One-to-one or group lessons?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Hello!
Last week, we talked about how you don’t need to visit an English-speaking country to learn English. There are so many things you can do at home these days, thanks to the Internet!
One of those things is online lessons.
So today, let’s think a bit more about English lessons - online or face-to-face. In particular, which is better: one-to-one or group lessons?
And I’m not just talking about my own lessons here. These are things you can think about if you’re considering joining a class or finding a teacher, even if it’s not me.
Advantages of group lessons
1. You can meet new people and make international friends. Maybe you can even meet up and practise English with your new contacts outside lesson time.
2. You get the chance to practise listening to people with different accents. Many of you are learning English so you can travel or so you can work in an international company. It’s therefore important to be able to understand people from other countries and not just native English speakers.
3. You can learn a lot by listening to other people. They might use new words which you can learn. You can also learn from each other’s mistakes and the questions other people ask the teacher. However, you do have to be willing to have your mistakes corrected (gently and politely, of course) in front of others.
4. And it’s not just about learning English. You can learn other things from each other, too. I never get tired of learning about other countries and cultures.
5. Group lessons can be good if you’re not feeling very confident. There is less pressure on you in a group than in a one-to-one lesson. Also, you might feel more confident when you realise you’re not the only one making mistakes, and that it’s OK if your English isn’t perfect.
6. Some people find group lessons less intense and more relaxing, whereas one-to-one lessons can be quite hard work and tiring.
7. And of course, group lessons are cheaper than one-to-one learning!
Advantages of one-to-one lessons
1. You get more time to speak than in a group because you don’t have to share the time with other students. Hopefully, the teacher won’t talk too much and you will do most of the talking!
2. You have the teacher’s attention all the time, whereas in a group, you might only get a short amount of one-to-one help.
3. The teacher can create lessons just for you. You can tell the teacher exactly what you want or need to do in your lessons, and the teacher can help you with your particular challenges.
4. You can ask whatever questions you like without worrying about taking somebody else’s time and without worrying what other people might think of your questions.
5. You can learn at your own pace. You don’t need to worry about lessons being too fast or too slow.
A few more comments
Some people think that can only learn from people who are better at English than they are. This isn’t true. You get better at speaking by speaking! It doesn’t actually matter who you’re talking to. You grow in confidence and fluency even if you’re talking to somebody with a lower level of English.
People also worry that they will learn mistakes or incorrect pronunciation from others in a group class. This isn’t true, especially when you have a teacher to guide you. I taught classes in a language school for twenty years and I never saw this happen.
Everybody is different and different types of lesson suit different people. Whether you’re interested in working with me or you’re looking for another teacher, I hope I’ve given you a few things to think about.
Interested in working with me?
I offer both one-to-one and small group lessons.
At the moment, I’m looking for more people to join my Monday Conversation Club. We meet on Mondays at 9.00 am, UK time.
I’m also hoping to start another Conversation Club, maybe on Tuesdays or Thursdays, either at 12.00 pm or at 5.00 pm, UK time, but the day and time depends on who is interested in joining!
I also have a few free time slots for one-to-one lessons at the moment.
You can find prices and more information here...
or you can just send me an email.
Your final option is to upgrade your Substack membership from free to paid, and this will give the chance to join a monthly chat on Zoom.
See you next week!
Katie 💙
It's good to see that we agree on this here, Katie: "Some people think that they can only learn from people who are better at English than they are." My most successful clients don't need a grammar expert – they need someone who understands what it's like to feel invisible in English meetings.