It seems kind of obvious that a professional "English as a Foreign Language" (EFL) teacher who's interested in online business would start an online language school, but I resisted doing so for years - decades even.
Why?
Well, because it seemed like a bit of a pain in the Aristotle, to be perfickly frank.
Covid Forces Us To Adapt To New Technologies
Then, along came Old King Corona and forced us to adapt to online teaching. I wasn't too keen on doing online lectures since I had no way of knowing whether the students were asleep or, if awake, were paying attention or (more likely) lying on their futons fiddling with their phones or other objects.
However, I had a much better experience teaching my private students online and continue to conduct private 1-to-1 classes with a couple of doctors.
A Former Student Starts Her Own Business
Then, a couple of months ago, one of my former college students suddenly contacted me to ask if I'd be willing to teach private online classes to Japanese women working in Australia as au-pairs. It turned out that she had started an au-pair agency and wanted to offer her girls the opportunity to study English online.
The proposed fee was about a fifth of what the good doctors pay, but I was happy to agree, partly to support my student, who is one of the very few young Japanese that I know of who has had the gumption to start her own business, and partly because, well, teaching au-pairs from the comfort of my home for 50 minutes a pop hardly seemed like hard work and the pocket money would of course be welcome.
I wasn't sure that I believed she would ever find me any students, and indeed I had almost forgotten about our agreement, when she suddenly contacted me and said that she had a student for me...
My First Remote Au-Pair Student!
My former student connected us via Line, and it was via Line that my new student wanted the class to be held. I had proposed Google Chat, but Line is the favourite medium for young Japanese so I readily agreed.
The class was set for 9:30pm tonight.
At 4:30pm I roused myself from my afternoon chillax and got down to creating lesson content for my new student, and for any other elementary-level students who come my way in the future...
It turned out that 9:30pm was Melbourne time, so at 8:20 I got a Line message from my student asking if she should call me. I said go ahead, and hastily put on a decent shirt. I'd forgotten that Melbourne is an hour ahead of Japan...
A Burst of Hyper Productivity!
However, in the four hours since I had aroused myself from my post-prandial snooze, I had spent my time well, engaging with ChatGPT to create a kick-butt first lesson designed for an elementary level Japanese student of English who had requested "listening" and "grammar" content.
Not only that, I'd also set up a new English Language Teaching blog and loaded all the first lesson material onto it as well as grammar notes in preparation for the second lesson on Wednesday evening.
My New English Teaching Blog
Check out my new English Language teaching blog for Japanese students of English at:
The first class went well. It was actually quite relaxing to sit back and teach via line on my smartphone while reading the material on my laptop. A fun way to make a few bob on a Sunday evening!
Okay, here's some of the lesson material that ChatGPT and I hatched together:
Lesson 1: Tom's Wallet
Level: Low Elementary
Tom lives in a small town. One day, he loses his wallet while walking in the park. He is worried because the wallet has some money and his ID card inside. Tom searches everywhere in the park but cannot find it.
Later, a woman sees the wallet on the ground and picks it up. She looks around for the owner. She sees Tom and asks, "Is this your wallet?" Tom smiles and says, "Yes! Thank you so much!" The woman gives Tom his wallet, and he feels happy.
Comprehension Exercises
1. True/False
- Tom lives in a big city.
- Tom loses his wallet in the park.
- The wallet has Tom’s ID card inside.
- Tom finds his wallet under a tree.
- A woman gives Tom his wallet.
2. Yes/No Questions
- Does Tom live in a small town?
- Did Tom lose his wallet while shopping?
- Is there money in Tom’s wallet?
- Did the woman keep the wallet?
- Is Tom happy when he gets his wallet back?
3. Either/Or Questions:
- Does Tom lose his wallet in the park or at home?
- Is there money or a key in Tom’s wallet?
- Does the woman find the wallet or does Tom find it?
- Does the woman give the wallet to Tom or keep it?
- Is Tom worried or happy when he loses his wallet?
4. Open Questions:
- Where does Tom lose his wallet?
- What is inside Tom’s wallet?
- Who finds Tom’s wallet?
- What does the woman ask Tom?
- How does Tom feel when he gets his wallet back?
I had prepared more material, but that was plenty for a 50 minute session with a lower-elementary English speaking student from Japan. 😅
The lesson went well, and it was fun to teach via Line on my phone - kinda relaxing although we remained focused on the lesson throughout so my student got a good brain workout for the duration of the class. It was a "listening" class, but she had to remain active to show she understood what she was hearing through the series of True / False and Q and A sets.
We practised short answers and full sentence answers, and then in the closing minutes of the session we went over the story again and practised rapid-fire Q and A with short answers.
I'm Fired Up!
Now that I have a student and the benefits of experience of teaching online (thanks to Corona), and the blessings of AI technologies to engage with to craft the exact kind of lesson material I want with ease, whether it's the story, the comprehension questions, the illustration, or the audio file (all generated effortlessly and for free)... I've suddenly become very keen on the idea of "teaching English online" to a target market of Japanese students of English. 😎
Cheers!
David Hurley
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