The importance of scheduling a needs analysis session with a potential student

Para português, clique aqui.
I don't offer free lessons in any circumstance, but I do book a free 30-minute Zoom call for us to get to know each other and see if we're a good fit. I make sure they understand this is not a lesson. And yes, I inform students about pricing prior to that, because if their budget is $5/h I don't want to waste time for either parties.

One thing I try to pick up on during the needs analysis session I schedule with prospect students is how they feel about learning a language. I believe learners are most of the time diffident, and sometimes overly confident.

I've just had my third lesson with a lovely new student I have in Portugal. Based on information I gathered from her, I decided to not perform any corrections of any kind in our first three sessions. We’ve been talking about the Bible, dating apps, Germany... whatever she wants to discuss. I want her to see she can do a lot of things. She confessed learning English is very hard for her, that she feels shy, is terribly scared of making mistakes/being judged and hates her own pronunciation. Listing everything she is doing wrong wouldn't improve that. Oftentimes, we tend to correct every single mistake students make thinking we are acting in their best interest, when in fact we are just making them even more insecure. And as much as I love all teaching practice we receive in training, real life calls for different measures sometimes. Lessons can be unstructured.

So instead of jumping to correcting her English, I recorded the lessons delegate the task of correcting things to her as homework. She has to watch the video, tries to find any mistakes she could, and then sees my notes and tries to correct them. This is a stepping stone; we will move forward to other strategies once her confidence is at a higher level. Experience has shown me that’s a great way to boost self-confidence and show learners many of the mistakes they make are just a matter of practice.

Today I added a task requesting her to "list three things you did VERY well” in her self-correction activity. She still struggled to be kinder to herself, but managed to find positives. And that's what I want the most for her.

I believe a lesson isn't an opportunity for us to show how much we know. It's about students making the most out of their own potential. I often see teachers discussing whether a native or a non-native speaker is better, whether a qualified is better than a non-qualified teacher, whether a distinction holder is better than a merit one, whether someone with more experience is better than a beginner. To me, none of the aforementioned criteria makes a teacher better or worse, because what counts the most is the rapport you manage to build. And that's something that goes beyond teaching and language skills. A series of factors play a role in making someone the best fit for a learner and many of these are soft skills. It's human interaction at its finest.

That's why I will say again: I always have a needs analysis session. I'm not the best fit for everyone; neither are you. And what a joy it brings me to free up space in my schedule for those who I am.
Do you schedule a free conversation before you start teaching someone?