There are many theories and opinions about how to teach English but here I would like to address the very nuts and bolts of what I do to teach beginners.

As soon as you meet your student greet them slowly with a commonly used form of greeting that is not slang. "Hello, how are you?" is much better than"whats happening" or "hows it going.?"Later when the student gains confidence and is exposed to more and more English situations they could be taught a wider range of greeting styles. Greetings are extremely important in some cultures and just being able to greet someone in their native language can go a long way to bolstering confidence in the student.

The sounds of English are very important and can easily escape the untrained ear so phonics should be covered in depth with both listening and speaking. Some students may have already studied grammar and spelling but know little or nothing about how to distinguish certain sounds.Cover vowels,consonants and blends so that your student will not be afraid to learn and speak new or difficult words.Also writing, spelling, and reading should be covered but speaking should be the main emphasis,if your target is English conversation.

Start with the students life and teach them by asking their age, birthplace, family, pets, hobbies, job, schooling and so on. These types of things can be extremely useful for students who plan to live or stay in an English speaking country.

Try to keep related vocabulary topics in the same category for example do not teach family then colors then go back to family again. Try to keep in the same area for a period of time.

Games are very good and can lighten up a class and give excitement to what otherwise might me be a very boring subject. Board games, cards, puzzles can all be used and encourage the students to comment in English at every opportunity.

Homework is vital but it should be mostly review topics with some new material added. Also use the various types of media such as movies, music, radio,and TV. These can be great teachers as your children well know.

Try to keep your classes interesting, upbeat and fun. Also do not scold the student too much when they make a mistake or they will lose enjoyment of the class.

My name is James Smith. I am a retired English teacher living in Japan. I am actively involved in online education. Please check out my blog which introduces a related topic to the above article, thank you http://makeyourchildmultilingual.blogspot.com/