How to Choose your IELTS Tutor.
We're going to look at what to ask the academy or the private tutor,
whether you should go for a native speaker or a non-native speaker,
and the dirty tricks that some teachers or academies will play.
Hi there, my name is Ben Worthington.
In this video, we'll look at how to choose your IELTS teacher,
whether you should go for a native or non-native speaker,
and the dirty tricks that some of the academies or teachers will play,
and how to spot them,
and how to deal with them.
But first, I'll just tell you that there are 3 industries/professions that cannot really
guarantee
or whether the results are not completely dependent on the worker.
These are:
Medicine
Agriculture
and the third one I'll tell you at the end of the video.
Okay, so then ask these questions before you decide to pay a teacher or the academy. Okay?
You're totally in your right to ask these questions.
After all, it's you who's paying.
So first one:
Do they have any IDP or British Counsel Experience?
Can they guarantee results?
Can they at least promise some improvement in one of the disciplines,
whether speaking, listening, or writing, or reading?
Can they promise at least half a Band improvement? At least. That's not much, okay?
And can they offer you a refund?
If they don't, or give you that improvement.
I do. Okay? I'll tell you about that later.
Also, you should ask whether the teachers, are they career-dedicated professionals
or are they back-packers looking to earn a quick dollar before they go into the next
city? Okay?
So bear that in mind.
Also, you want to ask whether the academy or the teacher has a system.
If they have a process for teaching.
Or if it's just the traditional, white blackboard, listen, explain, all that kind of stuff? Okay?
'Cause at least if they've got a system, then going with the native speaker which is back-packing
then the results are less risky for you.
You also want to know who else is going to be in the class with you.
If it's a group of students with all the same nationality and you go in there,
then it's going to make it a little bit uncomfortable for you. Okay?
So all of these are important factors to consider.
You should also ask if the student or academy has any references.
If they've got any testimonials from past students.
Or if you could even contact some of the past students, before you start the class.
Just to get the feeling (you know) just to talk.
You can ask them how it was, if they've improved in, if they did get the results the academy
promised.
And the second thing (and also the final thing) as for a free trial class.
Trial class is very important because you just got to taste it before you start.
And most decent, honest academies or teachers will offer you at least (very minimum) 30
minutes for free
before you even pay a cent. Okay?
So bear that in mind.
Now, in the next section we're going to look at native speakers.
Should you go for a native English speaking IELTS teacher
or a non-native English speaking IELTS teacher?
Well, there's a few advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages of a native English speaker is that their pronunciation is perfect.
Unless they're from Liverpool then it will be bad.
... I'm just joking.
But having a teacher from England, Ireland, Canada... wherever... will give you a lot
more confidence when it comes to speaking.
Because you'd be certain that they're pronouncing correctly.
And it's important because it's the first time you learn the word so you want to learn
it correctly.
Because the first time you learn it is probably the way you're going to use it from then on.
Also, native speakers will have a natural rhythm and natural flow regarding how they
speak.
And this will help you. This is the kind of flow that you want to adopt.
I mean some non-native speakers will have this as well (If they've lived in the US for
the last 20 years then they're gonna have it. Of if they've lived in the UK for a long
time then they will have it).
But the problem is that it's going to be difficult for you to recognize it being learning English.
So it's quite important.
Another advantage of a native English speaker is that they can give you some insights and
some stories into the culture behind the language.
And that's quite handy as well, you know?
You get to learn a little bit more, go a little bit further into the language
and it'll help you remember things as well. Okay?
Now, regarding non-native speakers they can offer you lots of advantages as well.
Especially if they speak your native language.
Because they can just instantly translate it or they can give you insights (grammatical
insights) into the language from the native language point of view.
And they probably know the difficulties that (I don't know, for example) Russian speakers
have (if the speakers in Russia and they're teaching English) they probably know all those
kind of difficulties typically, that Russian speakers encounter, when they come to learn
English.
So that's a massive advantage. Okay?
Secondly as well, being from the same culture as you (I assume) that they also know how
to motivate you.
They'll be a bit more closer to you and it'll be a bit easier for you when it comes to teaching
and getting you motivated as well.
That's a key factor.
Now, the conclusion...
I just explained that like a discussive essay. But anyway...
And to summarize (to conclude) I would say it depends on you.
It depends on your learning methods, okay?
If you find that you work better with a non-native speaker then go with them.
So the key here is really just to test, to experiment.
Do a class there, do a class there, just see which one works for you.
And the most important thing really just to measure your improvement. Okay?
And then you've got it down on paper which one works best for you.
Now, the final section.
Here, we're going to look at some of the dirty tricks that some teachers or academies do.
And how to spot them and what to do when it does happen. Okay?
I'll just start off with a little story.
I started out an academy once and one of the academy owners just threw me a textbook
and basically just pushed me into the class.
I was like "What? What? What?"
And he was like, "Ah, just make them smile. Make them happy. That's it. Make them laugh."
And the reason why they say that is because if you've got happy students then they're
going to come back.
And only the smart ones will think, "Hey, hang on a second. I'm not learning here, you
know?"
But if they're happy and they'll come back for the next season, pay another term's fees,
blah blah blah, everybody's happy. Okay?
It's not really that good.
So if you've got a teacher who is just always "kicks and giggles" (as we say in the UK),
laughing, having a good jolly old time, then...
I mean, that's fine if you're actually learning. But just check if you are learning, okay?
Second point is:
Be careful of teachers who just want to do lots and lots of listening practice. Okay?
One teacher told me once "Ben, just go in your classroom, get your textbook out, find
a chunk of text, read it really fast so nobody understands it,
ask them if they understand it, and they'll say no, then read it again, and then nobody
will understand it again (as them of course and nobody understands it),
and then read it again but say you're going to do it slowly."
And she says, "Ben you could kill 15 minutes doing this."
I thought, "Pfft, what a disaster. What a disaster."
So be careful. If your IETLS teacher is doing this, then you know exactly what game they're
playing.
Another variation is to just walk into the classroom,
"Ah, how is your weekend?"
"What did you do?"
Bang! 30 minutes of your education that you paid for has just disappeared while you listen
to Jackie's weekend.
That's wasted time. Try to avoid those situations.
Another variation is coming into the class,
"Okay, what did you do in the weekend?" Blah blah blah.
And then, "Now we're going to do a listening."
Bang, press play, "And we'll listen to a podcast for 30 minutes."
Do not let your teacher do this, okay? You're just wasting time.
I got criticized in the past for doing no listening exercised.
And some of the students, they complained.
And I was like, "Well, you can just do the listening at home. What is the problem? You
don't need me to press 'play'."
But then I realized that: Okay, some listening is necessary but it must be accompanied by
some tips or some strategies or like a full explanation.
Like, "Okay, listen for the contractions in this audio," or "Listen to how they changed
the pronunciation when it's a negative." And all the rest of it.
Or "Look how they are just paraphrasing the question and repeating it. Are they actually
saying this or are they saying that?"
That kind of listening exercise is good and it should be done--but in moderation.
If your teacher's just walking into every single class, pressing play, then complain.
It is not right.
Now, if...
Ah, the final thing that I said about the guarantee.
The guarantee in results and that the outcome is not dependent on them.
Well, this is the case even in teaching in general...
With teaching because you cannot be guaranteed that the student's going to understand everything.
With medicine because every single human body is different and it depends a lot in the mind
of the patient as well, so you cannot be guaranteed of the outcome there.
And with agriculture as well.
Because maybe you have a flood, wipes out all of your harvest, so the outcome cannot
be dependent on the actual worker.
However, because the conditions...
I mean, I do offer a guarantee with the writing exam:
Jump To A Band 7 or it's free.
I can offer that guarantee (and it goes against that expression that I can offer it because)
these are limited conditions...
I mean the writing exams (not teaching in general). It's the writing exams.
It's a specific criteria.
And I can guarantee that you'll learn those criteria and that you will improve, following
the Sentence Guide.
So have a look at that.
Remember to sign up to the IELTS Podcast mailing list, and you'll get lots of tutorials.
And you'd also get my email if you've got any problem.
So send us an email,
we'll work together,
and we'll get through it.
Good luck in your exam.
All the best.
Jump from Band 6 to 7 or it's free.
The Sentence Guide is the answer if you need to pass IELTS fast.
Why?
Because together, we cover the two essential skills you need to pass the IELTS exam.
Your IELTS exam skills and your English language skills.
You get easy to follow instructions which eliminate confusion,
frustration
and it makes organizing your thoughts really easy.
And to improve your English language skills,
you send in your essays to me and my team
and we give you feedback
showing you how to improve your lexical resource,
showing you the errors you might have made,
and this practically guarantees that you improve
and pass the IELTS exam.
Click below to listen to the other students.
See what they said.
And then join me together and we can pass IELTS.
How to choose your IELTS tutor, and what to ask regarding a private tutor or in academy...
Should you go... Ah, no, no, no. Start again. Start again.
How to choose your...
How to choose your IELTS tutor. We're going to look at what to ask the academy or the
private tutor, whether you should go for a native speaker...