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How to learn a foreign language: in a group or individually?

The correct choice of the form of training plays filipino to english an important role in its effectiveness.

Success in learning a foreign language depends on many factors. And the right choice in favor of individual or group training plays an important role in this. Each way of learning a language has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, after choosing a foreign language school, it is important to decide what kind of training format is right for you.

Before making a decision, you need to understand how much individual lessons and group lessons differ. Of course, the main difference between group and individual courses is obvious: an individual lesson is the interaction of one student only with a teacher, while a group lesson is a joint study of several students.

“In group learning, the level of language proficiency and the goals of language learning in general are the same for all students,” says Alla Gureeva, the leading methodologist, deputy director for teaching the YES Foreign Language Center. , training courses and classes are planned and structured in such a way that intermediate and final results are achieved almost simultaneously. For example, the initial general English course is designed for 120 academic hours of group lessons with an intensity of 2-3 times a week for 3 academic hours and according to a strictly defined schedule. There are many options for individual training in terms of intensity, duration, and schedule.”

Green apple and ABC on old books against blackboard with with the drawn scheme of studying of languages. School concept

Each form of learning urdu to english has its pros and cons, and it’s important to decide what’s most important to you personally. The undeniable advantage of an individual form of education, of course, is that the student himself can choose a convenient schedule and duration of classes, as well as determine the duration and timing of the entire course and, in some cases, the course itself or the manual. In the end, in the event of some force majeure, the lesson can be rescheduled for another time or day. And for many students, this is the main advantage that affects the choice of form of study.

However, another factor that those who want to improve their knowledge of a foreign language pay attention to is a significant difference in the cost of individual and group training. When a lesson is held for a group of people, all costs for it are evenly distributed among the participants. With individual training, they fall on the shoulders of one student.

Also, as Alla Gureeva explains, “the fact that the teacher works individually with the student throughout the lesson, answering and responding to all his requests and needs, can be both a huge plus and a minus.”

“Communication only with a teacher very often forms a psychological barrier for a student. In the future, it is very difficult for him to cope with real communicative tasks. For many, this situation is familiar: a person can read, speak, knows what and how to say, but cannot overcome shyness and even inner fear in order to turn to an unfamiliar interlocutor, ”the specialist notes.

These problems can be overcome by opting for group learning, in which communicative methods become as effective as possible. This format allows you to realize the main goal of learning foreign languages – real communication.

“The whole lesson is based on situations of communication between students in a group, where partners are constantly changing,” says Alla Gureeva. – The teacher changes the types of interaction: pair work turns into group work, individual work into pair work. With the optimal number of students in a group (6-10 people), this form of education allows for sufficient communication between students and the necessary individual interaction of each of them with the teacher.

Moreover, in addition to communication skills in a foreign language, students develop such important qualities as mutual assistance and mutual control, cooperation. Do not forget that even with group learning, the teacher always plans tasks for individual implementation, which increase the students’ ability to learn independently. Thus, studying in a group, students acquire the necessary general educational and social skills and abilities.

But group learning also has its drawbacks, including the inability to reschedule the time of the lesson or change its duration. Some students may also have psychological problems, for example, the fear of falling behind the group or making an unfortunate mistake.

So, based on the above pros and cons of individual foreign language teaching, how can you determine the most effective form?

“In most cases, we recommend that students study in a group,” says Alla Gureeva. – But there are special situations when only individual training is possible.

First of all, if the purpose of language learning is specific and highly specialized. It is difficult to find a group where all students need, for example, to learn only how to write and translate medical prescriptions. Individual lessons can be as effective as possible even if the training period is limited.”