issemiyaki wrote:@Cavesa. I had a very specific goal in mind before I started seeking out tutors. My tutor and I have had some rough times, as you saw in my previous post earlier this year. (Usually, we disagree vehemently when debating certain issues.) But his ability to spot errors and the fact that he genuinely wants to help me sound my best – well, you can’t buy that. It motivates me to learn. Almost makes me tear up just thinking that my tutor, despite our political disagreements, is invested in my success. And yes, he is flawed, but so am I. No one is perfect. But overall, the good outweighs the bad. I think he's more talented than he gives himself credit for. And it's endearing that maybe he sees something special in me, too. Despite our differences, and arguing, we are approaching almost a year together. I should note the dynamic between us is not that of "teacher and student." It's more like a good friend who's not afraid to tell me what I need to hear. Like tough love. I love his honesty and candor, and I look forward to seeing where I am with him six months from now.
But Cavesa, I also get where you're coming from when trying to find good teachers. Some don’t get the concept of comprehensible input and they want to teach what THEY want to teach, instead of helping you meet YOUR goal. That's just a terrible business model.
Your tutor sounds like an excellent learning resource. There is no situation, that would be more challenging than a passionate debate!
And if he gives you that "tough love" in language learning, perfect!...
Yes, you're right. It is even sadder to see those teachers molding their students into not too efficient pattern, as vast majority of them uses empty phrases like "flexible" and "tailored to your needs" in their profiles. But only as long as your needs are generic enough and you are not a little bit different than their idea of who a student is.
Eido Wrote:Teachers can help, but only if they have a real passion for teaching and learning. They have to care about their students and their growth. And students have to work a little too; it's not a one-way street. The only reason I learned Spanish to a workable level at first was good presentation and motivation to move forward.
Amen!
Yes, I would agree with that. With one addition: they also need the skills, not just passion. Many mean well, but are just incompetent. Doing grammar drills in class is easier for the teacher (especially if they've gut the key to exercises at hand) than given high quality feedback, nitpicking the pronunciation, or guiding the student on writing high quality essays.
Iguanamon wrote:I used a tutor in Portuguese. I already spoke Spanish at a high level- mostly self-taught except for two years at high school. I specifically searched for a tutor who did not speak English. I also self-taught with the DLI Portuguese Basic Course; Pimsleur; reading; listening. My tutor was what helped me pull it all together. It was hard to get through writing exercises; speaking; doing reviews of books and novelas. There were days when I dreaded my one hour sessions. I didn't like taking notes while watching an almost hour long novela. But it all lead to me reaching a high level in Portuguese, to be able to read anything; watch and listen to anything; travel and talk about about anything. It was worth the hard work it took to get there.
Yes, this sounds great. I have never seen a teacher like that. I think it was Reineke, who linked a wonderful study about the problems of the advanced learners. One of the top was lack of teachers' experience and low awareness of their needs.
I have never encountered someone like this. The closest attempts were sum ups of news articles and conversation with not enough feedback. But mostly, there was nothing like that. Especially writing gets severely underestimated. I haven't seen many tutors taking pride in their writing teaching skills on the teaching sites.
So, thank you all for stepping into this space of reflection with me. We reflected hard on some hard issues. It helped me put those negative voices in my head in perspective.
Luca Lampariello also said something that has stuck with me. You need to set aside time to analyze your language-learning system? Do you have a system? Is it working? Do things need to be tweaked? I don’t think it matters what the system is, so long as it works for you.
You all have left quite a few golden nuggets of information on this thread. I hope others reading this will be able to pull from it what they need and flourish.
Again, Axon thank you for encouraging us to not be afraid of the "discomfort" and to embrace those uncomfortable areas.
Thank you all!
You're absolutely right. Thanks for a great thread, sorry about too long posts.