You may be thinking of taking your English to the next level or you might already be in the middle of a course with a private teacher & wonder whether if it’s really necessary to have an English teacher?

The short answer is absolutely not. In this century just as well any other preceding centuries before it, it is very well possible to learn English or many other western languages on your own. The long answer though is kind of complicated so If you want to know more, please read continue reading.

Motivation is Key

This is a very good place to start. Why do you even want to learn English? Is it because you want to understand English speaking movies or that you want to study in a foreign country? Or maybe you started a romantic relationship with a person from another country & English is your bridge of communication. As you can imagine, each of these cases demands a different approach.

It would be a quite expensive hobby if you spend money on private classes just so that you can understand English speaking movies but on the other hand, it would be a lifelong investment if you do so because you need to study in a different country & communicating with foreign people would be a daily activity.

Every student is different, so is every teacher

Even if your motivation is right & justifies your decision to go ahead & look for a teacher, you need to keep in mind that not every teacher or tutor is the right one for you. Some teachers love to focus on strict grammar while some other value your way of expression over the other methods. There is no right or wrong here, it all depends on what you are aiming to achieve from it.

Students are also different. Some are very good at theoretical aspects of the language but are weaker at the communicational ones. Some do better on one-on-one lessons while some prefer group classes & some of neither of those but are self-learners.

You need to figure out this about yourself & about your teacher. My suggestion is that if everything is going smoothly & you are noticing a gradual progression, don’t try to shake things up however, if you are not happy with your pace or have difficulty with your teacher, considering communicating it with them & even think about looking for a new teacher if things stay the same.

Personality & Discipline

Are you a type of person who do better when you are left alone on your own or you do better when you are in a group as small as two? Do you set goals & generally stick to the plan until its completion or you change plans & sometimes even abandon a project?

These are all generalisations of course & no matter to which end of the spectrum you belong, your teacher will most likely amplify your personality traits. For instance, if you are disciplined, having a teacher will bring out results faster & make the experience enjoyable for both of you. If on the other hand, you don’t study at all until your next class, your teacher will not perform any magic to make you learn faster & the experience will probably be bland & boring for everybody.

Motivation here plays a big role. A lot of times in life our motivation or goal can change our personality even if it’s for a short period. Of course having a weekly lesson will move your English language skills forward compared to not having no lessons at all but the results are not comparable if you prepare for the lessons & do extra activities after the class.

Price plays a role

Not every expensive service is great & not every cheap ones are bad however, in general they are. I believe old sayings such as “there is no free lunch” or “you get what you pay for” are for the most part true. If your motivation is right, you can commit yourself to practice before & after the lessons, then I suggest you to not go short on paying the right amount for the right service. You do not want to realise that after moths of paying a cheap fee for a bad service have resulted in wasting your time & energy which you won’t get back.

However if your motivation is not strong enough to make you consider exercising more discipline & spending more time on activities needed, no amount of money can make a teacher do magic to your skills. It would be wise to either go with a fee that won’t put constraint on your lifestyle or consider saving your money for the right time when your motivation matches your pocket.

In any case before deciding whether to abandon English or not, please check this article on why you should learn English so maybe it will change your mind.

Conclusion

As you probably have noticed it already, making a decision to get a tutor or not can be challenging but if you consider the points mentioned here, it will come to some basic deciding factors. I hope I could shed some light on this matter for you.