First lessons are a planning session. The first lesson material we provide will walk you through the steps and give you a script to follow. It will also remind you of all the beats you have to hit in the class.
Student flag
When a student joins The English Farm, they get a free point to book a class with a teacher of their choosing. We call this very first lesson a "first lesson and English skills assessment" or a "trial lesson" (it does not mean specifically your first lesson with the student). When a student books their first lesson with us, they will be flagged as having reserved their first class, but as not having taken it yet:
The image above shows a user profile for someone who has booked a trial lesson, but has not yet taken it (they are still shown as a new student). After the student takes their first lesson (i.e. a teacher writes the first lesson record for them), "new student" will show as "took trial."
Notification
You'll get a message like the one below that lets you know it is a first lesson, and then outlining all the stuff you need to do in that class as well as policy. There is also a button to add the student to your Skype contacts. That will also take you to the student's profile on The English Farm. When you get these messages, please read through them carefully to remind yourself of the process.
Please note that you cannot turn these notifications off, even though you can turn off notifications for normal lessons.
What's the point of the first lesson
When a student takes his or her very first lesson with The English Farm with you, you should aim to achieve the following:
- Figure out what they need or want to do with English — make sure this is clear from the start;
- Assess their level, needs, study style etc.;
- Demonstrate how a lesson goes with us — this is the meat, where the rubber hits the road. This has to be good, so they can see the value of lessons with us and how you can help them get their job for English done;
- Choose a course or book for them to study; and
- Knock their socks off with your fantasticness so that they take lots of classes with you, and get really good at English.
It is not your job to sell lessons. We'll take care of that (and if the student is a corporate student, then you definitely should not be selling!).
You only need to teach them to the best of your ability. Show them how you can help them get the job done with English — whatever that may be (travel with ease, give customer support, present in English etc.). We want you all to have the chance to win over students from the outset, that's why we all do first lessons.
(Side note: I worked for a school and I did a lot of first lessons. Other teachers who did not have that opportunity tended to struggle to be busy. The students never got to know them. I always had plenty of students, because I had the chance to meet many of them first and make a good impression.)
A passionate, motivating and skillful teacher will give great lessons, and great lessons will encourage people to choose us to help them learn English.
Tasks
You are required to do the following three tasks in a first lesson:
- Write a lesson record as usual — make sure you use all aspects of it to the fullest to demonstrate what we can do. Include audio, lots of new words and phrases, pronuncaition notes, and where relevant an image, a video or an ngram (see this page). Encourage them to leave a comment for you after class.
- Flesh out the profile (add needs and a course at the very least). Read about students and profiles if you have not already.
- Do an assessment. Please fill this out after the lesson. There is a guide to assessments for your reference.
- Order a book. You need to do a book order for all students (except those using online courses). The system will send a different message to corporates and individual students. Individuals have to buy the book for themselves, and they will be given instructions and a link in the message. Corporate students don't buy their own books; we buy and deliver books to the student's office.
Goals and needs
When students complete their profile, they give us a lot of information about their preferences for study, their goals and needs. In the first lesson, you need to really nail down what those needs and goals are and then add them to the student's profile (under the Needs section). It is essential that you determine a SMART goal for them (steer them away from amorphous and unattainable goals). Make a note of this goal in the student's assessment and hold them to it. Check up on it. Keep them on target.
Go beyond their targets and make them ambitious. If they want to be able to understand a movie, encourage them by emphasising how much cooler it is to be able to talk with people about movies in English. If they want to get 2.3 in GBC, that's great, but encourage them to aim (long-term) for 3.0. That's "fully professional" according to the standards of the test, and if they want to be doing business internationally, that is the true minimum (not whatever their company says).
Get the student to appreciate that they are embarking on a long-term project. We aim to be there for them all the way, and support them in whatever way they need.
Dealing with system questions
If you know the answer to a question (ex. "How long is a class?"), then answer by all means. If they ask you a toughie, then tell them that you want to focus on the class for now, and that someone will email them after the lesson with an answer. After class, email support@theenglishfarm.com and tell us the student's name and question and we can sort it out for you.
Missed trial lesson
If the student does not show up to the trial lesson, jump to this page to see procedure.