Two versus one simultaneously

[Flickserve]

Tell me if it is crazy

Is there any advantage to having language exchange/conversation practice with two versus one? Say two Mandarin Speakers with one English speaker (me). Has anybody tried it? (No wisecrack jokes, thanks! )

[Shelley]

It might help to think about it the other way round, what if 2 people spoke English and one spoke chinese and was trying to learn English.

 

Would the 2 English speakers, end up chatting to each other and leaving out the learner?

 

Would they agree on all points of grammar and spelling etc? Or would it be helpful for them to check things with each other if they weren't sure?

 

Would it be useful for the learner to be able to listen to a conversation in English to "tune" his ear and see what he could understand and then be able to ask questions?

 

I think it could work, as long as the learner didn't get left on the sidelines because they suddenly discovered a common topic and got carried away chatting to each other.

I suppose the learner should stop this by interrupting and reminding them there are 3 of you.

 

These were just some random thoughts I had about the idea, maybe good, maybe not

[li3wei1]

It doesn't seem very efficient, especially if you're paying both of them. I could see the advantage of someone taking notes of what mistakes were made, what vocab learned, what points need working on, but if two people are participating, unless the learner is at an extremely high level, the learner would spend more time listening and less time speaking. Might as well watch a TV show or listen to a podcast. Now two learners to one teacher, or even more learners, that might make sense.

[歐博思]

Yeah I say it's useful; group dynamics are different than 1 to 1. You just have to find the right balance of group members...

 

 

 

My impression was similar to Shelley's, so I've quoted them below to expound on them 

 

Would the 2 [Chinese] speakers, end up chatting to each other...

 

^^^This is good because it keeps the language in Chinese, which is what you're learning. I changed the word in brackets to suit the OP's scenario. 

 

 

I think it could work, as long as the learner didn't get left on the sidelines because they suddenly discovered a common topic and got carried away chatting to each other.

 

^^^This is good gone bad. Sudden tangents and flights of thought can kick it up a notch to where we learners may not be able to follow as easily, or at all. This is the root cause of what I call the "international student smile and nod"

[anonymoose]

Many moons ago I went to a Chinese corner in Shanghai (it doesn't exist any more, so don't ask). Sometimes it was fun chatting two foreigners with one chinese speaker. The problem with one on one is that, if you do it enough times, you run out of things to talk about and just end up having the same conversations all the time. With another foreigner, there is new input into the interaction. Also, if the other person is at a similar level, there is an element of competition. I can't really see much advantage of two chinese speakers to one learner, at least from a language point of view, but if....oh, no wisecracks...OK, I'll leave it here then.

[歐博思]

^Good point about multiple foreigners. I'd completely forgotten about when I was in Tsinghua's short-term Chinese program, and some of my Korean classmates in particular had level 42 Chinese, but their English was only level 10 so we defaulted to Chinese. Ahhhh fun times.....

[roddy]

One on one can be pretty exhausting. The option to sit back and practice the relatively less draining skill of listening might not be a bad thing. Just don't overuse it...

[muyongshi]

One on one can be pretty exhausting. The option to sit back and practice the relatively less draining skill of listening might not be a bad thing. Just don't overuse it...

Totally agree! Some days the energy to interact just isn't there and in one on one classes, I've thought I should've just not come rather than make my teacher suffer through my inability to be present. In a 2 person setting, there is a back up.

That being said, I've only had class with one person where it was actually a mutually beneficial class. The others, whether due to personality, levels, learning styles, etc, never worked well.

[Flickserve]

It doesn't seem very efficient, especially if you're paying both of them. I could see the advantage of someone taking notes of what mistakes were made, what vocab learned, what points need working on, but if two people are participating, unless the learner is at an extremely high level, the learner would spend more time listening and less time speaking. Might as well watch a TV show or listen to a podcast. Now two learners to one teacher, or even more learners, that might make sense.

The reason I brought this question up is:

a) that I do have this difficulty with listening skills. If faced in a situation with a teacher or one to one, the other party may slow down a lot. Plus, listening to a bit of chatter between two native speakers right in front of you allows you to drift in and out in a more natural way.

b) I am not very good at grammar patterns. Simple ones are OK. I find it difficult to incorporate those grammar points into my speech. I make mistakes but not able to get a good feel of the correct sentence structure so I repeat the mistakes. Because I am starting to try more complex sentences is good, but if I keep making the same mistakes, that's bad - it means I have an ingrained habit which is not changing. It may be a Cantonese influence and that Mandarin learning is a bit haphazard (can't learn fulltime, low contact time, surrounded by another dialect, plenty of Cantorin around me). So I wonder if facing two other people has some benefit in a way that one to one does not have in this aspect.

In summary, if I listen well, I will speak with a better 'feel' for the language, right?

[Shelley]

Well IMHO if you listen well you will listen with a better "feel" for the language, if you want to speak with a better "feel" for the language I would say you need to do more speaking.

[muyongshi]

If you want to listen to random chatter between native speakers, there are a lot cheaper ways than paying for it!! Buses, tea houses and FRIENDS!

[Flickserve]

Well IMHO if you listen well you will listen with a better "feel" for the language, if you want to speak with a better "feel" for the language I would say you need to do more speaking.

You can speak badly with more fluency. You get a better feel for poorly spoken Mandarin.;)

If you want to listen to random chatter between native speakers, there are a lot cheaper ways than paying for it!! Buses, tea houses and FRIENDS!

Where I live, public transport and tea houses are filled with Cantonese speakers. Not that I don't want to have Mandarin speaking friends but you can't go up to any person and say, "hey, let's be friends". Life just doesn't work like that. I am well past the stage of active partying or weekly drinks. On some occasions I do meet Mandarin speakers and they tell me they want to learn Cantonese!

[Guest realmayo]

I think it's a great idea. So please start it asap and report back on how it's going!

 

(Though it might be rather awkward if the two native speakers don't get on.)