Hello, my friend! If you've landed in this article, it means you've taken an interest in learning the mother tongue of your favorite Latino singer, or you may be thinking that bilingual friend of yours looks pretty cool speaking two languages at the same time. There's a possibility that you already have some lessons under your belt, huh? I imagine that those classes actually left you unsatisfied and craving for a more conversational experience. Are you still not totally comfortable with saying your "Hola" and "QuÁ "? That's reasonable, understandable! You must be wondering "Are private Spanish lessons better than those group classes?" Consider this: The dedication that private Spanish tutors will offer is undivided and tailored to your needs.
The words "dedication", or "tailored" may have piqued your interest already. Stick with me here if you want to learn about the benefits of private lessons with native Spanish tutors!
So what makes online Private Spanish lessons effective?
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All knowledge and skills that any person wishes to acquire depend mostly on the method used to learn them, the constancy in practice and dedication possessed to reach an appropriate level or improving the current capacities. Learning Spanish (or other languages) follows this same pattern, of course!
Effectiveness will depend on two fundamental aspects: the actions made by the person that is interested in learning the language and the methods used by the Spanish private tutor.
The actions that you demonstrate when being steady with practices, the investigation you make personally and it's not assigned by your tutor, and the research for extra material that will help your learning can prove a big difference in the effectiveness of how much you're actually understanding and applying on real-life situations. In other words, effectiveness is directly affected by your own vocation in learning.
But also, the approach of your mentor, their versatility and diversification of the tools used to convey their knowledge to you, are fundamental for reaching a maximum peak of comprehension in your learning process. Using mnemonic methods, entertaining book references, movies, and TV series are valid alternatives for making private Spanish lessons more dynamic, especially if these are related to the students' personal interests. These options are even more attractive to students that tried learning using "book courses" or sticking to a strict process of "by-the-rule" teachings, got no results and became even more doubtful on their current language level.
"Will the effectiveness of my learning be affected by the tutor's qualities in teaching or the method approached by them?"
The personal qualities that private Spanish tutors possess, like charisma, patience, kindness, sense of humor, empathy, intellect or rigor, will be more or less effective totally depending on the person who wishes to receive their knowledge. Honestly, in many cases, a kind of "study chemistry" will be created a lot faster with certain people than with others, with which may turn in an awkward learning experience, making classes pretty uncomfortable and the acquisition of actual knowledge completely ineffective.
For this reason, the personal qualities of a mentor should not be their only tools. A tutor may have a deep vocation for teaching even if they are not a teacher by profession, something that would allow them to naturally unwind at the moment of teaching a private Spanish lesson to each of their students.
Many times, aptitude and vocation are not enough. This is frequently recurrent with those students that are considered a "challenge to teach" by their mentors, whether because they know nothing at all about the language, or because they find it difficult to comprehend with the traditional teaching methods.
This is when different tools play a role to make this challenge achievable. The usage of movie fragments, music, phrases from books, puppet plays, table games, video games, and so many others, is nowadays a pretty popular mean to help students taking an interest in what they're learning and motivating them to keep doing so. There are countless tools that enable an optimization of the comprehension level in the students, which evidently enacts a higher rate of uptake of the lessons, increasing the effectiveness of the lesson in this way.
New and unique approaches in language teaching!
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The traditional teaching methods, although believed to be outdated by some, still have a big importance and undeniable benefits. The main problems they could present are the fact of being too theoretical and impractical in many senses. Though most students may understand the content, when putting the learning in practice they still find themselves insecure and scared to commit mistakes.
With private Spanish lessons nowadays, this fear is greatly diminished, with students understanding that making mistakes is totally valid and even beneficial, in the sense that their tutors can indicate what is the correct path to follow if they are able to recognize where a student is lacking some guidance!
Because there are no strict plans to follow with their teaching method, as these are formed in accordance with what a student needs, private Spanish tutors can suggest the usage of different sources or materials to innovate the class and keep the interest in learning rising. And this is because they know that when doing relaxing and enjoyable activities, you can learn the language subconsciously with modern Spanish teaching strategies!
Are you a fan of gaming? Maybe not so much, but everyone enjoys some good flicks! Oh, you don't? But you need to eat, I bet! Try cooking something following a recipe tutorial in Spanish! After eating, you could try some word games with your Spanish speaking friends, like The Hangman! Or you could give a chance to sing karaoke with your favorite Spanish songs. There is a myriad of options that your private tutor could suggest if you share your hobbies and passions with them!
Do I need to hire a native Spanish tutor?
In the particular case of private Spanish lessons, the famous saying of 'The cobbler should stick to his last" is adequate to this situation. A native Spanish tutor is an incredibly convenient option for reaching fluency in this language, as speaking Spanish is part of their nature, the person they are as a whole, strongly engraved in them with their culture and common sense. Phrasing, argot and particular words would be a piece of cake for them, and even more so if they value the different accents and expressions of each Spanish-speaking country.
Another important aspect to have in account is exactly that: the cultural knowledge about each Spanish-speaking region that a private Spanish tutor may possess. In this way, your mentor may offer classes not only focused on the subjects of grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary of this language (essential pillars in any language learning content), but they can also share countless topics that may inspire even greater interest in you for the Spanish language and Hispanic culture, for example.
These tutors may talk to you about things like their own experiences, cultural information about the typical mores of their region, gastronomical variety, musical diversity, tourist spots, and so many other topics. This aspect is something that group classes may lack because of a teacher's focus on being impartial and equitable with the taught materials, using a more generic approach, and therefore tending to a traditional method, therefore making private lessons better than group classes in this sense.
"Are you saying that I shouldn't hire a non-native Spanish speaker to learn?"
Not at all! Hiring a non-native Spanish speaker has its own benefits too! It all depends on your aims in learning Spanish. While native Spanish tutors are familiar and comfortable with the peculiarities of their mother language and will have their natural accent, sometimes they might not be strong in the semantics or grammar, because they "know what to say as part of a natural skill" but not because they completely understand why that is. If you aren't worried about that and what you want is to be able to communicate comfortably with other Spanish-speakers, then this is nothing to worry about.
But there are also very talented and dedicated non-native speakers that have the necessary skills to teach many subjects in Spanish! If you're natives of the same language then these tutors may pinpoint easier where you could struggle when learning as they lived that same experience too. Also, if you hit a wall because of a particular concept you find hard to understand, there's the possibility that they found that same obstacle and will share many techniques they used when surpassing it.
In general, whether you prefer a native or non-native Spanish tutor is up to your personal preference, take a moment to figure out what your priorities are and go from there.
You're the star of your private Spanish lessons!
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This is a situation where you should make the most of it. The attention of a tutor in private Spanish lessons will be directed only to your improvement. You may be scared of criticism but a native Spanish speaker perfectly understands your self-consciousness on trying to speak a new language: they went through that same experience when learning English.
As they can empathize with your feelings, they will most likely raise your confidence in each class while still being focused on your next milestone. A good private Spanish tutor has the particular and individual aim of helping each of his or her students, at a pace that is most appropriate, to reach their goals for being fluent in Spanish.
I hope you're feeling excited about learning! The benefits of private Spanish tuition are proving to be very appealing nowadays, and even more if the student is being offered the right program for their needs. Effectiveness of learning increases because of customization: each student has different needs and pain points, so adjusting the fundamentals of a lesson to better adapt to these cases is amazingly beneficial for their practical understanding.
If you're preparing for some tests in Spanish proficiency as a second language, having a private tutor is undeniably a great opportunity to ace it! As the attention is focused on your actual needs, weaknesses or points you need to review constantly on can be identified easier, so practice sheets and homework, in general, will be developed for you to conquer these challenges!
Moreover, the flexibility in place and time is a major improvement, because with online private Spanish lessons you can schedule classes whenever and wherever the most appropriate for your needs. This is why it's no surprise that the number of people booking online private classes is steadily growing!
All in all
Hiring private Spanish tutors makes a lot of sense! If you're especially interested in the cultural immersion, listening to your favorite music, watching interesting series or movies, playing new games or simply chatting and meeting new people with different traditions and lifestyles, a native Spanish speaking tutor is a great choice!
Go ahead and look at your options. Research the best Spanish tutoring companies. If you're interested in meeting a native Spanish speaker today, please take a look at Spanish55. We offer you a great experience filled with positive results because of the teaching methodologies and quality we provide in our private Spanish lessons. Our team is 100% qualified to help you learn Spanish as a second language. We can also share a vast knowledge of culture and values from the Hispanic culture.
It is our aim is to make you feel comfortable when encountering Spanish, expect to feel motivated from Day 1! You'll get hooked and start to breathe, eat and sleep with this language on your mind!
Effectiveness in your learning process is a major goal for Spanish55, and to prove this we offer a free 55-minute Skype consultation where you can meet a tutor and learn why this is the best method for speaking confidently and fluently. You can expect to have a clear plan by the end of the first call! Give private Spanish lessons a try.
Need help picking a Spanish tutor?
Watch the video below, do your research and hire a tutor that will take you to the finish line!
