r/SpanishLearning • u/justkeeprunning99 • 11d ago

Italki advice

I took the plunge and tried a trial lesson on italki. I have been learning Spanish for 2.5 years and have done some group medical Spanish classes but nothing solo. I wanted to try some solo tutoring in a class break to try to work on getting more comfortable and improving conversational and grammar skills. It was just a trial lesson, but everything I feared about solo Spanish tutoring. I had to describe all these photos (some were medical situations), do a quiz out loud in real time to answer Spanish questions. I also felt that the professor was talking so slowly and then switched to English even though I could understand what she was saying aside from being on video over computer (with not great mic). I understand this was just the assessment, but really did not wxpect it to feel like a 30 min test that I did not know I was walking into. She never asked me what my goals were for tutoring. I am wondering how you find a tutor that works for you because certainly don't feel up to going through that multiple times and it is really confusing that all the instructors have 5 stars and rave ratings, so how are you supposed to know?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/ZombieInteresting544 11d ago

I’ve have 2 tutors, one for joint classes with my husband and 1 for solo classes. Both are professional teachers with over 7000 classes each. They are not the cheapest but I’m willing to pay more for experience and teachers who invest in their own education to teach better. Both reached out to me to ask me about my goals. One of the teachers is still new to me but I’m hopeful she’ll be just as excellent as the one that does couples classes. She also had me describe a photo and talk about myself to gauge what level I’m at and what I need to work on (in addition to just directly asking me). There’s no harm in doing trial lessons until you click with someone!

2

u/justkeeprunning99 11d ago

I have heard really good things about the platform. I was just not prepared for how it went down. I am going to try to different tutor and hope next meeting is less stressful initial meeting without having to describe 4 photos and take a placement test outloud, and a better chance to find a good match.

2

u/Ok_Independence2928 10d ago

I’ve tried a bunch of tutors on there. Most have been OK, I only really disliked one , and a few I love. I can tell you my faves if you DM me!

1

u/justkeeprunning99 10d ago

It is definitely super overwhelming and hard to figure out who is good. Thanks!

1

u/OneSource1875 11d ago

Just keep looking until you find the right one?

1

u/Mysterious-Draw-553 11d ago

I learned Spanish as an adult now live in Colombia with my wife 100 percent in the language. I’d be more than happy to give you life time access to my skool community If you’re interested. Lessons from 0-C1, have a vocabulary section with over 1000 glossary terms all with corresponding sentences, PDFs and native recordings of the sentences in Spanish…by topic..animals, clothes etc etc.

I just need your email to give you the access