Face to face in person versus online tutoring

[Flickserve]

Most of my learning Mandarin experience has been informal, online chats with italki community tutors. I did some systematic exercises on pronunciation with pinyin with a tutor and went through volume 1 and part of volume 2 of NCPR with an online pro teacher with just via voice over Skype. I estimate I am around hsk4 level but probably stronger than a lot of people with respect to listening and pronunciation.

 

I have been thinking about getting a personal tutor for face to face learning. The expense is much greater. Having someone in front of me would be a different experience and possibly take me higher and faster. I don't get much direct usage with Mandarin in daily life.

 

I am wondering what should I be looking for in a across the table setting that an online lesson cannot provide.

 

My weak point would be my grammar and vocabulary.

 

I have been given a tutor contact from the teaching unit of a reputable university. The person comes highly recommended and works  in the teaching and research unit of Chinese language. Lives in my area so that is convenient for both of us.

 

I'm pretty tempted to do sessions and put myself forward as a guinea pig for novel techniques (if any).

 

Is there anything that I can do to get more from each session?

[happy_hyaena]

Just out of curiosity, why do you think having a teacher face2face would be that much more educational vs online tutoring?

[edelweis]

 

The teacher can smack your fingers with a ruler every time you get the tones wrong ?

 

Maybe you can roleplay some situations (job interview, bank transaction...) adding movement and gestures.

Maybe correction of handwritten assignments (and character stroke order) would be easier face to face.

And maybe you could have a field lesson in the Chinese quarter or a Chinese restaurant or any other place that contain vocabulary you are interested in learning.

[abcdefg]

Towards the 

22 hours ago, Flickserve said:

 

I am wondering what should I be looking for in a across the table setting that an online lesson cannot provide.

 

Towards the end of an intense hour of "teaching-type" conversation over Skype or similar my eyes glaze over, my ears buzz and twitch, and I hold my head in my hands, wondering if the agony is really worth it. If it's live and in-person instead, I soldier on more valiantly just to not to lose face. I'm not as tempted to accept a "mini-defeat," just disengage and tune out. It's easier to fight off that nasty wave of existential despair.  

 

Also in a face-to-face conversation you learn to read and imitate native body language. You pick up certain gestures that native speakers use to accompany set phrases. I find that helpful when I go to use the new things I've learned in "real life." You assimilate little things that can help make you "authentic." For example I now count to three in the Chinese way instead of in the American way.

 

Spoiler here, in case you don' t know about that. 

 

Spoiler

Use the last three fingers of your hand (pinky plus two) instead of first three (thumb plus two.)

 

Face-to-face you can pick up little "extras" that make daily communication more likely to succeed. These are things which are seldom found in textbooks. One example that comes to mind even though it happened over ten years ago was a shopping trip with one of my teachers. I was helping out with an "end of term" class party. 

 

We were trying to find a list of items in a five-story Walmart that was not very logically organized. It involved lots of asking "Where is this?" and "Where is that.?"

 

My teacher, a local person, took the lead at first and I watched her technique. She would approach one of the shop assistants 售货员 and start with what seemed like an overly lengthy introductory spiel. "你好美女，请问一下，我找不到一次性筷子。可以告诉我他们在那里？“ Or something along those lines. 

 

My own inclination would have been to march right up and ask "Can you tell me where are the disposable chopsticks?" It's what I usually did when shopping there on my own. 

 

The other "extra stuff" at the start, my teacher later explained, gave the girl, who was probably daydreaming and/or playing with her phone, a chance to collect her wits and get focused on the problem at hand. It had a better "yield," a better "likelihood of success" than my instinctive technique. Her way had a smaller chance of a shrug and an "I don't know" reply, or a vague wave accompanied by "over there." Her way resulted in a shop clerk who was engaged and would set off together with us trying to find the elusive item. Her way was more likely to result in forming a "temporary them-and-us team" to collaborate on solving the problem together, namely finding the item. I realized instantly that she was right and still copy her method without giving it any thought right down to the present day. 

 

I probably would have missed that small but useful gem had I been studying over the internet. Admittedly these are small issues; but there are lots and lots of them. Face-to-face I tend to pick up tons of handy "China life hacks." Plus I can alter the pace of a lesson and the focus of a lesson as needed without prior announcement. It's like driving a sports car instead of a long, heavy truck. It makes for a less "mechanical" experience. 

 

Face to face I'm the guy who says, "Just a minute, Teacher, could we please linger on that point a bit. I think it's really important and I'm not sure I've fully grasped it. Maybe you would even be so kind as to give me a couple more examples." Doing that over the internet is possible, but it's not as easy. 

 

Skype lessons might help me reinforce things I had already learned once I returned to my home country after an immersion experience. Might help me keep from forgetting it all. But I always think of it as a poor second to skilled face-to-face tutoring.  

[imron]

On 4/23/2019 at 4:16 PM, Flickserve said:

My weak point would be my grammar and vocabulary.

I'm not sure paying for someone to work face-to-face on these things will be a good investment.

 

Grammar maybe, if the teacher is really good and knows how to teach/explaingrammar (though arguably online tutoring would probably be just as effective for this), but vocabulary is something you'll mostly need to grind by yourself.

 

For face-to-face, I'd focus on things that are difficult to work on by yourself.

[Flickserve]

1 hour ago, imron said:

I'm not sure paying for someone to work face-to-face on these things will be a good investment.

 

Grammar maybe, if the teacher is really good and knows how to teach/explaingrammar (though arguably online tutoring would probably be just as effective for this), but vocabulary is something you'll mostly need to grind by yourself.

 

For face-to-face, I'd focus on things that are difficult to work on by yourself.

 

I definitely agree. Hence, this thread to help brainstorm ideas.