Language tutors
If you go to a foreign country to study a language there are many options. You can go to an official language school, you can go to a private language school, you can live with a host family or you can hire a private tutor. I have taught at and studied at all of these options.
Of course they are all good and it depends on what you like and can afford. My first preference is a private one on one tutor. The reason I prefer this is, you can find someone who is about 80% cheaper than a language school. You can find someone 90% cheaper if you do not mind some one new at teaching. This means you can take five lessons from a tutor, usually a university student who studies language teaching for every one you get at a school.
Further, they often can come to your flat or you go to theirs so the setting is more at ease. They are flexible and do not demand payment in advance. Tutors can be very imaginative and less traditional. However, you need to get the right one. You do this by e-mailing a few tutors and ask questions like, ‘why do you want to teach me, what has been your success stories with teaching others, what is your teaching method, what can I expect?’ Now some of the best tutors I have had have no experience because they have the most passion. Usually experienced teachers are over worked and sometimes prepare lessons on the fly or without imagination. But not always. Experienced teachers charge more but are better at explaining grammatical concepts and if they are consistent and logical about assigning homework.
No matter who your teacher is you are the one who has to learn the language. It is you who has to teach yourself. The teacher serves mostly as a motivator. And someone who will be there to answer questions.
Generally, male students prefer female’s teachers and female students prefer male tutors. Many guys I know seek out tutors with the purpose of maybe dating. Most
Female tutors are open to dating if they ate not taken. If fact marriages among students and tutors happen, or more common students and students and teacher and teacher. This is about learning languages of course, but let’s not be pretend many people find love with people from the language or culture they are interested in.
How many times a week should you meet your tutor. I think a of minimum two times a week. But if you are there in the country just to you can meet as often as possible.
On method that is effective when you learn from a tutor is record parts of the lesson or at the end ask the tutor to create sound bits for your mp3. This is another advantage of learning with a tutor. You can practice with sound files at home then use it during your lesson. A lot of language is memorizing words and phrases and practicing them. This is also one of the reasons I created mp3 language learning, it’s like having a tutor in your home. Or you can use mp3 language learning with your tutor.
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