Wrap it Up: How to Keep Lessons from Going on Too Long
We’ve all been there. The lesson clock starts getting close to zero, and you begin wrapping up — or at least attempting to wrap up. Your student suddenly asks a question or makes a comment that will take you beyond the class time to respond to.
You don’t want to be rude, but you need your break, either to prepare for your next lesson or simply for personal time. It's awkward. What do you do?
Here are a few things to keep in mind the next time you’re, well, out of time.
Ease Into the End of a Lesson
First of all, it's important not to wait until the lesson is already over before you start the wrap-up process. With around one minute remaining, you should be preparing for a smooth ending (while continuing to give the student your full attention, of course).
The standard way of doing this is letting the student know the class is almost finished, mentioning a few things you covered and asking if they have questions.
For example:
Well, we’re almost out of time. Today we talked about [vocabulary/grammar point/etc]. Do you have any quick questions before we finish?
After this, tie up the remainder of the discussion and thank them for their participation. Offer some positive feedback on the things they’ve done well and sign off.
Excellent job today. It’s been nice talking with you. I hope to see you again soon.
Take a Rain Check
So far, we haven't mentioned anything that you can't find in the documents that all tutors get access to when joining the company. But if the standard procedure doesn't work when trying to end a class, you'll need to try something else.
A simple way to sidestep more questions and comments when time is up is to simply agree to tackle them next time.
That’s a great question! Unfortunately, we don’t have time to discuss it now. Let’s talk about that in our next lesson.
Alternatively, you can point out that you'll be meeting another student soon and you must prepare.
That's an interesting point. I don't want to be late for the lesson with my next student, but let's talk about that when we meet again.
While helping you avoid going over the lesson time, this strategy has the added benefit of encouraging students to book more classes with you in the future.
Gotta Go! 💨
While it’s important to always remain polite and professional with students, some unfortunately do not recognize or respect the time limits of their interactions with us.
However, with a little forward thinking, some useful phrases and a polite tone of voice, we can end lessons in a timely fashion while keeping the atmosphere friendly and leaving the door open for more bookings.
