ONE TO ONE ASSIGNMENT – Paul Armstrong
Student level
Course location
Intermediate
Course lessons
Depending on day and
Course duration
time either at the home of
the student or at a quiet
local café.
Topic
Job interview English vocabulary and improving overall confidence in command
of English
I expect my student to be able to conduct advanced job interviews in English and
be able to both ask and answer typical questions that may arise in such
circumstances. I would hope to improve overall confidence in her use English to
achieve this.
Conversational skills especially pronunciation and listening; vocabulary
particularly involving words and phrases that commonly appear in job interviews;
grammar structures allowing for the ability to easily ask questions to extract
information from potential job candidates.
Over this course, my aim is for my student to be able to perform a job interview in
advanced English which will allow her to enhance her CV and subsequent career
prospects in the future. As her current job heavily involves interviewing
candidates, my intention is for my lessons to have a direct and positive impact on
her professional attributes.
Progress expectation
Subject
Aim
8 (90 minutes each)
12 hours
My student has suggested that her conversational skills, particularly listening, need
improving in order to achieve the aforementioned aims and therefore I will look to
tailor the lessons accordingly.
Her current level of English is intermediate but I feel that pushing it to the next
level is certainly achievable within the course’s time constraints. My initial aim
will be to improve her confidence at conversing in English which has been slightly
neglected over recent years and gradually build up to lessons more orientated to
her particular needs. In addition, a pre-test I performed with my student indicated
that she is perhaps a visual learner more than a kinesthetic learner; I will endeavour
to use this information to plan and execute effective lessons.
Objective
I feel that, overall, she has an excellent foundation of English to achieve all of the
above.
Lesson 1: Communication
 Speaking and Reading
 Situational multiple choice
 Writing formal and informal letters
 Prepositions and adverbs
Lesson 2: Etiquette
 Speaking and vocabulary
 Writing: e-mails
 Reading: interview extract with communcations expert
 Modals and related verbs
Lesson 3: Interviews
 Pronunciation
 Listening and writing
 Passive forms
 Vocabulary
Lesson 4: Review of lessons 1, 2, 3 and mock job interview
Lesson 5: General vocabulary



Speaking exercise
Adding emphasis
Adverbs
Lesson 6: Telecommunication
 Listening and speaking (telephone)
 Phrasal verbs
 Vocabulary
Lesson 7: Pros and Cons
 Speaking (scenario-based)
 Adverbials
 Listening
 Vocabulary
Lesson 8:Review of lessons 5,6,7; assessment and mock job interview
Material & equipment
Learning assessment
I intend to take my laptop to all lessons to fully utilise online resources such as
videos and sound clips to acclimatise my student with various English dialects and
vastly increase her listening confidence. In addition, I hope to use textbooks and
personalise lessons accordingly to suit her needs. Magazines and online articles
will be particularly useful in gaining and maintaining vocabulary associated with
interviews, both formal and informal. I will also look to use published textbooks
such as ‘Cutting Edge’ and ‘Cambridge Objective’ for reference and to produce a
small selection of tasks for my student to perform.
At the end of each session I will encourage my student to be as transparent as
possible by asking her what she found most difficult (pronunciation, a particular
grammar rule, indefinite and definite articles). I will look to dedicate the final part
of each lesson to this which will not only allow me to gauge her strengths and
weaknesses as the course progresses but also to create a rapport with my student.
This will subsequently allow me to alter later lesson plans and the timings of each
part of the lessons necessary.
In addition, in two review lessons, one midway through the course and another at
the end, I will look to conduct 20-minute and 30-minute mock interviews
respectively to encourage my student to put what she has learned in to practice.
During these lessons, I will also provide written tests to assess what information
she has retained over the duration of both parts of the course.
Course structure and content
Lesson 1
1
Duration
20 minutes
2
15 minutes
3
20 minutes
4
20 minutes
5
15 minutes
Lesson 2
1
Duration
15 minutes
2
25 minutes
3
15 minutes
4
15 minutes
5
20 minutes
Lesson 3
1
Duration
10 minutes
2
30 minutes
3
15 minutes
Topic
Introductory task:
Speaking and
reading
Teacher activity Student activity
Explain task
Match pictures and
city descriptions to
cities
Resources
‘Getting to know
you’ worksheet;
photographs of
cities
Multiple choice
Discuss and debate Read and answer
Multiple choice
answers
accordingly
task
Informal / Formal Explain differences Read letters and
A selection of
letters
discuss differences letters
Prepositions and
Introduce terms;
Find examples in As above
adverbs
drill content
letters
Student feedback Ask student what Locate strengths
and correction slot she found easy and and weaknesses
difficult during
lesson
Topic
Speaking and
vocabulary
Writing e-mails
Teacher activity Student activity
Present set text
Debate articles:
agree / disagree
Pose questions
Answer questions;
about e-mails
write e-mails for
formal and
informal situations
Reading: interview Present interview Read interview and
on set topic
match words and
phrases to
definitions
Modals and related Explain task
Match modal verbs
verbs
to meanings
Student feedback Ask student what Locate strengths
and correction slot she found easy and and weaknesses
difficult during
lesson
Topic
Brainstorm
interview phrases
Teacher activity
Gain greater
understanding of
student’s
knowledge on
topic; correct
pronunciation
Listen to television Present video and
interview on
subsequent concept
unfamiliar topic
check question
sheet about
interview
Use and non-use of Explain task
passive forms
Resources
Newspaper extracts
Printed interview
Generated sentence
worksheet
Student activity Resources
Display knowledge Laptop
and work on
phonemics
Watch and listen to Online video: ‘Paul
video; take notes; Scholes – The
answer questions Interview’ (via
Youtube)
Identify passive
forms from
sentences
Passive forms
worksheet
4
20 minutes
5
15 minutes
Lesson 4
1
Duration
30 minutes
2
35 minutes
3
25 minutes
Lesson 5
1
Duration
25 minutes
2
20 minutes
3
25 minutes
5
20 minutes
Lesson 6
1
Business
vocabulary
Assess student’s
knowledge on the
topic, introduce
new terms and drill
known ones.
Student feedback Ask student what
and correction slot she found easy and
difficult during
lesson
Pronunciation
work; business
phrases and
synonyms
Topic
Good and bad job
interviews
Student activity
Identify what
makes a good job
interview and what
makes a bad one.
Prepare for later
task.
Work on
weaknesses
Teacher activity
Introduce videos.
Concept check
questions about
positives and
negatives of each
video
Review of previous Identify
lessons
weaknesses from
previous lessons
and drill.
Mock job interview Roleplay:
interviewee
Locate strengths
and weaknesses
Resources
Online resources:
good and bad job
interview technique
videos; worksheet
Roleplay:
interviewer
Topic
Reading and
speaking: Matching
descriptions and
pictures
Adding emphasis
with auxiliaries
Teacher activity Student activity Resources
Explain task; listen Complete task
‘Cutting Edge’
for phonemic errors
advanced textbook
exercise
Explaining
emphasis and
giving contextual
examples
Adverbs
Brief explanation
of adverbs and
presentation of task
Student feedback Ask student what
and correction slot she found easy and
difficult during
lesson
Create emphasis in Worksheet
various sentences
presented on
worksheet
Underline adverbs Worksheet
in sentences and
explain why
Locate strengths
and weaknesses
Duration
40 minutes
Topic
Telephone skills
Teacher activity
Discuss differences
between types of
telecommunication;
roleplay telephone
job interview
2
25 minutes
Phrasal verbs
Present listening
task
Student activity
Establish
knowledge of
telecommunication
s.
Roleplay telephone
job interview (as
interviewer) –
back-to-back to
simulate telephone
conversation
Listen to telephone
call scripts; note
phrasal verbs
3
10 minutes
Vocabulary
Drill vocabulary
Sort words on
worksheet
Resources
Roleplay
worksheets
Online sound clips
of telephone
conversations
(formal and
informal)
Worksheet
4
20 minutes
Student feedback Ask student what Locate strengths
and correction slot she found easy and and weaknesses
difficult during
lesson
Lesson 7
1
Duration
20 minutes
Topic
Scenario-based
speaking exercise
2
25 minutes
3
15 minutes
Listening
Introduce task and
listen for phonetical
errors to correct
later in lesson.
4
15 minutes
Vocabulary
Introduce terms
associated with
topic. Ask student
their meanings and
discuss
accordingly.
5
15 minutes
Student feedback Ask student what
and correction slot she found easy and
difficult during
lesson
Lesson 8
1
Duration
25 minutes
Topic
Teacher activity Student activity
Written assessment Present written task Display knowledge
of vocabulary and
grammar learned
over course via a
written test
2
30 minutes
Mock job interview Roleplay:
interviewee
Teacher activity
Introduce task and
debate scenario
reaction via
roleplay. Listening
for pronunciation
errors.
Adverbials:
Explain adverbials;
Expressing Opinion introduce reading
task
3
25 minutes
Outstanding
problems
4
10 minutes
Review of course
Highlight
improvements from
lesson 4 interview
Designate time to
roughly evaluate
student and go over
any problematic
areas encountered
in previous lessons.
Ask student for
Student activity
Discuss pros and
cons of scenario
reaction; work on
sentence structure
fluency.
Resources
Printed sheet of
hypothetical
scenarios.
Read text and
Worksheets; set
explain to teacher texts and gap fill.
how adverbials are
used to express
opinion. Fill in
blanks to practice
use adverbials
Listen to sound
Online sound clips.
clips of various
people discussing
pros and cons of a
particular subject.
Discuss meanings
of particular words
on topic;
potentially find
synonyms in order
to strengthen
vocabulary.
Locate strengths
and weaknesses
Roleplay:
interviewer
Discuss progression
from lesson 4
interview
Discuss
improvements
gained over course;
highlight any
potentially
recurring problems.
Give opinions
Resources
Worksheet; written
task inclusive of
previous grammar
and vocabulary
from previous
lessons.
feedback in order to about course and
seek improvements what she felt has
for future lessons gained from it.
Student Details
Name
Maria Eugenia
Age Level
27 Intermediate
Notes
Maria lives and works in Buenos Aires having previously
studied in the city to an undergraduate level too and, as a
result, has proven academic abilities. I first met Maria in
London when she was travelling in Europe. Her grasp of the
English language, gained primarily from private schools in
Argentina, was more than sufficient enough to communicate
effectively to native speakers allowing for confident
independent travel. Though she lacked complete fluency and
often struggled to understand regional English accents, her
vocabulary was extensive.
A significant amount of her current job revolves around
interviewing candidates face-to-face and she has expressed a
great interest in becoming more fluent in English in the hope
that in the future she can conduct job interviews in English,
thus greatly enhancing her career prospects. As she already
has an excellent foundation for this potential fluency as
mentioned above, I would primarily seek to improve her
phonological skills, paying particular attention to terms and
words related to job interviews. In addition, I would look to
enhance her listening skills; as I have a slight regional accent,
I feel that, via numerous classes, I could improve her
confidence in listening to English dialects that she may not be
overly familiar with. Furthermore, I would look to introduce
her to websites in English such as BBC News that she could
look at in her spare time and ask me any questions concerning
vocabulary. By the end of the course, I would hope that she’d
feel confident enough to conduct an advanced job interview in
English.