One of these days, a fellow teacher, Paschoal, who’s starting his solo career in ESL teaching, asked me if it was ok to accept some students who don’t REALLY want to learn English but just be handed the most basic phrases for a trip to the U.S. The students want only to learn what to say when checking into a hotel, or going to a restaurant, or at the airport, or when shopping (a Favorite for all Brazilian tourists).
Paschoal said he felt extremely uncomfortable taking on students who didn’t want to be students. They wanted to be travellers, or for a narrower concept, ” Touristers”.
Not everyone wants to learn a second language and if they are willing to learn some basic phrases just to get by, why not? Maybe after their travel experience they will change their mind, if not, at least, they will have expanded a little their horizons. Hopefully!
So, Paschoal, go ahead and teach them situations at a restaurant , for example. Roleplay dialogues such as:
Waiter (speaking 100mph): hello, my name is zzzzz, I’ll zzzz. are you zzzzzzz or do you need zzzzz? Can I zzzzz?
student: uhhhhhh, Yes. 
Got my gist?
So, be ethical and tell them the importance of properly studying English as a second language and let them know they’ll be getting what they’re paying for…
Cheers,
Mo
The Americanoid Blog 