tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post8734740510956859918..comments2023-06-23T06:58:24.020-07:00Comments on Caffeinated - The Official Cafetalk Tutor Blog: Lesson Ettiquette - Dos and Don'tsm@http://www.blogger.com/profile/05980731249715380798noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-59933180985499514572010-10-18T20:42:31.110-07:002010-10-18T20:42:31.110-07:00You left out an important part of any class.
Prepa...You left out an important part of any class.<br />Preparing a class for the student<br />Prior preparation prevents poor performance!<br />I own an online Spanish school and always have my tutors prepare a class for the student, even though it is time consuming.<br />It makes everything run so much smoother when you are prepared.121Spanishhttp://www.121spanish.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-87611009093211929752009-08-12T15:07:21.170-07:002009-08-12T15:07:21.170-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05208384712720973302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-29143518247766906562009-08-05T02:56:15.970-07:002009-08-05T02:56:15.970-07:00Final post.
It is highly unprofessional to "...Final post.<br /><br />It is highly unprofessional to "steal" students from any service that has gotten you together with them. Cafétalk offers an excellent platform for connecting students with tutors that probably has a cost. Suggesting to a student that they pay you directly is like biting the hand that feeds you. And, as mentioned in the original post, most students will consider the offer to do classes outside of the Cafétalk framework as "shady" at best and downright wrong and bad at worst. It is a quick way to break the trust that is necessary for Cafétalk to work efficiently. Students will not only think poorly of the tutor who practices such, they might also wonder why Cafétalk has such a tutor on the payroll. Such behavior can only hurt the relationship of students with tutors, Cafétalk and the Internet in general.<br /><br />Be faithful to Cafétalk, they have been doing a good job up to now, are always ready to help out new tutors and are always making improvements in the system and platform so that the experience is agreeable for everyone. Taking a student away from Cafétalk would not be correct.<br /><br />peace,<br />Mr Spearsrevel arrowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16228631159719380618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-16607255673811315492009-08-05T02:48:41.672-07:002009-08-05T02:48:41.672-07:00Related to the "no sex" rule:
Sometimes...Related to the "no sex" rule:<br /><br />Sometimes it is difficult to know when a topic of conversation will be uncomfortable for a student. <br /><br />Recently, a student of mine had to cancel class because of the death of a family member. In my culture it is normal to send condolences and in a later conversation talk a bit about the lost loved-one. However, on reading up on the subject in Japanese culture, I found that such is maybe not so acceptable. Fortunately, this student brought up the subject herself and talked openly and freely about the arrangements and difficulties brought on by the loss and asked some very interesting questions concerning how death is dealt with in my culture. <br /><br />What I am wondering, then, is if there are other "taboo" subjects out there that, because of cultural differences, we tutors may not be aware of? Sex is a pretty obvious one, even death may be uncomfortable. But, how about other aspects of life that Japanese people usually feel uncomfortable talking about? If any of the Japanese who follow this blog have any suggestions of other topics that might cause friction, it would be very interesting for us non-Japanese to know about them before we end up with our feet in our mouths!<br /><br />peace,<br />Mr Spears.revel arrowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16228631159719380618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-43102909040851205722009-08-05T02:39:59.648-07:002009-08-05T02:39:59.648-07:00And now, for the "don't" list.
A co...And now, for the "don't" list.<br /><br />A couple of years ago, I innocently sent an editorial to several of my students concerning the parent's role in educating their children. The article pointed out that many times parents don't talk to their kids about difficult subjects, such as drugs, crime, school failure, sex, etc....<br /><br />Four of the five students who received this article were quite willing to discuss the topic with me. One, however, was embarrassed that the article included sex. This student did not request any future classes with me.<br /><br />So, even though the topic was not about "sex" per se, it is difficult to know if a student will be offended or bothered by the subject showing up in a class. When I was studying to be a salesman, we were taught that there were three topics that should never be brought up during a sales pitch: Sex, religion and politics. These are touchy subjects for many people and are probably best avoided.<br /><br />Of course, if a student asks you to explain your religious practices or your opinion about the elections in the USA, you can politely and diplomatically explain either that you don't usually talk about such things or just be an "informant", explaining some of the more general information involved. However, this is very hard to do with "sex". I think that is best left for other types of websites and has no place in an English class.<br /><br />Being "happy" and "positive" and "optimistic" is much better than being a complainer. Naturally, sometimes a chat can become a mutual complaint session, but it is much better to look on the bright side of life with these people who are your students, who live on the other side of the world, who have their own problems and worries, and are probably looking for a respite from such when having a chat with their online tutor.<br /><br />In some professions, such as dentistry, a professional will never criticize a fellow professional in front of a client. There are other ways of dealing with such, but the client is not part of the plan. If a student complains about another tutor it is usually best to simply say that you don't know this other tutor nor his/her methods and maybe suggest that the student get in touch with Cafétalk with their comments. Tutors are tutors, not administrators.<br /><br />More in a later post!<br /><br />peace,<br />Mr Spears.revel arrowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16228631159719380618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257640077760171496.post-80306479394182374722009-08-05T02:26:08.019-07:002009-08-05T02:26:08.019-07:00Much to say on this subject and posts are limited ...Much to say on this subject and posts are limited in length, so may be a couple of posts to get all my ideas out to you.<br /><br />The "Do" list is very good. <br /><br />Being on time is a sign of professional conduct and a guarantee that there will be no friction on that front. Americans and English people also like to be on time, so that is good advice to follow no matter what your culture is.<br /><br />Added value is important as well. Just chatting might be OK once in a while if you have developed a good rapport with the student, but it is always a good idea to send them a message with a link to something interesting to talk about before the class. This makes the student more responsible and helps the tutor to be more prepared for the class with vocabulary, structures etc.<br /><br />Sometimes we need to remind the students to keep the chat window open. Some students don't want tutors to use the chat constantly in the class, but since the chats are saved on the tutor's and the student's computers, this is an excellent source for review of what has been gone over in the class, again, vocab, structure etc....<br /><br />Finally, I personally fully support the "send a hello" through the chat function of Skype. You can't possibly know if the student is sitting there waiting for you to call them or if they have turned on the computer and then gone to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Sending a "hello" lets the student know that you are ready, and once the student has said "hello" back, then the tutor can make the connection and the class can get under way.<br /><br />More in later posts.<br /><br />peace,<br />Mr Spearsrevel arrowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16228631159719380618noreply@blogger.com