In the previous post, we talked about how language exchange can be a great way to practice your speaking skills. In this post, we will talk about how personal teachers can be a great alternative if you are not interested in exchanging time with someone and prefer to pay for the other person’s time. Unlike language exchange, where the benefits need to be mutual, the only purpose of the conversation with personal teachers is to improve your own speaking skills. The whole conversation is based only on your progress. Practicing your speaking skills with personal teachers is probably the best way to see fast results. The teachers have experience in teaching languages and are often great conversationalists. The only real downside to personal teachers is that it can get a bit pricey. You can usually find very cheap rates, but the hours can add up. If you can afford it, it is well worth it.
A quick Google search will give you several results of websites on which you’ll find personal language teachers. Our personal favorite, for its simple interface and the sheer amount of teachers, is italki.com (we are in no way endorsed). You will find hundreds of teachers from all over the world that can help you. We believe that the goal of these sessions should be aimed at practicing your speaking skills and to become better at communicating. For this purpose, you don’t necessarily need to look for special qualifications or extensive experience from the person; simply find someone you enjoy speaking with. A good teacher should be able to provide a way for you to have interesting and motivating conversations, without making you feel judged or pressured.
Language anxiety as a beginner.
As a beginner, talking to personal teachers will likely make you feel very nervous. You might even feel like canceling your meeting at the last minute. That’s completely normal, don’t worry about it. Make sure you fight this initial anxiety. The payoff is highly worth it. Most teachers will make you feel very comfortable in no time. They are used to talking with people of different levels all day long. If they couldn’t make the students feel comfortable, their rating would be terrible. After a few conversations with personal teachers, you should quickly feel comfortable and enjoy having conversations in your new language. Perfection is not required, this is a very safe environment to practice your speaking skills.
We also find that talking to a personal teacher makes it easier to have flowing conversations, compared to language exchange. When speaking a new language, your responses won’t be as fast, and it’ll be difficult to show your wit. In your mother tongue, conversations often flow seamlessly from one topic to the next without thinking twice. But when you are not used to speaking a language, you could find yourself in a situation where you are looking for something to talk about because the conversation doesn’t flow as well. Good teachers will often be skilled at asking interesting questions when the conversation falls flat.
If you have the permission of the other person, it can be very helpful to record your conversation every once in a while. This is mainly to monitor your progress. As you get better in your new language, it can be very motivating to see how much you struggled in your first conversations. It’ll make you incredibly proud of yourself to see how much you’ve improved. It’s also fun to hear yourself speak in a different language. If you don’t record anything throughout the whole journey, you won’t be able to look back at the time when the language was such a mystery to you. In the next post, we will talk about a few ways you can maximize your precious time with personal teachers.