Private or group lesson

[Johnny20270]

I would great to hear peoples experience comparing private to group (say 4 students) lessons. Granted there is a lot of if's and buts such as how well does the group work together, comparative standard of students, syllabus etc

 

I am thinking of taking extra private lessons but they are not cheap so wondering in what the multiplier is from everyone's experience.

 

e.g. do people think its 2 times as effective. I can see that most effect for me is not the grammar but rather the more 'airtime' for speaking

 

(I am an upper beginner I'd say)

 

 

 

 

 

[Shelley]

Speaking from my experience, I prefer small groups 4or 5 ish people. This is because i find it is tiring keeping up a 1 to 1 lesson for an hour but sharing it between a few people means the focus isn't always on me.

 

I also like the opportunity to speak to other learners and share learning tips, learning materials and the general camaraderie that comes from a group all trying to achieve the same thing.

 

I like the social aspect of being in a group, usually I get on well with other students but if I did have any problems for any reason I would just limit my contact with that person.

 

I don't consider the people I meet in class anything other than fellow students and I don't expect any life long friendships but to my surprise I have made a couple of friends that I keep in touch with.

 

I think if I was at the top level and trying for a high level exam i might consider 1 to 1 for a short period to help towards that goal, but as a lower level learner I prefer the small group.

 

[Flickserve]

I think it's going to be very individual and subjective about the multiplier effect.

I don't like small group initially as I am not there to learn as a social chat. 3 people would be my maximum. At the beginner stage (I am a beginner) , I want to focus on good basic technique in pronunciation and a basic foundation in vocabulary that I can utilise comfortably.

With this, I can then initiate conversations in real life social situations and develop more vocabulary.

I would also consider small group lessons at this stage as we can always learn from each other. However, I would still mix in one to one lessons to address specific deficiencies appropriate to me as to correct these may need more attention.

Just to add, I am a believer in intensive bursts of lessons to facilitate rapid improvement. If you compare two persons at the end of 6 months who had 25 lessons each. The one with better ability would be the person who packed those lessons into a 4 week period rather than the person taking lessons once a week.

[mackie1402]

Even after some experience myself I'm still not too sure!

 

I've been in a class of 3 students. This was great as there wasn't so much pressure on me, yet I still got to get involved a lot (compared to a full uni class of 20+ students). When it's 1 on 1, you may find the teacher can be repetitive in her answers and might not be that creative with what they talk about. Where as when there are some other students in the class they can put in some extra creativity. Plus there was always a time that I would forget to ask a question that had been bugging me, only to have a fellow student ask it. Very helpful!

 

On the downside of the small class, sometimes a guy wouldn't quite understand something and it would drag the class behind. Another guy was a real slow reader and during dialogues from the book it would take forever to move on when I felt satisfied with my own understanding.

 

I'm still considering what to do next! Go for private classes with a school (pricey) or opt for a small group class which would be a lot cheaper, meaning I could take more regular classes.

[Johnny20270]

The dynamic of the group can be effective as shelley noted, but as mackie said it can have the opposite effect at times.   My class is working well, but I just need more 'air time' . Odd as it may sound I don't find language partners to be anything but of limited use at this stage. Teachers guide you on speaking, topics etc

 

Thanks all, very good points, ok I think they best thing to do is to do both and see what happens. I'll report back!

[Johnny20270]

Ok, a little update from me

 

I started with my private language teacher. Agreed to do 2hour sessions twice a week. Just did 2 since first post so early stages.

 

Initial feedback: Absolutely brilliant. First lesson not as good as second lesson as she was finding out what I wanted to do. I am lucky in that she is intense teacher, straight to the point and full on. The intensity is about 3 times that of the class (remember I was asking for a  multiplier). Totally rough guess at this early stage of course

 

I learned a lot actually, little nuances that had been bugging me for ages now. One aspect as Shelly noted, its pretty intense as the focus is always on you, not down time. My teacher forces me to speak, we just did a pretend dumb story about how to find her from a subway station, i.e turn left, turn right, call me on the phone etc. Easy right? But more difficult that I thought.

 

My brain was like a overheated computer by the end of it. working hard to about to pack up

 

After just after 2 hours, I got a KFC, came home and sat in the sofa in a trance. 

 

Highly recommend it, well worth the money!

 

I think twice / three times a week is about right with the morning classes at my stage

 

 

[abcdefg]

#6 -- @Johnny --

 

My experience with one-to-one has consistently been what you just described. Exhausting but extremely helpful in making rapid progress. There is no place to hide. Furthermore, in a group, it always seemed I was slowed down by one or two students who had different stumbling points than my own.

 

I would easily pay two or three times as much for private lessons. And then I push like a mad man after class, engaging every one possible in conversation some way or another, trying to use what I just learned, finding out whether or not it really works in the field or refining it so it works better.