When learning English, learn what you need not everything

As an English teacher in Japan, i always ask my students `why do you want to learn English?` and i have a varying degree of answers, but when i ask `what do you need to learn?` that's when answers are either `it's for my job` which is a great response, or `i just want to speak English` which feels like there's no real aim, no target, no goal.

I always appreciate a goal to work towards, it gives me a goal too, but when it's just learning for the sake of learning, i feel the student is wasting time and money, i think apart from our class when are they going to use this? are they keeping the target a secret? 

But something i have discovered is that many private teachers go one of two ways, teach nothing or teach everything, today i will talk about the latter.

English teachers in Japan often go through everything from vocabulary to grammar, all tenses and phrases, without ever asking what the student actually needs. I've had students who wanted to prepare for a holiday abroad for as little as a week to 2 months of travelling, so i prepared them for what they need, you know the usual questions and phrases like `where is the train station, please? ` and `the food is good, thank you`. They felt ready, we even roleplayed to give them an opportunity to practice speed and fluency. 

on the other hand, some students come to me quite shy and not sure about what they really want from learning English, my first class is more of a taste tester, some questions and general conversation, that often gives me an idea what and why they want to learn. Some students say `TEACH ME EVERYTHING` which is unnecessary, eventually we get to their target.

So, my point is this, if you are learning English, have a target, a reason for learning. If you are going to study abroad, you need a lot of English, not all of it (the rest will come when you're abroad) and if it's for travelling or work then that requires specific English and not all of it.

So if you go through the private teacher route here`s a few tips for you, make sure they are free for their first class (like me) or cheap, you can say no to any future classes or at least tell them you'll get back to them (and `forget`) and most importantly ask them questions about what you want to learn and how they can help you, also think about the type of English you want to learn (UK Vs USA, this is a blog for a different day).

Based in Kagoshima, teaching English for 6 years, typically one to one in person and now helping new students prepare for TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS and Eiken and also soon to be available online.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave a comment.