Why learn a language with a language tutor?

“I always start strong with language learning, but then life gets in the way…”, “I keep telling myself I’ll practice every day, but somehow I never manage to.” Consistency is key in language learning. Let’s speak about how to bee consistent and persistent in your objective to learn a language.

The PROBLEM with not being persistent is:
Without consistency, your learning progress slows down and a sense of accomplishment is never there. You lose motivation and drop the learning at all.

IF THERE IS NO CONSISTENCY, then you:

– don’t progress in language acquisition,
– feel frustrated or disappointed with the process and yourself,
– miss opportunities (career opportunities, networking, knowledge, etc),
– lose motivation and confidence (which affects your self-perception in other areas),
– develop limiting beliefs (“I am not good at ..”),
– feel like you’ve wasted time and effort (learned helplessness).

The SOLUTION is:
Build habits that will help you learn a language. As simple as that!

Easy to say, not so easy to do. If it was easy, everyone could do it and learn a language quickly and effortlessly. That’s the reason why many people who are serious about a language learning, hire a language tutor and (on the higher language level) a language coach.

How a language tutor helps you stick to a habit to learn a language

1. Start small
Make the initial goal so easy you can’t say no. Book a trial lesson with your language tutor.

Remember – every long journey starts with the first step. A language tutor will help you make this first step.

2. Use triggers.
Identify your old cues and patterns to learn and adapt your desired habit to your situation. We all used to attend school. This is a trigger that everyone has in their subconscious memory. Use that. Imagine that’s a must.

Attach your language learning to an existing habit or routine. Let’s say, devote 30 minutes for reading in your target language during your morning coffee on Saturdays and Sundays.

A professional language coach will help you work out the routine and strategy for your language learning.

3. Track your progress
Use a journal, app, or calendar to mark each day you practice. Tracking the progress can gamify the process and make it more engaging. Apps are not always working well for everyone – they are all very generic. A language tutor will help you create a system of progress tracking, taking into consideration your individual language objectives and goals.

4. Reward yourself
Set up a reward system for when you meet your language learning goals. You can be creative and invent a rewarding system/celebration for your small achievements. A great language coach will guide you in opening up your creativity in this respect.

5. Create accountability
Share your goals with a friend or a study partner. Having someone to check in with will increase your commitment. A personal language tutor, trainer or coach will be your excellent companion to support you and to check on your accountability.

Why learn a language if I speak good English

Did you know that if you’re learning a foreign language, you’re strengthening your skills of creativity? Essentially, any task or process can be creative. You are constantly being creative while learning a new language.

While practicing the language and taking your sessions with a language tutor you learn to brainstorm with limited resources.

Here’s HOW a great language tutor or coach helps you be creative

✅ YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY
There are countless ways to express the same idea. And learning a language forces us to choose different paths and think more divergently. By your language tutor or coach you’re constantly challenged to find solutions to express your ideas. Also, you’re working on the ability to think outside of the box and make new connections, which is a creative soft skill.

✅ YOU CREATE NEW SOLUTIONS
With language learning, we’re often forced to express our ideas with a limited range of vocabulary and grammar. It’s a form of brainstorming with limited resources. Using limitations or restrictions can actually boost your creativity by forcing you to think out of the box and search for solutions.

✅ YOU EXPERIMENT
Language sessions with a good language tutor involve a lot of experimentation with new words, expressions and nuances. Creativity involves a lot of using imagination, trying and having fun.

✅ YOU FIND WAYS TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES
Learning can be stressful and requires the right mindset. Language learning with a good and professional language coach builds confidence and strengthens growth mindset thinking. You learn to get over challenges. In many ways, creativity is the same.

✅ YOU EXPRESS YOURSELF
We all have a certain style and nuance in the way we speak. It’s attached to our personality. Maybe we’re more comedic or sarcastic. Or maybe we tend to be more analytical or academic. Language is a form of self-expression. And self-expression is a form of creativity.

A language tutor is your faithful companion. Supportive, challenging, inspiring and trustful. With a great language tutor you will never feel alone, dissapointed or discouraged on your journey of a language learning.

One-On-One Language Classes Are Tailored To You

Everybody has their own learning style – in fact there are four basic learning styles.  Some take in information more easily from visuals, others by speaking or thinking things over logically. Professional language tutors are trained to identify a learner’s individual style and mix all of these together while making focus on those that are most efficient for you.

When you take a course with a group, it means is that roughly 85% of what they teach is not presented in a way that suits your preferred learning style. Your personal language trainer and tutor will adjust that to your individual style and there is no doubt this would maximise your progress. And this is exactly what a private foreign language tutor does.

Even better, they customise the syllabus to help you meet your goals. Maybe you need to brush up on formal language for writing emails at work. Or it might be that you want to work on specific language skills for travelling. Some people need academic language skills (academic writing or presentation) to study abroad. Or may be you want to learn a language of your fiancee and to say “I love You” in their mother tongue.

Whatever your motivation for learning a second language, your private language tutor will base the course on it and adapt it according to your learning pace.

Why language apps and robots can not replace a human language tutor

Nowadays there are plenty digital options to learn a language independently, without a teacher. Right? So, let’s see why robots can’t replace human tutors.
Here is what a human language tutor CAN do that a robot tutor CAN’T:

Artificial Intelligence is transforming education by making it 24/7 accessible, personalized, and effective. But can you learn a language with a robot?

We asked ChatGPT about it:
😎 Us – ChatGPT I want you to help me learn a language. What is something that a human tutor can give me that you can’t?
🤖 ChatGPT – as an AI language model, there are several things that a human language tutor can provide that I cannot …

📍 Dynamic and Creative real-time interaction:

Tutors make learning fun and easy. They create dynamic and creative lessons and play games and activities. Although AI applies gamification techniques, they differ from what human interaction can offer.

📍 Engaging conversations :

Tutors help people create real-life conversation scenarios. You talk to each other and pretend to be in a specific situation, like in a play. You talk without planning, be spontaneous, speak fast or slow, react, and explain your ideas right away.

📍 Pedagogy and Methodology:

Human tutors use powerful pedagogical language teaching techniques. They understand the psychological aspects of language learning and explain complicated ideas through analogy and association. Language tutors get certified by organizations like TESOL Association, Modern Language Association, and some others. Progressive language tutors learn how to apply elements of coaching – they get certified by organizations like ILCA or Neuro Language Coaching.

📍 Motivation and Accountability when you learn a language

A language coach helps you stay motivated, focused, and disciplined. They encourage you to keep going with your language goals and stay on track. They use aspects of neuroscience. The best example is NeuroLanguageCoaching ,created by Rachel Paling where neuroscience principles help you learn language effectively and efficiently.

📍 Non-Verbal Communication with your language tutor:

A human can guess how you feel by noticing your non-verbal language. They see your body movements and facial expressions, give feedback based on these signals to help you feel and learn better. A human language tutor signals with their facial expression to what you say, showing you real-life human reactions and expressions.

📍 Emotional Support and Adaptability:

Human tutors show empathy when learning is hard. They’re empathetic, friendly, and kind, making you feel safe, welcome and encouraged. They adapt their teaching methods to fit your needs, your style of learning, and your emotional state.

📍 Personalized Positive Feedback based on evidence:

Professional language tutors give you feedback on your progress, emphasizing your strengths and wins, based on evidence. Great feedback in the right moment is very powerful. It helps you stay motivated, encourages you and supports your grit in challenging moments.

📍 Interpersonal Connection:

Sometimes tutors become your friends. Your language tutor is your faithful companion, cheering you and making learning enjoyable.

📍 Cultural Context:

Tutors offer cultural insights, nuances, and context related to the language. Understanding cultural norms, customs, and traditions is important in language learning.

A human language tutor will help you stamp out any pronunciation mishaps, even the embarrassing ones. They also know how to better explain and drill the pronunciation patterns, because they have studied the techniques and methods of language teaching!

Learn a language with a language tutor if you want to break your speaking barriers

Learning a new language can be intimidating – especially if you’re a beginner. The more people you speak in front of, the scarier it can be. When there’s only one person, it’s easier to feel at ease. Plus, you’ll build a relationship with the tutor, so you’ll be happy to practise freely. And while you might feel slightly afraid about making a fool of yourself in front of your classmates, an experienced language tutor will never judge you. With a great language tutor you are in a safe space, where no judgment is to be found.

All the speaking you do will enhance your language skills so you won’t need to feel like you’ve been put on the spot when you visit the country and use your newly learnt language for real.

There is one more interesting fact about most of tutors who teach one-on-one online. Not only do they have good teaching skills, but also diverse and fabulous personalities.

Get to know a lot of valuable ideas and news from your tutor that are not included in any text book.

You dive into the waters of a foreign culture and learn more about life and language in whichever country’s language you are learning. You might find out about local customs, idioms or dialects unique to a part of the country you plan to visit. Get inspired and encouraged by your tutor to explore new topics and locations you hadn’t previously considered.

In short, when you learn a foreign language with a language tutor rather than traditional language classes or with an app or ChatGpt, you explore more about the language. You get a feel for it in its authentic setting and you learn other things, not just the language.

How language tutors can make it cost effective

Lessons with language tutors online start from as little as 5 euros per a trial session. Nevertheless, the affordability is not a reflection of lesser quality teaching.

On the contrary, such affordable pricing is based on the following factors and benefits online tutors enjoy:

• they don’t have to pay to rent a classroom.They use free technology and deliver lessons online from anywhere;
• additionally, they enjoy the benefit of not having expenses for transport, parking, etc (lessons take place online, there is no need to travel!);
• digital tools they use provide them with greater flexibility due to user-friendly cancellation policies;
• language tutors use digital, environmental friendly resources and electronically transferable materials (they do not use paper, copies, and so forth);
• many of online language tutors nowadays are digital nomads, so they may live in a country with low level aconomy, enjoying low costs and expenses.

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