What do you look for in a conversational Japanese tutor?

4 comments

1. I have about four regular conversation teachers i study with on italki. I went through a lot of trial lessons and realized that i appreciate teachers who asked me a lot of questions and kept the conversation going. Sometimes, i felt like they just sat in front of the screen while i scrambled to fill the silence-did not feel any reciprocity which also didnt help with learning native-like expressions. Some teachers took notes on our conversation and created a vocab list on google doc and while i appreciate the effort, i didnt really like it because it created pauses between our conversation as they were too focused on typing. In summary, someone who is willing to engage in a back and forth conversation! (Oh and i liked it when they corrected my grammar 🙂

2. 俺の会話中の経験に、一番便利なことが速くfeedbackでした。また、授業の前にもう決めた始める話題が分かる方がいいです。このことをできれば生徒は授業の前に準備ができるし、盛り上げる話題を考えすぎません。

   例えば、このコメントに恐らくたくさん違いがあります。すぐ間違いを正しくになるのが便利ではありません。速すぎることができます。生徒はもう自分の日本語の弱さが気づきますので、全く間違いを正しくになれば、生徒は自分の日本語の話せ能力を信じません。俺のコメント中に別の行動が多分気づくかもしれません。俺はさっきに英語で俺が分かりません単語を使いましたし、inefficient wordsも使っています。この場合には新しい文法や単語が習えます。特に、俺は知りませんことが知りません。もちろん、辞書から習うけど、日本語で初めて習うことが好きです。そして、会話は始める話題についてから、日本語について会話に変わります。俺の意見でも、その説明し方が悪くないと思います。

3. I think I was personally looking for someone who had a plan going into each lesson. Like, they asked me to read a short article on fall in Japan (before the lesson) and then we would discuss it. Or they had a list of scenarios/ conversation topics. Sometimes I would come into a lesson with a specific question but for the most part, I want to show up and have the tutor take charge. I want them to do the work of finding material to work on.

   I did about 10 trial lessons with different tutors before settling on the tutors that work with. I met with people who spoke too much and people who didn’t speak enough. The conversational tutor I work with is almost like a friend. Our conversation flows very easily and it’s very balanced. We are currently reading Japanese short stories and children’s books together (ルドルフとイッパイアッテナ).

4. A. A bit of training in why the grammar or word works the way it does. You can probably find books or sites which explain the reasons in Japanese.

   B. Someone who can recognize the kind of writing/speech I’m going for. If I’m trying to write a formal essay, I don’t always need a simpler, conversational tone.

   C. Someone who is going to put a bit of pressure on me to extend myself linguistically.

   D. Feedback is helpful, welcome and useful, but not a constant barrage of it (unless it’s major)