Whether you are choosing a language tutor for a child, for an adult or for a group, there are several considerations that you may want to bear in mind when it comes to finding the right person for you. Here are some ideas for you if you are looking for someone to teach an adult:
1. Consider carefully whether you would be better to have tuition at your home/office or at the tutor’s premises. In some cases it can be more convenient to have the lesson at your work, presuming that you have a suitable room available. You may prefer to meet the tutor in a public place for the first lesson, but this may not be the best option for longer term (background noise, additional costs, space…)
2. Match your tutor to your needs. If you are a beginner then you will have different needs from someone who would like to improve their business language. Ask your tutor about their experience with teaching the type of language you need.
3. If you would like to work towards a qualification then ask the tutor what they think is appropriate. There is no need for an adult learner to take a GCSE or A Level – indeed, I would advise against it, unless you particularly like talking about how much your brother annoys you, or why you love geography! Those qualifications are carefully aimed at teenage learners and so some of the topics are less relevant for adults. There are other certificates available which are internationally recognised, for example the certificates offered by the Goethe Institut for German or the Cambridge Certificates for English (EFL).
4. Have reasonable expectations of what you will be paying. Remember that the minimum wage for someone over 24 is around £10.50 per hour. With a good tutor you are not just paying for the one hour of the class, but also for the time they spend planning and marking homework. It can take quite some time to plan a student-specific scheme of work to meet your requirements in the time available. As a rough guide, prepare for the cost of the tutor to be similar to the cost of a 1:1 session with a physiotherapist or personal trainer at the gym.
5. Think about how often you will take classes and how long each lesson will be. If you have little time to commit and an irregular working pattern then you may not be able to learn as quickly as if you can dedicate time to your project two or three times each week. Once a week is a good start for lessons, less than once a fortnight will give too much time to forget in between! As a general rule, the quicker you need to learn, the more time you must make available. So if you have just three months to learn then you would be wise to fit in as many teaching hours as possible.
6. Personality. Ensuring that you get on well with the tutor and can work well with them is a key element. Sometimes two people just don’t get on well, without it being anyone’s fault – so be prepared to review the situation after two or three classes to make sure that both sides are happy.
Teri Fleetwood is the owner of Language Learners and has been providing French, German and English (EFL) lessons to adults and children for more than 17 years.
Whether you are choosing a language tutor for a child, for an adult or for a group, there are several considerations that you may want to bear in mind when it comes to finding the right person for you. Here are some ideas for you if you are looking for someone to tutor a child:
If you need a tutor for someone under the age of 18 then do ask for their DBS check if you will be leaving your child alone with them.
Consider carefully whether you would be better to have tuition at your home or at the tutor’s premises. Most professional tutors will be unwilling to be left alone with a child in the child’s own home. At Language Learners we insist on an adult being present on the premises for any child under the age of 14.
Match your tutor to your needs. If you would like your 8-year-old to have a little booster then you may be fine with a University student. However, if your child has specific additional learning needs or is studying for an exam then it may be a good idea to pay extra for someone who has more experience of that situation!
The GCSE curriculum and exam methods have changed in the last few years, especially with the changes made during the Covid lockdowns – so University students DID NOT sit the same exam that your child will be taking. If you need to be boosting grades, then ask your tutor questions about how they have kept their knowledge up-to-date.
Have reasonable expectations of what you will be paying. Remember that the minimum wage for someone over 24 is £9.50 per hour (April 2022). With a good tutor you are not just paying for the one hour of the class, but also for the time they spend planning and marking homework. It can take quite some time to plan a student-specific scheme of work to boost that particular student’s grades in the time available. As a rough guide, prepare for the cost of the tutor to be similar to the cost of a 1:1 session with a physiotherapist or personal trainer at the gym.
If your tutor is just going over the same material that was covered in school, using the same books and worksheets, then it is time for another tutor. They should be adding value by bringing different/more resources. Not that you necessarily want lots of different explanations (that’s confusing) but a range of new exercises and challenges will really help to consolidate the information.
Personality. Ensuring that your child gets on well with the tutor and will work nicely for them is a key element. Sometimes two people just don’t get on well, without it being anyone’s fault – so be prepared to review the situation after two or three classes to make sure that both sides are happy.
Teri Fleetwood is the owner of Language Learners and has been providing French and German tutoring to children from age 5 upwards for more than 16 years. Her students consistently exceed expectations at GCSE and A Level through a careful mixture of topic and grammar work as well as a keen attention to exam technique. Language Learners offers in-person tutoring as well as online sessions.
Learning a language involves so many different skills. You may be feeling daunted by the grammar involved in being able to describe things in the past, present AND future, or by different genders for different nouns. One fact that you really cannot avoid though, is that you will need to learn vocabulary at some point. If, like me, that brings back memories of sitting in front of an exercise book with a list of 20 words and trying desperately to memorise them before Monday’s test, then this may not be your favourite task.
The good news is that there are many different ways to learn and that you should be able to squeeze one or two of them into your routine.
Here are 10 tips for learning vocabulary:
Write it down. It seems obvious, but however sure you are that you will remember that “un éclair” is French for “lightning bolt” the chances are that you will soon forget as you focus instead on your next meeting or to-do list. Even better – spend time each week using those new words in a sentence so that you can practice context.
Keep a notebook handy so that you can refer to your lists and add to them whenever you have a spare moment.
When you write down a word, make sure that you include relevant grammatical information too. For some languages the gender of a noun is very important, for verbs it may be the past participle.
“Little and often” is best. The process of moving information from short term memory to long term memory is best achieved by regular practice. You can’t learn to play a musical instrument by doing one four-hour mammoth session per month and the same applies to languages. 10 minutes vocabulary practice 3-4 times per week is better than half an hour the night before your next class!
Keep this week’s vocabulary in an obvious place so you can review it regularly. Maybe that is by the kettle so you re-read it every time you make a cup of tea. Alternatively, maybe by the bathroom mirror so you see it as you clean your teeth. Whatever works for you.
Consider using apps and online resources to help. Programmes such as DuoLingo or their offshoot, Tinycards, can be invaluable as they provide chances for repetitive practice in an easy-to-use format.
If you learn better by doing rather than seeing or hearing, then you may be a kinesthetic learner. Flashcards may be helpful for you. The act of moving the English word to be next to the target language one can help to cement the relationship between them. Even better, in the case of simple nouns, would be to label the objects around you – and to move the labels to repeat the task regularly!
Keep on top of it. 10-20 words per week may seem like a little, but busy lives can get in the way of the best intentions. Before long you have a list of 50 or 100 words and the task begins to look more daunting. Especially in the case of exam students and those with a learning deadline, making sure you keep on top of your vocabulary learning will make revision much less stressful.
Advanced learners – look up other relevant words as well. So, if you have the concept of “lesson” then also look up “learn”, “learner”, “student”, “teacher”. If it is a verb such as “to surprise” then also learn the noun “a surprise”, the adjective “surprising” and the adverb “surprisingly”. This kind of focused work will help you to see the patterns of language formation and also widen your vocabulary beyond the simple first word which you wrote down.
Finally, review your vocabulary regularly. It is easy to add in new words and then forget the old through a lack of practice. If you find that you can no longer recall the word for “shirt” then take time to check you can remember the rest of the wardrobe as well!
If you are really keen you could write mini-tests for yourself as you go. If you keep them in the back of your folder or notebook then you can check regularly which topics are due for revision!
Teri has been learning languages for more years than she cares to remember. More than ¾ of her life has been spent pondering over vocabulary lists and notebooks! She is a successful language trainer and tutor, offering in person and online tuition.
Whether you are choosing a language tutor for a child, for an adult or for a group, there are several considerations that you may want to bear in mind when it comes to finding the right person for you. Here are some ideas for you if you are looking for someone to teach an adult:
1.Consider carefully whether you would be better to have tuition at your home/office or at the tutor’s premises. In some cases it can be more convenient to have the lesson at your work, presuming that you have a suitable room available. You may prefer to meet the tutor in a public place for the first lesson, but this may not be the best option for longer term (background noise, additional costs, space…)
2.Match your tutor to your needs. If you are a beginner then you will have different needs to someone who would like to improve their business language. Ask your tutor about their experience with teaching the type of language you need.
3.If you would like to work towards a qualification then ask the tutor what they think is appropriate. There is no need for an adult learner to take a GCSE or A Level – indeed, I would advise against it, unless you particularly like talking about how much your brother annoys you, or why you love geography! Those qualifications are carefully aimed at teenage learners and so some of the topics are less relevant for adults. There are other certificates available which are internationally recognised, for example the certificates offered by the Goethe Institut for German or the Cambridge Certificates for English (EFL).
4.Have reasonable expectations of what you will be paying. Remember that the minimum wage for someone over 24 is just over £8per hour. With a good tutor you are not just paying for the one hour of the class, but also for the time they spend planning and marking homework. It can take quite some time to plan a student-specific scheme of work to meet your requirements in the time available. As a rough guide, prepare for the cost of the tutor to be similar to the cost of a 1:1 session with a physiotherapist or personal trainer at the gym.
5.Think about how often you will take classes and how long each lesson will be. If you have little time to commit and an irregular working pattern then you may not be able to learn as quickly as if you can dedicate time to your project two or three times each week. Once a week is a good start for lessons, less than once a fortnight will give too much time to forget in between! As a general rule, the quicker you want to learn, the more time you must make available. So if you have just three months to learn then you would be wise to fit in as many teaching hours as possible.
6.Personality. Ensuring that you get on well with the tutor and can work well with them is a key element. Sometimes two people just don’t get on well, without it being anyone’s fault – so be prepared to review the situation after two or three classes to make sure that both sides are happy.
Teri Fleetwood is the owner of Language Learners and has been providing French, German and English (EFL) lessons to adults and children for more than 12 years. Language Learners operates mostly in the Woking and Guildford areas of Surrey.
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