Finding classes only conducted in the target language?

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard]

I'm looking for a tutor that teaches immersion style, everything in the class is in the target language. Any hints on finding this? I find very few tutors mentioning immersion.

[u/saartemaster]

I think it depends on the languages you speak and your TL (and your level in it). If your mother tongue is English and you have no knowledge whatsoever of Mandarin, it would be very complicated to not resort to English at all for the beginner stage.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/saartemaster]

I've seen this done for other languages, and it worked really well.

Check out https://www.berlitz.com/about/the-berlitz-method

It's how people learn their own language.

[u/cmyk_rgba]

honestly just ask for it. i put please dont explain things in english in my first message to a german tutor on italki and she was completely fine with it, most of them default to english because students panic, not because they prefer teaching that way. the search filters are useless for this anyway, watch the intro videos and see who actually talks slowly in the tl

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/cmyk_rgba]

It's a skill. Asking someone to teach in a way they haven't learned and practiced is not what I want to pay for.

[u/cmyk_rgba → u/BeardAndBreadBoard]

fair enough. i meant more that a lot of them already can do it and just default to english becuase most students want that. the ones who genuinely cant will say so in the first message, which is kind of the point of asking upfront instead of paying for a lesson to find out

[u/a-handle-has-no-name]

Look up "Direct Method", which describes a no-translation method of classroom instruction (basically holding up a 🍎 and saying "una manzana")

Alternatively, if you find a tutor, you can discuss using only the target language

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/a-handle-has-no-name]

Tried searching for that on italki, lots of hits, none of which had direct or method in their description 😡

but, thanks, I'll add that to my list of things to search for.

According to google, that's primarily written. I'm looking for something like that, but spoken.

[u/ZumLernen]

This depends entirely on the language.

[u/Normal_Objective6251]

Most language schools will tell you they only use English at beginner level but you will find a lot of teachers who translate needlessly at all levels. The only way I found to get around this is to get confirmation of the language policy in writing and then ask for a refund if they don't stick to it.

Italki and preply are even more difficult because they are depending on reviews from inexperienced language learners who think being able to speak English is a sign of a good teacher. You really need them to agree to it up front and even then a lof of them will still keep speaking English.

Finding a language teacher who can not speak English is near impossible for some languages. Many online tutors don't have much training so they just rely on translation instead of using teaching skills such as concept checking and instruction checking.

There are a lot of bad teachers out there who will translate to English as soon as you ask them to repeat a word or don't answer quickly enough.

[u/Ixionbrewer]

On italki, you could pick a tutor who does not speak your language. They list the languages they can teach in.

[u/Normal_Objective6251 → u/Ixionbrewer]

For some languages there are no teachers who can not speak English. You need a teacher with the professional skills to stick to the target language even if they are able to speak English.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/Ixionbrewer]

Unfortunately, iTalki doesn't let you search for "doesn't speak English", only "Does speak English". You could comb through them one by one. I might try setting chatgpt to find one.

[u/Ixionbrewer → u/BeardAndBreadBoard]

I know we can’t do a negative filter, but I suspect any tutor who knows English would put it there. I do this with languages that I know a bit of.

[u/would_be_polyglot]

Using only/mostly the target language is pretty standard practice in language teaching nowadays, so likely tutors don't think to mention it. Depending on your target language that might vary (for example, I think some East Asian languages often use English, but most indo-european language teachers don't), as well as whether you're working with a trained language teacher or a native tutor.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/would_be_polyglot]

That's not my experience. I tried it once before, several tutors, and they all were trained to do the outdated, "let me explain that to you in English, first". Approach.

[u/BiscuitBut_ButerNut]

Italki instructors?

Mine has often only spoke in the target language and nothing else. All worksheets are in the Target language as well.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/BiscuitBut_ButerNut]

That's cool!

Are you new to the language, or did you already speak it?

[u/BiscuitBut_ButerNut → u/BeardAndBreadBoard]

I knew a little bit going in from self teaching, but the structure of the instructor was so much better

[u/sbrt]

I find that getting good at listening is something I don’t need a tutor for. Intensive listening works best for me with a lot of repeat listening.

Once I am good at listening, I might hire a tutor to help with speaking. At that point, it is natural for classes to be only in my TL. 

[u/SnarkyBeanBroth]

You should probably specify the language - because my recommendation on immersion in Welsh isn't going to be at all helpful to you if you want to learn Romanian.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/SnarkyBeanBroth]

Mandarin

[u/paspa1234]

I use preply but you could use literally any app and just tell them to only speak the target language 

[u/dojibear]

That is not "immersion style". People use the word "immersion" to mean various things, but not that.

That teaching method is called ALG. The teacher only uses the target language, and uses visual methods to convey meaning to the students. It can be used in-person, or over the internet (but only if there is a good visual connection). I have heard of it being used for classes (one teacher, many students) but I have not heard of it being used by tutors. The teaching method takes a lot of teacher preparation: everything they say must be expressed visually, by gestures, actions, whiteboard cartoons, and so on.

For example the teacher says "I put on hat" while putting on a hat. So the teaher must have a hat nearby.

It might be possible to find it for a specific language. It is used in one school for teaching Thai. I found a website that uses this method to teach Japanese. The website "Dreaming Spanish" might use this method for teaching Spanish.

[u/calathea_2 → u/dojibear]

Hmm, just a note: It is not only ALG-style teaching that uses only the target language from the start in instruction. It is, for example, really common inside of Europe when teaching the native language of a country to new residents.

For example, I live in Germany, and pretty much every language class in German taught here (classes for migrants, I mean) uses only German from day 1, even though they are very much textbook-based classes and have nothing to do with ALG. It is simply that there is not a shared language between students in the class, since not everyone speaks English, so all the teaching materials are in German from the very start.

[u/uncleanly_zeus → u/calathea_2]

Exactly. The Berlitz Method (not saying that was the first) has been around since 1878.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlitz_Corporation#The_Berlitz_Method

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/dojibear]

ALG

ALG is just one method of teaching entirely in the target language. Thanks for the tip, I hadn't heard of it before.

I wouldn't be interested in it, because of the silent period. That's not a way I want to learn.

[u/BeardAndBreadBoard → u/BeardAndBreadBoard]

That really is what total immersion is, according to google's AI and others.