So you have a goal or a plan to apply to university, take IELTS or look for a new job? You’re looking for a teacher as a partner for this goal?
Online sessions can be a lot of different things. I encourage inquirers to look at comments that previous students had about what they got from my sessions.
Most pathways I suggest to learners are an ever-changing combination of materials and activities.
We work together to set a goal and spend a few weeks achieving that. Then, we evaluate what was done, decide where we are going, and build that path together.
There is a book called ‘Eat That Frog’ by Brian Tracy that uses the analogy of crossing the Sahara desert. Travelers can’t see the end goal so they just identify the next visible oil barrel on the horizon and focus on getting there. Once they arrive there, they find the next oil barrel and start out again. Step by step, the journey happens and you never could have predicted when you started what might happen along the way.
Building the proficiency you need to pass an exam, perform better at work or in your university setting or secure a new job is similar.
We can and should discuss this in a trial lesson because what you bring to the table in terms of knowledge and skills determines the starting point.
As it happens, your self study is a big part of your success. A rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend with a teacher, you will be doing three or four hours of reading, watching videos, listening to a TED talk, making notes, translating, writing summaries, answering questions, doing exercises. You would prepare before your session, and then spend a few hours reviewing, reflecting, sorting homework, noting new language, getting a head start on the latest batch of homework tasks.
I rely on just a few carefully-selected textbooks that past learners have found useful and even invaluable. What we do when we meet face to face includes a lot of other activities but your self-study is the backbone of measurable improvement. Transcripts of authentic audio and video is another source of native-like input that we will study, discuss and analyze together.
A lot of research goes into producing published materials. The availability of ‘free content’ online might create the misperception that textbooks are no longer needed to make progress in English but this is not what experience tells me. Please get in touch if you want to discuss this in more detail.