There are two different approaches to tutoring: professional and personal. Depending on your personality you might choose one or deploy both of them simultaneously.
The professional tutoring approach
- short small talk phase in the beginning, most likely just pleasantries like “How are you?”
- tutor never asks personal questions and doesn’t want to know about the students’ week/weekend
- teacher jumps straight into the lesson’s topic
- tutor tells students before the start of the lesson what the lesson will be about and is determined to cover everything during the session time you have agreed upon
- teacher corrects students with expertise and answers lesson-related questions efficiently
- tutor asks at the end of the lesson if anything remained unclear and is very likely to assign homework related to the topic covered during the session
The personal tutoring approach
- teacher is interested in the student and his/her life
- tutor will refer to things the student said during the last session and will ask follow-up questions
- teacher will talk about herself
- tutor is easy to talk to, students are not afraid to make mistakes
- usually, no homework is given
- there is less focus on progress
Both of these methods have their pros and cons. It’s best if you can use both and adjust your teaching to students’ personalities and current needs as it will allow you to retain your students longer.