SnappySchoolA first lesson with a new adult student has two jobs. You need to learn enough to plan the next lessons, and the student needs to leave feeling they learned something and found the right tutor. A lesson that is all questions does the first job and fails the second. The plan below does both in 60 minutes, one to one and online.
Before the lesson
- Send the link a day early and ask the student to join five minutes before the start to check their camera and microphone.
- Ask three questions in writing: Why are you learning English? What do you want to do in English in six months? How would you describe your level? Even short answers help you prepare.
- Prepare for more than one level. Have a short activity ready for a lower and a higher level than the student says, so you can switch if their English turns out different.
- Know your own details: price, how often you teach, and how to cancel or move a lesson. New students often ask at the end.
What to find out
Goals
These three questions get the most useful answers:
- "Why are you learning English now?"
- "What do you want to do in English that you can't do now?"
- "Is there a date? A job interview, a move, an exam?"
If the goal is vague, ask about a real situation:
- Student: I want to speak better.
- Tutor: When did you last need English?
- Student: On a call with our office in Texas. I understood, but I didn't say anything.
Now you have a goal you can teach to: following work calls and joining in.
Level
The student's own description is a starting point, not the answer. "Intermediate" can mean almost anything, and a test score from five years ago may not mean much now. You'll check for yourself in the level check below.
Ask about past learning too: "How long have you studied English? What did you do in class? What helped, and what didn't?"
Needs and preferences
- Which skills matter most: speaking, understanding fast speech, writing emails, pronunciation?
- What they use English for at work or at home, and what's hard about it.
- "When you make a mistake, should I stop you, or tell you at the end?"
- "How much time do you really have for homework each week?"
- "Do you like grammar explained, or do you prefer to practice and pick it up?"
Schedule
How often, which days, how long, and the student's time zone. Write both times in your follow-up message so nobody has to work it out.
Keep this part a conversation, not a form. Ask, listen, then follow up on what they said: "You said you work in logistics. What does a normal day look like?" Every follow-up is also a speaking sample.
A 60-minute first lesson plan
0–5 minutes: hello and tech check
Check sound and video. Introduce yourself in under a minute, then say what the hour will look like:
"Today I'd like to get to know you, hear how your English is now, and do a short lesson. At the end I'll suggest a plan. Is that OK?"
5–20 minutes: goals and needs
Ask the questions above. Take notes on what the student says and on how they say it: the words they reach for, the mistakes they repeat, where they stop.
20–30 minutes: quick level check
See the next section.
30–50 minutes: a short lesson
Teach something useful at the right level, linked to the goal you just heard. This is the part that brings a student back.
For the student with work calls: five phrases for joining a conversation (Can I add something? Sorry, could you say that again? Just to check, you mean…?), then a short role-play of a call where they use each one. For a beginner: greetings, saying where you're from and asking simple questions about personal details.
50–57 minutes: feedback and a plan
Say what you noticed, in plain words: two strengths, two or three things to work on, and what the next lessons will focus on.
"You understand a lot, and you have good words for your job. What slows you down is the past tense and asking questions. For the next six weeks, I suggest we work on telling what happened at work and on asking questions in meetings."
57–60 minutes: schedule and homework
Agree on the next lesson and give one short task.
A quick level check in 10 minutes
You don't need a long test. Ask questions that get harder, and stop when the student starts to struggle.
- "Where are you from? What do you do?"
- "Tell me about a normal day at work."
- "What did you do last weekend?"
- "What are your plans for next year, and why?"
- "Some companies want everyone back in the office five days a week. Is that a good idea?"
- Push back: "But isn't it harder to work as a team from home?"
As a rough guide, a student who is comfortable only with the first two is around A1–A2. One who tells a story and explains plans, with mistakes that don't block the meaning, is around B1. Giving reasons on both sides of question 5 points to B2, and handling question 6 fluently, with little searching for words, points to C1.
Add a short text of about 150 words and ask for the main idea in the student's own words. It tells you about reading and vocabulary in two minutes.
What to send after the lesson
Send a short message the same day or the next morning. Keep it to one screen:
Hi Marco, thanks for today. Here's a short summary. Your goal: take part in your team's calls with the Texas office, not only listen. Your English now: around B1. You follow most of the calls and you have good words for logistics. Past tenses and questions slow you down. Next six weeks: telling what happened, asking questions on calls, understanding fast speech. Today's phrases: Can I add something? Sorry, could you say that again? Just to check, you mean…? Homework: send me a one-minute voice message about a problem at work last week and how you solved it. Next lesson: Tuesday at 6 p.m. your time (noon my time). To move a lesson, tell me 24 hours before.
If you teach on SnappySchool, you can download the lesson you used as a PDF and attach it to this message, so the student has the words and exercises in one place.
Mistakes new tutors make
- Talking too much about themselves. One minute about you is enough. The student came to talk.
- Asking twenty questions with no follow-up. It feels like filling out a form.
- Testing for the whole hour. The student leaves with a level and nothing learned.
- Trusting the self-assessment or an old certificate without checking.
- Correcting everything. Note the mistakes and mention two or three at the end.
- Preparing for one level only, then getting stuck when the student is stronger or weaker.
- Promising results, such as "You'll be fluent by summer." You can promise a plan, not an outcome.
- Ending with no next step: no date, no homework, no plan.
- Using grammar terms with a student who doesn't know them. Say "the past" before you say "the past simple."
Library lessons for a first lesson
The unit 1 lessons of SnappySchool's courses are a natural place to start. Each one gets the student speaking, about their own life or in a role-play, so you hear a lot while you teach, and each downloads as a PDF.
- Greetings and introductions (A1): hello and goodbye for every time of day, countries, and short forms of be. Your student greets a new classmate.
- Souvenirs from a trip (A2): irregular past verbs and travel words. Your student tells the story of a souvenir of their own, which also shows you how they handle the past.
- Culture shock in a new country (B1): the present perfect with for and since, plus been and gone, ending with a role-play where the student gives advice to a newcomer.
- Digital nomads: working from anywhere (B2): the present perfect simple and continuous, with words for work and lifestyle, and a visa interview role-play.
- Your job and your company (Business English): describing a job and a company with the present simple and continuous. The student ends by describing their own job for two minutes.
- Meeting people at work (Business English): small talk with colleagues and clients, ending with a mingling task.
All courses are on the lesson library page.
Questions
How long should the first lesson with a new ESL student be?
An hour gives you time for the talk, the level check and a short lesson. If you offer a shorter trial of 20–30 minutes, keep the talk and the level check and add one short activity, so the student still practices something.
Should I use the student's language in the first lesson?
If you share a language and the student is a beginner, a few minutes of it for goals and practical details can prevent misunderstandings. Do the level check and the lesson itself in English.
What if the student's level is very different from what they said?
It happens. Switch to the activity you prepared for the other level, and tell the student honestly and kindly what you heard. Starting at the right level is better for both of you.
What if the student doesn't know what their goal is?
Ask about real situations: "When did you last need English? What was hard?" Then suggest a goal and check it: "So your goal could be to handle calls with clients without notes. Does that sound right?"