1-on-1 Tutoring (italki)

Have you ever wondered how you could improve your speaking skills without:

1- Living in the country where the language is spoken.

2- Having a spouse or friends that speak it

3- Finding a teacher or school close by?

Well, you are not alone. 

Every problem has a solution, and luckily for you, someone already solved that one. 

We call it italki.

Before we dive right into it, let us take a step back first.

Language Teaching & Learning Revolution

Over the past centuries, there have been a couple of revolutions. What we are living now is the Internet revolution. It should come as no surprise to you. What interests us more precisely now is the teaching and learning revolution. More precisely, the language one. 

Sure, people have learned languages from time immemorial. They did not wait for someone to invent the technologies we have today. Their learning experience, however, was far more exclusive, constrained and time consuming. It was also flawed in many ways. 

Imagine if your only way to learn a language was through some teacher that learned it as a second language. Would you be able to learn a great deal? Of course! Would that person be totally capable of replicating the knowledge you would gain from learning it from a native speaker? Probably not.

Here comes into play one of the most powerful tools to help you improve your conversational skills in your target language: italki.

It is essentially a 1-on-1 platform where you can connect with real life tutors of over 130 languages for as little as $5 an hour.

Sounds too good to be true? Don’t take my word for it. Just ask one of the 5 million students or one of the 10 000 teachers. 

Trust me, you will wish you started sooner.

How does it work?

1st step: Create an account detailing what languages you speak and what level you have for each. Indicate what languages you are actively learning.

2nd step: Go on a tutor hunt. This is where you’ll get a feel for what is available for you. To do that you can:

- Set a price range you are willing to pay.

- Set a desired time for a lesson. Keep in mind however that most of the tutors don’t have a fixed schedule and it can vary from week to week. If you select a desired timeframe, you may restrict your choices too much and you risk never seeing the profile of your perfect match.

- Set the languages spoken by a potential tutor and indicate if you are searching for a native speaker or not.

- Set the country of origin of your desired tutor.

- Select if you want a community tutor or professional teacher.

- Look at the profile pages of the tutors that may interest you.

They all provide an introduction video so you can have a better idea what they are like. You can see how many lessons they provided, what kind of ratings they got, how much they charge, and look at the reviews given by their current or past students. 

You can also read about their experiences and/or credentials and their interests. If, just like you, they love traveling, reading and eating good food, then it will be easier to connect and exchange on a variety of topics. Bookmark the ones you feel could be a good fit. 

In your first scan, you should have between 5 and 20. Then, review all of them to narrow your selection to a maximum of 10. 5 potential tutors would be ideal. As humans, the more choices we have, the more difficult the decision becomes. The more difficult it is, the longer it takes to decide and the less we are certain of our choice. 

3rd step: Book a 30 min trial lesson with 3 of those. All in the same day is ok. Just make sure you do all these sessions in the same week. It will be easier to compare between your prospects and will give you momentum. In your first week alone you will have accumulated one hour and a half of quality conversation, isn’t it incredible?

4th step: Choose your ideal tutor. 

5th step: Book at least one 1h session per week. You just aren’t prepare for the of kind results you are going to get.

Voilà!

What do you get from it

- Classes tailored to you, your interests, your 

- Increase in confidence in the language

- Knowledge about the culture

- Increase in social skills

- Fun experience

- Better proficiency at producing the language

- Learning new vocabulary, idiomatic expressions or ways of talking

- Helpful feedback

- Accountability

Who is it for?

Anyone. 

If you are starting from scratch and have absolutely no knowledge of your target language but are the kind of person who likes to jump directly into the fire, you can. Just keep in mind that there are a lot of tutors that don’t teach to absolute beginners. You may have a lot less choices but hey, just like in real life, you don’t always get to choose who you are going to encounter!

If, however, you already have an excellent base and want to crank it up a notch, then you will find that having a good tutor and speaking with him or her for at least one hour every week will skyrocket your abilities. You will be amazed after a couple of weeks or months at how much progress you’ve made.

Who is it NOT for?

People that don’t have access to an Internet connection, but…. You are reading this so I guess it does not apply TO YOU.

Is it expensive? 

Short answer: No.

The price you pay depends on 3 things:

1- The rarity of your language (the more rare your target language is, the less it has tutors, thus they can charge more due to lack of competition)

3- Professional teacher vs community tutor (professional teacher with official credentials charge more as their background is more extensive and they are supposedly more equipped to help you reach your goals). 

4- The cost of living in the country your tutor is located (this factor isn’t always true but the higher the medium salary is in your tutor’s country, the higher they tend to charge)

Keep in mind, price doesn’t equal quality. There are outstanding community tutors who charge $7/hour and there are bad professional teachers that charge $40/hour. 

How can I pay?

You choose between individual lessons or packages. Normally, the packages come at a better price so you can save while making a commitment to yourself that you will keep at it. We hold ourselves more accountable when we already paid for a service.

Choose italki, choose proficiency.

In conclusion, are you someone who is learning a new language but needs to level up his game? Do you need more speaking practice? Do you have at least $7 a week to spend on improving your skills? Then, there is no other place you should look for than italki.

But wait, there’s more! 

If you are a first time user of the platform, then you will get a credit of $10 after your first purchase. It pretty much covers the cost of your second lesson!

Try it now—you won’t regret it!

If you haven't already, take a look at it by clicking on the logo below:

👉 Got more questions? Head over to our Q&A Section—chances are we’ve already answered it (and if not, we will!).

👉 Ready to start your language journey? Grab our free guide “How to QuickStart Your Journey to Fluency” and take your first steps today!

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