Taking lessons with a Chinese tutor: Tips and advice

Maybe you have already considered taking Mandarin lessons with a Chinese tutor

But do you know the difference between a tutor and a private tutor?

Do you know exactly what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

And above all, do you know how to tune the 2 together to progress quickly in Chinese?

To fully understand the difference between a teacher and a tutor, let me first tell you my story with learning the guitar

You're starting to get used to it, I love comparing learning Mandarin with learning a musical instrument 😉

Because I find that the 2 disciplines are learned exactly the same way

As for the Chinese language, I mainly learned the guitar on my own

In the beginning, I progressed quickly thanks to various tutorials, some YouTube videos, and above all a good study routine

Then, as for learning Chinese, my progress was stopped sharply by the first wall of difficulty: "The intermediate level"

By the way, maybe it's also happening to you right now when learning the Chinese language

And you wonder how to overcome this first study plateau

To cross the plateau of the intermediate level, I decided to ask for help

I first looked for private teachers in Paris

I tested several but they were all more boring than the others

And above all most wanted me to start from 0 because according to them:

" Someone who has learned alone must necessarily have big gaps "

Then one day, I wanted to test a private tutor

He was not a teacher, just a professional guitarist with a (very) high level

Who wanted to make some pocket money between 2 concerts?

He also had very little teaching experience.

I still remember our first session very well

He didn't ask me my level, how I learned to play, or even what kind of music I liked

He just asked me: "play me your favorite song"

Then after a few minutes, he cut me off and said

"Wait, I'll show you how to play the solo correctly"

He played the song perfectly in front of me, section by section

Then spent the whole hour pointing out each of my mistakes one by one

By showing me each time how to position my fingers exactly on the neck to play each passage correctly

No theoretical blah, just pure practice for 1 hour

After this first session, I was completely exhausted

But I had made more progress in 1 hour with him

That in 4 hours of lessons with private teachers

It's the same logic if you learn Mandarin with a language tutor

The role of a tutor is not to teach you grammar or the theory of the language.

This is your teacher's job!

His goal is to point out your mistakes and especially to show you how to correct them

To show you in a way "the shortest way" to get the result you want

The goal of a tutor is not to provide you with the resources.

This is your job!

Search the internet to find resources adapted to your level

To go read books or look for study topics that interest you

The goal of a tutor is simply to "reframe" you

It's a bit like a compass that you would pull out of your pocket every week

You would give him a little demo of your progress and the compass would tell you:

" Not over there, rather over there." Do it like that, I show you "

Then give you a set of tailor-made exercises to work on for the next week

Here are 3 tips to progress quickly with the help of a private tutor:

# 1 Always prepare a list of questions for your tutor

If you have no questions or made noticeable progress between 2 sessions

So don't waste your study time with a tutor

Wait until you have progressed a bit and continue to work on your exercises at home

# 2 Study the theory of language on your own

Unlike private teachers, a tutor has no idea how to teach you the language

He, therefore, needs you to guide him to be able to tailor practical exercises to you.

This is also why teachers and tutors get along so well together

Because each one will make you progress on different aspects of the Chinese language

# 3 Choose a tutor who looks like you

We always learn more easily with someone who has the same mentality as us

So do not hesitate to try several before choosing the one that suits you

Especially since most tutors offer the first hour for free!