So, I've just finished a rather interesting Chinese lesson with a new teacher on Italki. The lesson itself was pretty unremarkable up until the last five minutes when the teacher told me she wasn't satisfied with the lesson, which I have never heard a teacher say before. When I asked her why she was unsatisfied with the lesson, it because clear that she had expected to give a much more formulaic lesson than the one that we'd had. I explained to her that when I pay for a lesson, I'm basically looking for a paid language partner.
Throughout the lesson, she often switched to English. She would use English to explain the correct way to say a sentence or occasionally just to clearly explain her opinion on something. She corrected my pronunciation often, and she would even occasionally stop me mid sentence to correct me. The result of this was the lesson felt very much like a "hand holding" experience. I felt as if I was a child being taught how to ride a bike with stabilizers on. It seemed to me thatour two learning styles were clashing throughout the whole hour.
I told her that my learning philosophy is to simply use the language. I don't concern myself too much with mistakes I make because I know with enough experience I will eventually iron out those mistakes. The most important thing for me is to use my target language exclusively for the hour. I don't mind if the teacher switches to English to explain something that I'm really struggling with, but I want the to switch back to my target language immediately after. I find, particularly with Mandarin teachers, that they often use far too much English.
The thing that was interesting with this particular teacher was that she directly addressed the pink elephant in the room. I was almost taken aback, in a good way, by her acknowledgment that the lesson hadn't gone smoothly. We ultimately agreed it was done to a difference in how we learn.
So, I wanted to ask the language learning community of reddit, what do you expect for an online lesson with a teacher? Are you like me in the sense that you just want essentially a one sided language exchange? (I.E. you don't help the other person with their English in change for their mother tongue.) Or do you expect a proper lesson with things such as grammar drills, homework, and all that sort of stuff?
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via Learn Online English Speaking
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