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[kitano]

I have a class with one student, he's really good at English and really friendly, but we have done 4 X 2 hour lessons now so obviously it's hard to keep thinking of stuff to talk about. I also think it's an awesome opportunity to play some cool games or do some role-plays or something
I did moral dilemas last time and I've done 'What would you do if...'

Does anyone have any other cool ideas? 16 year old boy

I looked for other threads but searhing things like 'one' and 'student' is a dead loss....

[yli]

Your student is 16 years old right?

There are a bunch of things that he's probably worrying about at the moment, such as the gaokao, or if he's going to the US/UK to study, then he'll need to worry about things like A-Levels and AP Exams and the SAT/TOEFL. Ask him if he wants help on the English language portions on those tests. It's almost certain that he does, and it's almost certain that you'll be able to help him greatly with regards to that.

[ericthered]

How interested in English is the young man? Is he keen on the class or  is he there because of over-competitive Tiger Mom making him go? What is he interested in? I recently wrapped up a month-long 1-to-1 classes with a 12 year-old girl and the last few classes I made her explain in English the premise of the Chinese show  Ai Qing Gong Yue, of which she was a big fan. It worked well. Can you make him read for class? Would he be able to read a short story in one day? It has been my experience that, if you can find some kind of complicated topic the student is interested in, the lesson go rather smoothly. For instance, every Thursday I teach a girl who is a history buff. So all I have to do is come to class and tell her to begin explaining the Something-Something Dynasty and make notes as to the mistakes she makes. It is fun, educational for both  of us and easy. If you can find a similar topic with your chap, your lesson will be very easy to prepare.

[kitano]

Sorry, definitely should have given more background

He is going to high school in America and he has already been over there for a few months meeting his family etc
He is from Xiaoshing but his parents want him to study English in summer even though he will be over there for a while

The class is meant to be a TOEFL preparation class, but he is already qualified to study at high school so he doesn't need to do even think about the actual exam until this time next year. It's cool because he is really easy to get along with and his language is good enough where just conversation about anything is a good way to improve vocabulary, we spent the first lessons with no plan at all and just talking about our lives, so it's kind of like the sort of lesson if I had to sit in a classroom with one of you guys for 2 hours and come up with interesting topics/activities....

Or is that bad teaching? Should I make it more formal?

[Fozzwaldus]

Settlers of Catan? Monopoly?

Manga? (give frames with words removed and/or cut up and out of order. Let him rearrange and write/negotiate with you/team write a new story, then afterwards read the orginal together.??)

[The Local Dialect]

If it is meant to be a TOEFL prep course I'd get a TOEFL prep book and spend at least half of the time going over the format and some of the basic exam questions. Just get him used to it. When he gets to the States a proper TOEFL prep course will be a lot more expensive, and he'll probably be really busy anyhow. Now is a good opportunity for him to get a good leg up on the exam.

Have you been told with certainty that he's not taking the exam for another year? Lots of parents who have kids going abroad will want their kid to get a jump on the TOEFL so that when the time comes they can concentrate solely on the SAT/APs. It may be that he doesn't *need* TOEFL for another year or so but will take the exam anyway.

I did a 1 on 1 TOEFL thing that ended just last week with a girl who was born in America and moved to China at age 6. We would do a different section of the TOEFL each time, have her practice, then go over the results. The independent speaking portion especially is fairly easy to do with them and it is something they need practice with because the format is so unnatural.

In the end just doing TOEFL is going to be easier than stumbling around for topics for a couple of hours. You can still have chats in between topics, or even break it up into an hour chatting, an hour "work."