I started tutoring in January 2023 because I was already a year into my learning journey. Well, technically I was 11 months in and thought it would be appropriate since self-studying for one year was becoming tedious. There were a few reasons why I decided to pursue tutoring. For starters, since Korean is a challenging language and I didn’t have anyone close to help me when I needed it, seeking tutoring has allowed me to prep questions and thoroughly grasp the information I could not decipher on my own. The second reason is that I want to push myself further and move from A2 to B1 by the end of the year. Language journeys are not easy and when we lose motivation, having an extra push could help. The third reason is motivation. I was slacking off, getting bored, and not pushing myself as much as I was when I started. Tutoring has allowed me to stay on track, especially since I choose teachers that make me do homework.
At first, I was very skeptical about pursuing tutoring but then realized that I was getting to a place in my learning journey where I needed help from someone else. It could seem easy to look up explanations online but that’s an easy way for a self-learner to make a mistake. Through tutoring, I have learned that I was not using some particles the proper way and I was still making beginner mistakes.
My goal for 2023 is to get to the intermediate level in Korean. I consider myself at the beginner stage, A2, but a tutor told me I was already at the lower intermediate level. Did this make me feel good about myself? Absolutely! I was very proud to hear that and it helped to encourage me to continue improving. This is an advantage of having a tutor since they will analyze what level you are currently in. My tutor had me review a pamphlet and gave me quick drills when we first connected. She analyzed my reading and comprehension skills for the first session. After that, she gave me an evaluation and said I was intermediate. However, to advance to B2, I would need to learn a lot more words which I already suspected. Vocabulary has been my challenge.
My final reason for pursuing tutoring has been my motivation. At the beginning of 2022, I was breezing through textbooks, reviewing, and solidifying what I learned, and very excited to start learning new books and chapters. Unfortunately, I was not expecting that after reaching A2, I would have to review a lot more vocabulary words. But because I was solely focusing on words, I was becoming rusty with grammar. Understanding how to create a balance where I would still be motivated to learn new material, review old material, AND learn new vocabulary was becoming exhausting. However, my tutor has me review the basics through homework and introduces new grammar through our weekly lessons. I enjoy that I am now motivated to learn and review without it feeling as stressful.
There are many more reasons I pursued tutoring which I will get into in my next article. Speaking has been one of them and that alone left me in shock. Do I regret starting tutoring? No, I do regret not starting at the 6-month mark because it could have catapulted my learning. However, I also am thankful that I was able to see my learning style in my year of self-study. It has been almost three months since I started tutoring and I can say with confidence that I can see major improvements, even with sessions happening once a week. I hope that by the six-month mark, I can go tutoring with less frequency (instead of 5 times a month, just 2–3) so I can do a lot more input and self-study.
Originally published at http://thoughtsofang.wordpress.com on March 5, 2023.
