How to have successful language lessons and choose the right tutor 📝 7 italki tips
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
- A highly requested video! How do you choose the right language tutor for you and how do you make the most out of online lessons? Today I'll be answering those questions, with examples from my personal experience, and all my tips for taking online lessons.
This video is not sponsored, but I am an affiliate of italki, so if you want to sign up and get free $10 credits, feel free to sign up using my link here: www.italki.com/affshare?ref=l...
Blog post version of this video: lindiebotes.com/2021/12/09/ho...
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
00:31 Why I take lessons
01:12 Tutor personality
02:48 Specialization
03:50 Be careful with tone
04:48 What are your goals?
05:58 Why I chose my tutor
06:32 Time time time
07:08 How to prepare for your first lesson
08:18 My best tip!
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By some miracle, I found a Chinese-Italian tutor who can teach me both languages. It’s also nice to have a tutor who is a language learner like us.
th-cam.com/users/Fulingua
Completely agree!
As a European Portuguese community tutor on Italki, I get students that have B2-C1 level thanks to the books but can't really keep up with a conversation. I believe that is important to self study especially if you don't have enough money or time to spend it on lessons but if you save up a little bit, conversation classes are a must, in my opinion. I am also a student on Italki and even though I have a B2 level in Korean, I wasn't able to communicate "fluently".
Thanks for this reply, it is helpful to me. I only recently realized that I need to study apart from the App. I’m trying to write a little daily now and talk to myself in the kitchen or while walking the dogs with the SAME words. (I check my pronunciation on Google translate.) I’m beginning to be able to speak: it’s happening :) I’ll keep going with self study for now until I don’t ‘jam up’ when I attempt to talk. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Honestly, a lot of these advices can apply to finding a therapist as well (since it's related to interactions/communication with another person that you don't know much about at first)
Great video Lindie!💜 From my personal experience:
1) They give you a gut feeling of genuineness when giving compliments. When the tutor gives a praise, like how fluent I have become or how much I improved, I immediately have an intuitive feel if it's genuine. And I know this is true when we did the hard work together.
2) They know how to ask questions. I am very introverted but can be talkative when discussing history, culture and languages. My teachers know my interests and give good follow-up questions. Also while they do adjust to my level, they look into stretching my limit by later tackling mistakes and suggesting more nuanced vocabulary choices.
3) Balances the structure of grammar and homework WITH the enjoyment of using the language and just being fellow humans. 🍻
After trials and not so good choices, I am now settled and very very happy with my two German teachers in italki. 🤗
Your teachers seem to be really good. What level were you when you started? Are you still taking classes with them? Im also looking for german teachers
Hey guys 💙 Do you take online language lessons? What are some of your tips or experiences? Get started on italki with $10 free credits if you sign up here: www.italki.com/affshare?ref=lindiebotes
I take korean italki lesson with someone related to my field of study, and those are my favorites classes. It amazing how enjoyable it’s to learn when it’s related to your field of study or something that you are interested about. My tutor it’s doing a Film master degree so we talk about movies, dramas, film vocabulary and I love it🥺✨✨👏🏽
I did the lingoda sprint in 2020 and out of all the different teachers I learned from there I found a tutor with a Mexican accent who can handle my jokes and tangential topic hopping. I’m still working with them outside of lingoda to this day! I think finding someone that could be a friend is right for me. It helps me sink in and not feel hyper focused on my mistakes.
When I started learning Mandarin, after learning the basics from a native speaker, I continued on my own. I was like you and thought that I could learn on my own. This summer I decided to learn Mongolian. After realizing that there are very few resources for self study of Mongolian I ended up finding a place that has professional teachers. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I am able to understand the language. Seeing my progress in Mongolian, I jumped at the chance to take Russian lessons from a Russian tutor. Now I have a Mandarin tutor because my speaking level is really low compared to my reading level. With three languages, a job, and working on my master's I'm super busy but I am also experimenting with using my Mongolian curriculum as a blue print for learning other languages. I am currently testing it out on Shanghainese.
Hey Lindie, Thank for your excellent video. I love it. I did it the same way as you told in this video and I found my current English teacher (from Argentina) on iTalki. She has been my on-line teacher for 4 years. She is super professional and bubbly. Needles to say our lessons are fun and easy-going. I learned a lot. She always keeps me motivated. I take 1 lesson per week. I am very satisfied with her work. It is very important to have a goal and your lessons should be tailored for you. For example: if you need help on upcoming presentation , your teacher should be flexible and able to help you. :)
Its a good thing when you're surprised that the whole hour of tutoring has passed either through conversation or exercises.
another things i learned with italki were:
- if the number of students is a lot less compared to the number of classes, it means that most students keep coming back. it might not be 100% accurate but I also realized the ones that have an almost equal amount of numbers usually don't have many reviews because people only have 1 or 2 classes with them.
- always read their descriptions! they will explain what kind of resources they have. i ended up quitting on many teachers i wanted to have a class with because i realized they don't have the kind of methodology that i expect. for example, i don't want a teacher to be grammar focused when i know my main issue is vocabulary.
- like lindie said, watch their intro video! after a long and careful research, i finally found 2 teachers (korean and tagalog) that are very helpful, always in time, extremely motivational and give me homework at the end of our lessons. and i also realized through their intro videos that we have a lot of common interests, which made me want to book lessons and i did not regret.
lindie has many good tips but these are just some observations i would like to add after using the platform for a while
good point, thanks
The most challenging thing for me is to quit lessons with a tutor I realized doesn't match my expectations or my personality. I always feel awkward and even embarrassed, especially when a tutor gives me homework but I know that it was my last class with them. I don't want to offend anyone and feel a bit obliged to this person to keep going with classes. So I never tell it directly that I'm not gonna take the next class. Instead, I'm always saying that I need a break in learning. I don't know if it's better but saying directly is also not an option for me.
I'll do it the same way, telling the truth sometimes is unnecessary
You're sweet
I'm currently studying Italian and French without working with tutors. However, when I start learning Japanese, I'll definitely work with a tutor as I feel it's the type of language where you really need someone guiding you to avoid wasting time.
I'm generally just looking for conversation practice and am very self-directed. So tutors who prepare and have things for me to do kind of raise my stress level. At this point I look for native Spanish speakers on the cheapest end of the price spectrum whose intro videos leave me feeling like this is someone I'll get along with. Then I just dive in and try to converse for an hour.
Over time this has resulted in me chatting more fluidly with people in Spanish IRL, which is really what I'm looking for. But I only focus on Spanish & have my own approach based on reading, consuming TH-cam videos in Spanish, and chatting on HelloTalk between lessons.
I just started taking lessons with my fifth iTalki tutor. She's amazing. I'm glad that I found her. I used to only book with professional tutors but later realised that I could save a lot of money by booking with a community tutor since I'm only looking for someone to practise conversation with.
Itaki is amazing, I realized I really need structure when learning, and having a professional tutor is just what I needed for my Korean learning. I'm so thankful I found 2 amazing teachers!
Just out of curiosity, are you seeing 2 different teachers at the same time? If so, is there a specific reason? I personally was considering doing this but had never seen anyone else doing so.
@@HijabiBarbie07 I am seeing 2 different teachers at the same time. And the benefits are I get the double the lessons, also getting to different points of view points, along with double the homework practice. One teacher is more grammer focused, and my other teacher we going though the TTMIK book/ speaking practice.
@@weave_girl325 if I want to become fluent in the language and not take a test more like is it better to have it be more professional or community based?
7:35
As an spanish tutor I must say this is SOOOO important, comunication is the key for a succesful learning journey, most of the times I'm the one doing these kind of questions to my students because they seem so lost sometimes :(
This was a great video, Lindie!
I have been using italki since 2018 and at that time I used your link. 🤩 And I am still on this platform. Most times about 2 x times per week. I just love it and have found the most wonderful tutor for my Croatian studies.
Relating to your third point, “voice/tone/accent”, I think another important thing to consider is region or dialect of the language. For example, whether you’d prefer to focus on Latin American Spanish or learn Spain Spanish, where your Mandarin tutor is from, etc. For some languages a tutor’s hometown or home country is more relevant and some languages have greater differences across regions or different parts of the world, so that could be something to keep in mind.
For Spanish the choice doesn't end there, because each country has a subset of vocabulary and also the pronunciation differs even within a single country.
@@CrisOnTheInternet yup, same with Chinese (also across China) and English. it was just a quick example
Un vídeo muy útil e informativo, ありがとう😊
What I do as a tutor is different staff like writing all mistakes on a word document and also on the italki chat, I record the lesson and send it via email to the student so afterwards they can rewatch it and see their own fluency and mistakes, we talk about our day and I explain the verbs and its conjugations as they appear on our conversation 🌻🌻🌻🌻
Me encanta enseñar en italki y me alegra que hayas encontrado un tutor ideal para ti! ^_^ drukkies!!✨✨✨
Ahhh Lindie you absolute ANGEL!! I just got italki a few days ago and have been looking for tutors while I'm on my gap year, the timing couldn't have been better!! Thank you for yet another amazing video 🥺💜
You were the reason i started taking lessons a few months ago and i’m SO happy i did 😊 One thing that’s worked for me is getting a teacher who feels like someone i could be friends with. It’s been so motivating to genuinely want to talk to them, and learning more so I can do that VS having the conversations just as a means to an end (if that makes sense 😂).
I prefer a tutor who can speak my language (whether it be my native language or my second/third/fourth language), so I can ask question in a nuanced way.
I’ve never actually thought of choosing a language teacher because they were always something I couldn’t choose (at school or university). But this year I started to learn Korean and went through 5 teachers in half a year. What a joy it is when you finally find the one exactly for you! And my tutor lives in the same city so we can discuss the news and the weather plus be in the same time zone.
I remember some time ago I left a comment on one of your videos asking for some tips about how to choose the right tutor, so thank you for this video!
this video could not have come at a better time! you might have just inspired me to find a Chinese tutor on iTalki... thank you for the lovely video!!
Great vid ! Ive found that vibe is super key finding tutor! The people you learn from rub off on you in little ways finding the right fit is critical. I recently learned that I needed to do a review of numbers and math in Chinese for work. It actually took the time to find someone who had professional experience and I had them drill me a bit on numbers and how to do the feedback on the phone. Great experience, higher price, but worth it!
I discovered Italk with you, and it's helping SO MUCH my journey at japanese, which I was really dismotivated because I couldn't speak that much. I'm really happy with my tutor and with my progress until now
Thanks for mentioning personality mismatch and trialing first! That is such a big component of language learning that can really enhance or hinder that gets overlooked.
¡jaja, el último tip es el mejor! ¡¡Sé que el tutor me preguntará qué hice en los días pasados y siempre paso un mal momento porque no conozco las palabras de las cosas que hice!! Grande Lindie, gracias (I write in Spanish just because you are learning it!)
Your vid is very timely! This is one of my goals for 2022: to actually have a tutor so I can practice my speaking but I have no idea where to start. These are great tips and hopefully, my introvert self could get out of her comfort zone this coming year. :)
I remember first using italki and learning each of these things on my own and oh how I wish I had access to a great, concise video like this before starting! Great job! I also like to look for someone who compliments or speaks short, filler phrases (such as, repeat after me, do you understand or Excellent!) in the language I am trying to learn. I find this encourages me to respond with the short phrases I know and understand and I find I get more comfortable more quickly. I always look for someone who either doesn't know my native language or is willing to speak mainly in the language I am learning. I don't like to take lessons where the tutor speaks in English first. I'd rather them speak in the target language first and then I can say, "I don't understand," or "what does this mean?" Some tutors are great at this and some are not. This is just my personal preference though! Thanks for the great video~
You have a very pleasant appearance and disposition. You remind me of a classmate I had when I was a child.
Hi Lindie! I was just watching this because I'm finally gonna start lessons on iTalki soon in French! This is very helpful! Thank you :)
Thanks for the pointers. Always enjoy your guidance.
Lindie, thank you for your advices. Right now I'm learning Italian and I will seriously consider using Italki. Have a nice day.
As a chinese teacher myself on italki, i am totally agree with your tips!! Thanks a lot! 😃
As always, perfect timing! I'm taking French in school right now, and I really want a tutor to help me with my classwork and get lots of speaking practice. There aren't really any accessible options in my area, so I feel a lot less overwhelmed with looking to choose a tutor online now!!
This is so helpful! I loved it!
Great tips! Thank you for this video! 😊
I use tutors but always plan the lessons for myself. We do a little bit of free chatting in the beginning, and then get down to work.
For languages in which I’m a beginner, I mostly use high-quality language learning books for my lesson planning. I will do most of the exercises in the book on my own but also create a document for each online lesson in which I note my questions, as well as all “output” exercises I want to go through with my tutor: written exercises (for the tutor to correct) and verbal exercises modified to suit me (to practice together, thus getting far more and better quality oral practice than one possibly could in a class!) As a beginner I also do read and listen to simplified stories and do other activities suitable to my level to make sure to immerse myself in plenty of “comprehensible input”, and I will sometimes do a lesson where I explain these to my tutor…to whatever extent I’m able at these early stages!!!
When I’m advanced in a language, I will do any number of activities, from describing the plot of a book I recently read, to writing a short opinion piece on some subject and getting it corrected, or transcribing part of an interesting video or….Again always planned in advance by me.
It surprises me that most people appear to assume that the tutor will plan the lessons, even Lindie who comes totally from a background of self-study. I think that when I plan I can cover exactly as much as I have had time to do that week. I can book extra lessons if I don’t have time to cover everything I planned, or space out the lessons more than usual if I was very busy. It’s super flexible and I love being in charge, tutor or not!!!
Okay, this is a fantastic idea! I had a hard time with thinking of what speaking activities to do with a tutor and this is exactly what I wanted.. speaking activities from the textbook works really well - it's spontaneous but pushes you to use grammar/vocab you just learnt. Thank you!
You are great , I find your channel alleatory and now always that I can I watch a new vídeo of yours, thanks by your help.
I have only recently started to write down a few things about my week before my lessons, but I already see the benefit!
I'm looking for a language tutor to improve my Japanese skills and this video was exrtemely helpful! Thank you!
Lindie you are the best! 😊😊😊😊
Thanks so much for this video. I wish some of those advises I knew before my first trial lesson on Italki, since I had a tutor that wasn't for me and instead of feeling good and motivated she was able to bring me down. I am learning Italian for a bit more than a year now and in summer I was able to keep a conversation with my mother in law who only speaks Italian.
Sadly on my trial lesson the tutor started the lesson with speaking very fast and I had the feeling she expected me to be on a much higher level then I told her I am. Sadly I didn't had the chance to tell her my language goals and why I study Italian nor could I ask her about how the lessons will be (Materials, Homework, etc.) instead she told me it's better to come back when I have a higher language level. And that is absolutely not something someone wants to hear when taking a lesson and learning a language.
something i consider when looking for a tutor is that they speak at least a bit of spanish, although i have no problems on learning a language through english. I'm learning european portuguese, german, and czech (one of them is extremely similar to spanish and the other two have complex grammar structures), so learning them through my native language makes it way more comfortable
Love the background! So beautiful!
Great video that's my second language learning on italki (Romanian it is 🤣), i wanted to get a few ideas from you to get the most out of my lessons. I'll definitely go for having a few phrases on the side before I start a lesson. 👍 Great tips super duper video
This really helped thank you
These are truly helpful, Lindie! Thank you so much!! I was not able to get through Italki; instead, I have been practicing it with casual native speakers on hellotalk. I've been able to learn a lot and even if it is little, it has been significant. Even then, casual native speakers are helpful, aren't they?
Love your videos!
Hey Shann! It's great to see you here :) I felt like meeting with an old friend where I don't know anybody :)
No wonder you have 300k+ subscribers. All your content is amazing.
Great vid! Thanks
Enhorabuena por tus logros en los diferentes idiomas que eres capaz de hablar. Fue un placer conocerte en italki y comprobar tu trabajo para aprender lenguas. Continúa estudiando y alcanzarás el nivel de español que deseas, fue increible ver tu capacidad de aprendizaje. Enhorabuena por tus logros y por tu canal.
Un saludo!
Merciii pour cette vidéo Lindie, j'ai très bientôt un cours d'essai avec une professeure de néerlandais, sur italki ! Je prends du coup des notes en regardant ta vidéo xD
Ce sont de superbes conseils, Lindie.
Great tips! 👍🏻
Hey Lindie, this an important video! 100% agreed that starting with self-study on TH-cam is fine only to a point, but eventually you do have to start working with a native speaker. Question for you: any plans to start learning Russian? Not offering to teach you, or anyone (I am only doing TH-cam lessons), just interested 😊
Great advice for me to keep in mind
Personality and having things in common is definitely the most important factor for me. I only use tutors for conversation classes, and I don't start those until I'm at a fairly high level and know enough to be able to hold an interesting conversation. My ideal class just feels like chatting with a friend, so it's really important for me to find someone whom I would like to be friends with.
I think, this is the best approach. I don't believe grammar classes where we deal with special rules. While I am speaking I liked to be stopped by my tutor if I said something wrong. Learning by speaking is for me the best.
Me encantan tus videos soy nativo del español y creo que tú contenido es muy interesante, asioso de escucharte en mi idioma éxitos lo vas a lograr
I like your advice about what to look for in the videos. I think it isn’t super useful listening to what people say, as most people say similar things. I think 90% of teachers say “I am a learner too.” Kind of funny since you have to have a student account to be a teacher on italki. So I think it is a good idea to watch their mannerisms and personality. I would also add to make a list of what you are looking for. As a teacher, I have certain things I can adjust and certain things that would be a stretch for me. (I will never be the one that corrects every single mistake, nor am I going to be the super professional who never jokes, but I can go over grammar points, or do more repetitions, etc). Some things I can adjust if students are struggling, but things that are more personality than language level aren’t easy to pick up on. I feel like most students (including me) have a hard time expressing what exactly they want in a lesson. The one exception is Mums. They will tell you exactly what they want for their kids.and loudly too. Lol
thank u☺
Thank you I really needed this. I am so nervous that I’m going to find the wrong tutor.
Interesting and encouraging content, thank you. However, I wish you had addressed in more depth that moment when (with a new language) you choose to reach out for a tutor. I’m hesitant because I cannot speak Russian at all (I worry about this). I’ve been learning Russian on Duolingo for 8 months. It seems I know Russian on the app but not in real life
:(
I’m knew to language-learning. Steve Kaufmann advised in one of his TH-cam videos to hold off with the tutor until you can speak a little. That’s probably right but I feel like I am not getting any closer to my goal of speaking Russian. Have you ever engaged a tutor before you could speak a little in a language you are learning?
Sounding like a dude is so relateable :). I heard this myself multiple times. But what I got even more was, that I sound as if I were talking to the king or president.:D That's why I like to book conversational classes on italki with community teachers. I could basically get myself some language exchange partners but working full-time and having multiple other hobbies, I rather pay for a good conversation knowing that it will lead to progress. Great tips for sure
As someone who knows a thing or two about grammar and phonetics, I always search for the keyword "linguistics". If they have a background in linguistics they can explain things to me more efficiently. "it's a reflexive pronoun" or "your ks are too aspirated"
I joined a korean class in Singapore last year in late December, which is almost a year now, but I still feel like a beginner although I’m going to be in intermediate soon in about 3 to 4 more lessons. I feel this way because my conversation skills don’t match with the amount of content that I learnt and understood, which has been bugging me so much. However, I am not sure if I should go for some classes in italki for korean conversation speaking skills because I am already spending a lot in the Korean Language school. But at the same time, I don’t have korean friends as well.
At what stage would it be best to get a tutor? E.g. a complete beginner, an A2 or B1 learner etc. I’m only an A1 learner but feel like I’m stuck in a rut and am starting to think getting a tutor is the answer.
Hola Lindie. He visto que en tus videos estudias la Biblia mientras aprendes un idioma extranjero. Podrías compartir tus experiencias acerca de ello. Dios te bendiga. Desde Cuba saludos
I wanna look into using italki. But, Im not sure if I can work w/ a tutor & my work schedule. It does help that my schedule is really cpnsistant. its just half work, half off work. I guess I'll have to explore that & see what happens. :)
I taught myself Afrikaans(found Iindie early on). I am still studying it but I thought I might try some West Frisian too. Does anyone know where to find a Frisian tutor ? italki does not have any
Hi Lindie ! and thank you as always for your videos !
I've a question I wanted to ask since.... months ! : were did you buy your bookshelf?
oh and I'm also a french community tutor since august and a 150 lesson's student on Italki ^_^
As you mentionned, knowing what you want from your lessons, having some hobbies in commom with you tutor are particularly important.
I've seen bookshelves like that in Ikea, but that was a few years ago
my fear with italki is that the tutors I liked the vibe of, only spoke Korean in their video (though they say they can speak and mix in English in the lesson) and I'm terrified I won't understand their accent😅 I expect times where I won't understand their Korean and thats okay. But if I can't understand their English, I will feel bad :( lol I'm still trying to get the courage to put myself out there haha thank you for the tips!
Spanish tutor here!
I’m learning Russian. And I specifically chose male tutors because Russian is very gender oriented. I also want to imitate the tone and accent of Russian speaking men (females have a higher pitch). And also, there are some words and phrases that Russian males use that a female tutor will not use (such as, but not limited to, swear words).
My worst italki experience have been when upon hearing that I'm a beginner, the tutor wants to go through the alphabet, greetings, colors, days of the week... With that strategy all you can say after weeks of learning new words is "Hello purple Tuesday"..
Do you find it better if you have multiple conversation teachers for your different interests and needs? Or do you think it's better to be speaking to one only for a certain period of time?
Please could you tell us , how can we study multiple languages on our own without being frustrated as a high school student because we already have enough to study .
This is me! I'm a senior this year, and I barely have enough time to study the language I'm learning in school!!
❤️
Where are you from? I have seen someone like you in the UK before
I just bit the bullet and booked my first trial lesson 😬
I hope you enjoy it!
@@LindieBotes yes it really was. And i booked lessons right away. let’s hope 2022 will be the year i finally make some real progress 💪
I'm south african
I sound like a man in Japanese. Hahaha. I am from the countryside and nobody uses super feminine language except old ladies. Plus, because of the way I socialize, I ended up hanging out with old men, so I sound like a tough 80 year old. Lol
that is cute! I can well imagine I'd be the same.
I'm not at all a fragile person so feminine sounding speech would feel inauthentic coming from me. Simultaneously, I don't particularly want to sound masculine (although I s'pose I wouldn't mind too much) which is why I think I'd prefer to learn a Korean Busan accent.
“You kinda sound like a dude” 💀😂 This is something I’ve thought about also so I try to look for some male tutors. 😅 👍🏼
Are you still looking for a spanish teacher?
I highly recommend line: susi riquelme
❤