The Four Finger Rule — Grifter’s Edition
You can walk into a classroom knowing exactly what you want to teach. That doesn’t mean the person in front of you is ready to say it.
When I taught in Japan, I learned that connection was part of the job. A student could enjoy a class and still be afraid of getting something wrong. Before asking for another attempt, I needed to show them I was there to help.
For the classroom story behind this approach, read Teaching Kids Who Didn’t Want to Learn English. Here, I want to turn that experience into a practical way to plan your next session.
Find the person before you plan the conversation
A kindergarten learner might need you to get down and play. A school-age student might open up over sports. A teenager might want to talk about club activities. An adult might arrive with a practical problem from work or home.
Those are possible starting points, not rules about who people are. You still have to listen to the person in front of you.
What interests them? Where do they hesitate? What would make this lesson useful to them today?
I try to notice how people feel and adapt. Calling that empathy is easy. The useful part is what you do with it: listen, adjust and give someone a reason to try.
Make the first win small enough to reach
The first goal doesn’t have to be an impressive conversation. It could be one useful question and one answer.
Here’s a practice example:
Learner: Could I have some water, please?
Partner: Of course. Here you are.
That is something the learner can use. Once it feels familiar, change one detail. Water becomes tea. The same request works again.
You can add a follow-up later. You don’t have to load every possible difficulty into the first attempt.
Keep the next attempt possible
Correction has a purpose: helping someone communicate more clearly. It shouldn’t become a performance in which the teacher demonstrates every mistake they can spot.
For a practice session, try letting the learner finish. Check whether you understood the message. Then choose one useful thing to practise again together.
“Let’s try that sentence once more” leaves room for another attempt. The learner needs to leave with something they can do, as well as something to work on.
A small teaching mission
For your next practice session, choose one thing the learner actually wants to do. Prepare one request, model it and let them try. Change one detail together. Finish by asking which phrase they want to keep practising.
The topic belongs to their life. The pace should give them a chance to succeed.
The job isn’t to show off how much English you know. It’s to help someone use what they need.
Connection first. Trust next. Then a small, achievable success.
Try one useful conversation in free Week 1.
Teaching reflections by Colin Lee MacLeod. The sample exchange is a practice example, not a transcript of a former student.
