How much basic knowledge can I expect?
Hello everyone,
I'm a bit unsure as to where to post this but here I go.
To keep it simple I'm a university student studying languages and have been tutoring students for about four years. Recently I taught my first conversation course for adults and it was supposed to be for complete beginners even though I didn't know that until half-way trhough the course and had to be informed by one of the participants (that is a whole different problem that was caused by the organisers).
During the very first session I came upon the following problem: one of the three participants didn't know what conjugating a verb is. Not in the "they didn't know what the word meant but once I explained and gave them an example they knew what I was talking about" kind of "they didn't know". They hadn't realised that the speaker changes the verb depending on who they're talking about. Their native language is German so it's not like they didn't know because the verbs don't change.
Now my question is:
Can I not expect this type of knowledge from people who sign up to learn a language?
I realise that I'm really new to teaching adults and since I study languages at university I have a more grammar-based experience when it comes to learning a language. I just really want to know if I can't even expect that kind of basic knowledge from people.
Thank you all in advance!