We all know that teachers can often make or break our learning experiences. A great teacher can make us fall in love with a subject, while another can make us never want to open a book to learn ever again.
Everyone has probably had a learning experience with a tutor that they didn't learn much from. There can be a million reasons for this, from students being bored in classes to not feeling comfortable asking for clarification when they didn't understand something.
Hopefully, most students have also had the opposite experience- where a great teacher has inspired them to throw themselves into their university to school studies by making them more exciting and engaging.
Finding a great tutor is key for any subject, and foreign languages are no different. Being comfortable with your foreign language teacher means you'll find yourself enjoying classes and wanting to practice much more often.
Whether it's Spanish, French, English or, of course, Portuguese tutoring, choosing a teacher who can have fun while they teach a lesson can help students get much more out of their languages education.
But how to know who is right for your Portuguese tutoring needs and where to look? Our tips should help make the business of searching and reading reviews a little less overwhelming so you can book your first trial lesson sooner rather than later!
Starting Your Online Search For A Portuguese Tutor
Whether you're looking for a teacher who speaks perfect Brazilian Portuguese or one who has spent years teaching Portuguese for business students, a good place to start your search is on the web.
There is a great variety of teachers that you can find both in your local area and offering online courses, in fact, the number of options might even get a little confusing for you. Every teacher is different based on aspects like:
- their years of teaching experience;
- the qualifications they have;
- the dialect of Portuguese they speak (Central, Brazilian etc.);
- their hourly rate;
- whether they work at a school or only offer private lessons; and
- their calendar and location.
Students need to be sure about the teaching characteristics they're looking for before starting their search. They should also be clear about their personal goals for studying foreign languages, whether they want to study French, Spanish, English or Portuguese.
For example, a student who is a complete beginner needs tutoring sessions to focus on the basics of the language. Luckily for them, even an English speaker who speaks an intermediate level of Portuguese should be able to teach them, making the costs much lower.
On the other hand, someone who has already studied Portuguese for years might want to focus on specific areas like improving grammar or learning specific vocabulary such as business vocabulary. In this case, they'll need someone with more specialised qualifications, which will affect the price.
Before putting your first tutoring session in your calendar, think about what you want from your teacher and what your realistic budget is. Knowing this information should help ensure you choose the best option.
If you're not sure how much to budget, check out our guide to the average price of Portuguese lessons.
Selecting A Portuguese Tutor Based On Teaching Experience
It's probably not surprising to most students that teachers of any subject who are more experienced generally charge more for a private course and this, of course, applies to Portuguese tutors as well.
If you have the money for the best possible education, great! But for those who have more realistic budgets, deciding what you want from your course can help to make sure you're paying the right price.
For example, if you simply love practising conversation and want to have a little fun with your language skills, you probably don't need a tutor who has a Master's degree in Languages Education.
Instead, you can look for a native speaker to have less structured conversation lessons with.
However, if you want to move to Brazil or Portugal or are studying for language exams, your course might need to be a bit more serious and, in this case, a native speaker won't be enough.
You'll need some who speaks great Portuguese but also knows how to help students improve specific skills in an engaging way.
This is one of the main aspects you'll need to consider before you contact any potential Portuguese tutors and deciding in advance will greatly cut down the time it takes to search!
Selecting a Portuguese Tutor Based On Specific Language Goals
As you're thinking about your goals for your language course, you can also consider how the background of a teacher can help you achieve your own goals.
We all know that language learning focuses on four important skills:
- Listening skills;
- Reading skills;
- Writing skills; and
- Speaking skills.
If you want your tutoring to focus on these skills in general, then someone who has been teaching for a few years should be able to help you improve without any issues.
But there are actually a lot of different objectives that a student might have for themselves and their course, and this can affect your teacher selection.
For instance, a student might need to use Portuguese often in their business. In this case, it might be more useful for them to book a course with someone who speaks the language well, but also has a background in business, so they know what vocabulary, speaking and writing skills to focus on.
Another student might want to move to Brazil, meaning they want to specifically focus on improving Brazilian Portuguese. This means they need a teacher who speaks the dialect of Brazil, and not that of Portugal and they'll need tips on revising outside of class.
A student who is taking a course with a view to improving their writing skills might want to do a trial with a teacher who specialises in Portuguese literature or is experienced in a situation like writing, editing or translating a book.
Choosing a Tutor Based On Teaching Delivery Methods
Nowadays, there are many ways that a tutor can connect with their students, whether it's in-person or online, through a private course or in a group.
While some students might initially shy away from online courses, they actually can offer some interesting benefits including:
- Engaging Resources: Already being on the computer means that it's easier for teachers to integrate video, audio, presentations and other content into a class, making it more engaging and fun for the student.
- More flexibility: Given that you don't have to get to a school, it's easier to fit an online course into your calendar. You can also learn from the comfort of your home or wherever you might be at the time of the class.
- Lower Prices: While this is not guaranteed, because they don't have to travel, many teachers actually charge less to book an online course.
If you're interested in something like a Brazilian Portuguese online course, there are teachers all over the web you can do a trial with.
Other students may prefer to try a group lesson rather than a private one, where they have the opportunity to speak with a diverse range of people.
You can look for a tutor who offers this service, or you can look for group courses offered by a local school or university.
The pros of these types of courses are that you can make friends with other students who share some common interests and your teacher will certainly be well qualified.
Of course, there are cons as well, which include getting less one-on-one time with the tutor, having more difficulty fitting lessons into your calendar, speaking more English during your lesson and not being able to do a trial lesson.
Find Brazilian Portuguese lessons Sydney here on Superprof.
Where to Look For The Right Portuguese Tutor For You
You've probably noticed that there's no one answer to finding a great language tutor, whether it's for English, French, Spanish or any other language.
The best way to make your search more effective and efficient is to think in advance about the different areas we've talked about so you can filter out teachers that don't match your criteria.
Knowing where to look for a Portuguese tutor is another challenge! There are plenty of websites where you can view profiles or book a lesson, but these are often missing important information like price or reviews.
A better way to search for Portuguese tutors is through Superprof, where you can get all of the information you need on every profile and filter your search based on things like delivery method of the course, native and non-native speakers and location.
The first step is to plug in your location and what you're looking to learn. Then you can apply a range of filters from your budget to the learning delivery method. You can even filter by tutors who offer a free trial lesson and those who view and respond to student messages within 24 hours.
Once you've chosen a few profiles that interest you, you can look at details like teaching experience and methodology as well as read reviews from past students.
After narrowing it down, contact one tutor or a few to book a trial lesson. After that, the sky's the limit!
Find Portuguese classes here on Superprof.
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