r/EnglishLearning • u/No_Marketing78 New Poster • 1d ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates Advice on lesson structure

Hi guys, what do you think about this lesson structure I'm having on Preply?

My tutor is giving me the option to choose from a website a specific word (different topics) that each one contains 10 questions. So he asks me the question, I answer it and then he explains his point of view. We have 50 minutes.

At the beginning, I told him I wanted do improve my conversational practice and that was the proposed. I just have the feeling that is not enough because I don't talk too much, depending on the question. Sometimes I don't have vocabulary or feel stuck and can't speak well/a lot in the class. I would say I talk 30% in the class.

Besides that I'm consuming english very often, reading, writing, listening... Speaking is tough.

I would love to hear your thoughts about it.

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u/Echoo-ai New Poster 1d ago

If you're only talking 30% of a 50 minute lesson, ask him to flip it so you talk first and he corrects after, otherwise it's basically him lecturing. Tell your tutor you want the question list as a starting point, not the whole class.

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u/carlos-codaedu English Teacher 1d ago

30% does sound low for a lesson you specifically booked for conversation, but I wouldn't optimize for the percentage alone.

I'd look at what happens after you answer. If your tutor spends the next few minutes explaining his own opinion, that's probably not helping your speaking much. I'd rather have him use your answer to keep you talking: ask a follow-up, challenge something you said, ask you to clarify it, or give you a word you're missing and make you continue.

That would also recreate real conversation much better than just moving from question 1 to question 2.

The question list itself isn't necessarily the problem. It's what your tutor does with your answer.

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u/Sea-Election-213 Intermediate 1d ago

Ask him to change one thing. When you answer, he should not explain his point of view. He should ask you "why?" or "can you give an example?" and make you talk more.

His opinion doesn't improve your English speaking skills much. It's only helpful for listening and understanding contexts.