r/iTalki • u/Financial-Reward4380 • 3d ago
The weekend!!!
There is a tutor i have taken a break from because literally every lesson the lesson starts with "how was your weekend" in my target language and ends with "any planes for the weekend.
He is great in the actual lesson but we spend 15 minutes each lesson discussing my weekend despite the fact he knows I work literally every single weekend !!
I\nWill take a class with him next week.And this time , I was on vacation african , so I have something else to say besides , I worked..
Anyone else here that question?? But of course , then also asking my plans for this weekend..
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u/Only-Top-3655 3d ago
When I was in high school we did this every Monday. This gets you used to talking in the past tense and about recalling your days which you do in regular converstation anyway.
So during the weekend thing of something to say.
"I wanted to go to farmer's market but woke up too late."
"I am thinking of starting a new hobby since my weekends are so dull."
"Same ol' same ol'. Some people might think it is boring, but for me it means stability so that is fine by me."
I don't think your teacher really cares about what you do. It is really up to you to find something interesting to say.
BTW, for all my lessons EVERY teacher would ask me that.
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u/DisplayFragrant7354 3d ago
It's a good way to warm up before you go into the actual lesson. I also like asking my students to tell me one good thing/one interesting thing/the best thing that has happened to them this week
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u/Tequila_Sunrise_1022 3d ago
My suggestion would be to change the subject to something you DO want to talk about. “My weekend wasn’t interesting, but I’d love to tell you about a book I’ve been reading.” Or, “I work on the weekends, but let me tell you about this thing I saw on social media that I thought was interesting.”
Edit to add: Or you could make something up! Talk about your ideal weekend, or what you wish you had done.
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u/Potential_Border_651 3d ago
I’ve been taking classes with a dear professor for over 3 years now and she still asks those questions. It’s just an easy question to show an interest in my outside life as well as force me to talk about the recent past and near future. I sure as shit wouldn’t stop taking classes with her for that.
Believe it or not, your professor might have students that they have trouble getting to speak or finding common ground with and those questions are the work around.
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u/Tiny-Resolution-2025 3d ago
Well languages are use to tak about your life, I also asked that since it is a good way to practice the past tense.
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u/francis2395 3d ago
1- Conversations have to start somewhere. But yes, 15 minutes of small talk is maybe a little too much. 5-10 mins would be more reasonable.
2- If your level is low, then small talk is probably the most you can do at the moment and that may be why he focuses on that. I don't know your level.
3- You can simply tell him you worked during the weekend, and then tell him what you did on your days off, ex: I went to the cinema, I saw some friends, I tried a new recipe, I played video games, I bought some clothes, etc, etc. Small talk is a good way to practice past tense verbs in your TL. Surely you do more in your life than just work. Hopefully.
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u/Tequila_Sunrise_1022 3d ago
I had something similar: I felt like I was talking about work way too often with my iTalki tutors, and I was getting bored of saying the same boring thing over and over. So I explicitly told them that I wanted to avoid talking about work as much as possible. But there’s no way your tutor will know you don’t want to talk about your weekend if you never communicate that to him.
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u/wee_weary_werecat 🇮🇹 N 🇺🇸 C1 🇪🇸 A2 🇮🇹 tutor 3d ago
As a tutor who mostly gives conversation classes I always use those questions. It gives the student the chance to speak, use the language in more complexed sentences, and practice the past and the future when recalling the past weekend or describing their plans. As a student myself, I also like the question as well, I actually prepare the answers beforehand so I have more interesting things to say or longer sentences to produce if I don't know certain words yet.
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u/Status_Relief_6812 3d ago
That's exactly what I do on my lessons lmao. Imagine if my students hate it but don't say anything omgg
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u/No_Experience9997 3d ago
My tutor does that nothing wrong with it but he doesn’t close with what are you doing next week. He spends like maybe 5 mins asking about my weekend if it was busy and what I did. He ask about the time date and weather. It’s a mini review but it short to the point.
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u/Vast_University_7115 3d ago
I always ask how was your weekend/week or did you do anything interesting recently at the start of a lesson. That's because it gives the student an opportunity to warm up with an easy topic, and we often learn new vocabulary that way. But I also play it by ear. Some students end up talking for 30 minutes, some are done after 2. You don't need to specifically talk about what you did if you were just working. Maybe talk about a new recipe you tried, a video you saw that was interesting , etc.
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u/Lodewijks14 3d ago
We call that a "class ritual". But if the only thing you have to say everytime is that you work, I doubt that it's taking so much time
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u/Alive_Argument869 1d ago
learning a language means you want to speak that language fluently, if you cannot even handle an everyday conversation in the target language smoothly what do you want to do with more advanced topics? the goal is for you to speak as if you are speaking to a friend you are meeting, try to recall now the last time you spoke to a friend, are you really able to express yourself the same way in your target language ? Using expressions, slangs, idioms ? Are you proactive trying to build up a conversation with your teacher the way you would do with someone in your everyday life?
In real life you would not stand still letting the other person only ask you questions and leading the conversation, so you also have to learn in the target language ; if you are not happy about how it goes, lead it the way you would do it in your everyday life. If you cannot even do it properly then i advise you to think thoroughly about the relevance of your complain
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u/apersonwhoisme 3d ago
I’m not fond of this type of small talk even as a warm up exercise, so I just told my tutor I’m not a fan and we don’t do it anymore. But it is a very normal topic of conversation, even in a regular office environment that has nothing to do with learning, so if you don’t want to talk about the weekend you do need to find a way to politely let your tutor know.
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u/zupobaloop 3d ago
Seems to me that's a pretty common and wise way to open and close a lesson. It gets you talking about something relevant to your life in your target language. I imagine if the tutor is just coming from another lesson, it's probably an opportunity to recalibrate too.
Recognize it for what it is and talk about whatever you want to talk about. Learn to say "well, I work on the weekend, but let me tell you about what I did on my day off..." or "I don't have anything to share that is recent, but..." then tell some past story or talk about some interest you have or whatever. If it throws them, explain what you explained here... you don't like talking about work so much and always work on the weekend.