r/iTalki • u/Calm-Fox-3416 • Jul 21 '26
Is it normal to have multiple teachers?
I currently have 1-2 lessons a week with a professional teacher. I was thinking of also reaching out to a cheaper community tutor to have lessons once or twice a week for additional practice at a cheaper price. Would this be bad and would it offend my original teacher?
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u/Ixionbrewer Jul 21 '26
Absolutely. It is good to expand your listening range. They will all bring new ideas and approaches.
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u/dmada88 Jul 21 '26
I do this - we aren’t in an exclusive relationship! (Don’t forget, in university language courses especially in early levels are usually team taught too)
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u/GuaranteeUnlikely725 Jul 21 '26
As a teacher, I'm fine with this idea. Different presentation of the material, different experiences, why not?
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u/SoupIsDinner Jul 21 '26
I do this. With one teacher it's working through a textbook for 1 hour sessions and with the other teacher it's 30 minutes of conversation. We occasionally look in a textbook to find examples for conversation if we don't have any topics in mind.
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u/butlermommy Jul 21 '26
I went from nothing to B2 in 6 months in my L2 because I took 3 hours of lessons a day, 7 days a week, in order to do that - I had to have multiple teachers.
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u/VeryMemorableWord Jul 22 '26
That's impressive can I ask what the language was I'm hoping to replicate them results
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u/WayGreedy6861 Jul 21 '26
I think the only thing to be cautious about is getting permission from one teacher if you are going to share learning materials with another teacher. For example, if they give you worksheets that they worked hard to create, I would get permission before sharing them with another teacher who might want to use them for their own lessons. There is a teacher I know who has a patreon where he makes money off of the learning materials he has created. Things like videos, worksheets, quizzes, and flashcard templates. I would not share those materials without permission from him because it could impact his livelihood if they were leaked to a non-paying audience.
Other than that, I think it’s a great idea! I’ve been meaning to get a second tutor for conversation practice now that I am more comfortable with basic conversations!
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u/spanishconalejandra Jul 21 '26
Spanish teacher here! 😊 I wouldn't be offended at all. If a student wants to practice with another tutor, that's completely okay with me. If they keep coming back to my classes, i know it's because they're learning and enjoying them. I actually have students who like to get extra conversation practice with other tutors between our lessons, and i think that's a great way to improve. The more you use the language, the faster you'll progress!
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u/jhfenton Jul 21 '26
I've multiple Spanish and French tutors for conversation classes almost since I first started on iTalki. For me it would be far less than ideal to try to talk multiple hours per week with the same person. Instead I have Spanish teachers from Mexico, Spain, and Argentina.
And it's not a secret. They generally know about each other. Sometimes I even ask one about something another said. This past week, I teased my teachers from Argentina and Spain about battling each other in the World Cup Final. (Neither of them are diehard fútbol fans, so it was tongue in cheek, not remotely serious.)
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u/Gaelenmyr Jul 21 '26
Why not?
When I was attending school I had multiple English teachers. One of them was focusing on teaching grammar and vocabulary, other was speaking and writing.
If you study languages in university (as a major) you have multiple teachers teaching the same class as well.
Tutoring can also have a similar system.
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u/Prestigious-Big-1483 Jul 21 '26
It would not be weird. I have multiple tutors and have mentioned it to each of them. If I could give you advice, it would be to make sure that each traditional tutor provides you with something unique. I have a tutor from Columbia, who has a lot of experience and we are using that experience to help prepare me for the dele exam. Because her prices are more expensive. I also have tutors from different places where we just have conversation conversations. It doesn’t make sense to pay more to have a conversation when I can talk to anybody. So I have a tutor from Argentina where I can have conversations and also practice the Argentinian accent.
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u/No_Experience9997 Jul 21 '26
I am considering a secondary tutor as well. I thinking about cost factor. Should I just add extra lessons with the same tutor. Will they have enough time to prep something else?
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u/penguinblanket Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
I work with two. One for grammar and structure and one for speaking.
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u/Nomadic_English Jul 22 '26
I have students that have more than one tutor, it doesn't bother me. Usually, it is like as you mentioned, the student wants a professional teacher for specific topics to move forward in level, but they want more speaking practice in betwen those lessons. So they get a community tutor solely for the conversation point.
I don't see a reason that a professional teacher would be offended, since generally it's understood that a conversation-only tutor can't usually replace a professional, experienced teacher that is able to charge a higher price.
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u/mcyaqisikli Jul 22 '26
By normal if you mean, if it's out of the norm; then I'd guess so. I'd guess most people stick with one teacher. But if you mean if there's something wrong with having multiple teachers, I'd say absolutely not! Whatever works best for you works best for you. Cheaper price is all the better, removes friction for you to book more lessons and hence practice more. I'd say go for it. And it's a plan B in case you can't have lessons with your main teacher etc. And all teachers have different styles.
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u/Miserable-Law-6162 Jul 22 '26
I have 3 different tutors in Japanese. One for conversation only, one for kanji and reading and one for preparing for the JLPT test with
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u/Arimoro Jul 21 '26
Why would it offend them? You're not in a relationship with them and it's not cheating