Hi Olivier,

I'm going to answer this from a learner's perspective, based on what I found useful when some people helped and taught me, as well as things I wish people had done when they tried to "help" me.

I think speaking clearly and well is the first thing. It takes a bit of attention to decide what level you should speak at with each speaker, but "easy challenge" might be a good guide. Slowing down too much and simplifying what you say can be counterproductive, especially if your student already has some understsanding of French. Repetition and even rephrasing (from both you and the student) help a lot.

Guiding the conversation and using open questions is helpful and encouraging if the other person is a bit shy or lost for words. Asking for more details and being interested and curious helps as well. The word <em>elicit</em> always turns up in teaching notes, so try to get the student to make an attempt instead of simply giving the right answer.

As for grammar, yes it helps if you know a few rules. Still, even if you just say, "That's simply how we say it, but I'm sure there's a rule somewhere", then that'd be enough for me.

One thing that often annoyed me was when the other person said, "Oh, I understand what you mean" instead of helping me to say my sentences properly. Repeating what the other person just said, in correct French, as a confirmation question (As in "is this what you meant to say?") if their sentence was awkward or broken.

I hope this helps - I'm looking forward to other people's suggestions too!

Don't be afraid of silence. Sometimes people need time to think. It doesn't challenge the student if you just give the answer straight away. They might have been in the process of formulating an answer in their head and it's frustrasting to be interrupted.

If you have to correct the student get them to repeat the whole sentence again as it can be useful for them and help them remember.

Yes like the previous post said guidance is important. It's difficult when you get on a lesson and the teacher doesn't seem to have a direction and there's an awkward silence, and you as a learner don't have much to start the conversation with. Even for informal lessons you can ask simple questions to get things going. Also, yes, elicit - as it can be frustrating for someone to explain something to you, you already know, plus it's not helpful for the student.

Olivier--I’m so glad you’ve opened this discussion because I have the same questions and concerns. I hope more experienced 'italkiers' (my made-up noun for people who use italki) will share their wisdom with us!

Thanks Joy for your concern :)

And thanks a lot Peachey for your 5cents (I love this expression but IMHO it worths more than that)

Maybe there are people that doesn't care about the "teaching" matter. If they're already teachers, good. If they aren't, maybe they do their best but having good teaching techniques is more important (IMHO) than master the matter/language to teach.
For me it's important to be able to teach, and I would only teach contents I master :)
About the grammar, as it's in skype, I can also write extra reference for the details of the grammar rules :)

The teacher must bring a real value to the subject he teach, this is not just matter, book or contents but also explanations, try/corrections. Teacher must have also patience.

And you are right, a good teacher listen. He correct if needed, but listen, letting the learner participate fully

Let's say the matter/content is tofu and the teacher is the sauce that coat the tofu :)
So are there some tutorials to be a good teacher or is it a thing to acquire step by step by oneself?

Have a great weekend :)

Olivier