non-Native speaker (Student) to speak at least 80% of the time. The Native speaker’s (Tutor) role is to ask a lot of questions and to facilitate the conversation.

Less teaching, more speaking

We discourage teaching grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation during sessions, especially if it requires interrupting the non-native speaker.  However, if you feel that there is a recurring mistake that the non-native speaker makes bring it up in the last 5 minutes of the session when you are giving feedback.

Documentation

Keep a simple word doc/spreadsheet of the classes you have conducted and what topics you talked about. Something very simple like below.   E.g.   Student – Mona Date – 09/01/13 Time – 11-11.30 AM Topics – weather/pets/eating healthy

No shows

If you don’t hear back from the student within 10 minutes after you have announced yourself, you can cancel the session. Make sure you leave a chat message on Skype saying that you waited for 10 minutes and is leaving the session. (E.g. Hi, this is Mark your conversation partner, seems like you are not joining the session today. I’m logging off now) For payroll purposes, we will add 3 no shows together (10 minutes X 3) and count it as a completed 30 min session.

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