It was totally awkward for me to have an adult student. I can really feel the big differences and hardly can get rid of the awkwardness . It becomes more intense when the class was carried out. I don't know whether to treat the person as my friend or as my student.
If your student is between 5-12 years old,
1) they will just listen and trust what you said. It is very easy to gain their trust, but do remember never betray their trust.Extremely vital!!!!Don't give false hope to them.
2) they will talk a lot. Non-stop. To be frank, I am already very talkative, they are more talkative than me and I would classify them as hyperactive. Wuahahahaha....
3) they will give you their house's phone number, their parent's phone number, their siblings phone number and insist that you should call them. Aiyo...the paper fulled with phone numbers is placed in their pencil box by their parents, just in case anything urgent happens.
4) they want to have extra time for playing games rather than playing piano. (I can understand this very well, this is what we need to overcome in order to learn something new and unfamiliar with.)
5) show them something new, and you will see how they are attracted to you. (I mean games)
If your student is above 20 years old,
1) they would not talk so much in class. (Normally is a one-to- one lesson, if the person doesn't open his mouth, then I really don't know how to teach. )
2) It's hard to teach them how to play la , by demonstration. Can I touch their hands when they actually play wrongly? How to ask whether they mind or not ...no idea
3) Overall, the class is boring and no fun at all. (Unless he/ she is handsome or pretty) that would be another story.
