Get Top Results From Your Language Tutoring Program

It is Your Learning Journey, Secure Your Language Tutoring Success

Congratulations on chosing to attend a language tutoring or coaching program or a language class. It is an excellent step forward towards achieving your goals! Almaje’s tutors are passionate about sharing their love of the French and Spanish languages and helping you on your journey.

It is YOUR journey to Your destination. We give you the tools and the springboard. Your own effort, guided by your Almaje tutor or coach, is what will get you your results, for your VCE, IB, DELF, social or work goal.

When you select Almaje you know you are getting a tutor or coach who will put a lot of energy into helping you and who will not be satisfied with a ordinary effort from you. Marilyne Lopez, the head of Almaje Languages, has a reputation for being “demanding” and her students regularly thank her for that drive, that set of high expectations that gets them beyond their original expectations of themselves. Even if you are studying for a social reason rather than an exam or career purpose, you will find studying a lot more enjoyable if you feel proud of your effort and progress.

Marilyne’s Language Tutoring Success Tips

We know it can be challenging to find the necessary time and energy. So we are giving you here a short list of tips on how to make progress easier and faster. As experienced teachers we know that applying these tips makes a big difference, and our past students of all ages and skill levels have confirmed this way of approaching their language tutoring works for them. It is easy as long as you get a routine going; start building a good habit straight away.

Be Organised and Punctual

• Plan your week and day to ensure you arrive on time, equipped with what you need, ready to ask questions, having done the agreed preparation
• Set aside time to do your homework, research, exercises… as early as possible. There is no benefit in procrastinating and getting stressed because you are running out of time, there is too much to do…

Focus

• You cannot do everything all at once. Prioritize!
• Set aside time on your own, for 100% attention to your language studies. Frequent short periods of concentrated attention are far more effective than longer times with distractions. Multi-tasking is not the smart way to do it!
• Focus on one question, one challenge at a time.

Have a learning plan and stick with it

• Be aware of your learning style and structure your studies with it in mind
• Know Your strengths and challenges; be positive about them
• Set realistic and stretching goals with well defined targets for each week
• Follow a clear plan, building on your current strengths and what you absolutely need to address. Your tutor/coach helps you work that out, so put it in practice. Review your progress each week, tick those goal boxes, congratulate yourself and move to the next step
• Stay consistent. Regular frequent focused short study periods deliver results.

Learn to appreciate the beauty of the language

• Do not try to “replicate ” English, be curious and open-minded, enjoy the differences, don’t fight them
• Aim to think in French
• Visualise, create mental images rather than direct translations that slow you down
• Use French phrases, put words in a context that is meaningful to you/ your life
• Group related words and images
• Appreciate the music of the sentences

Practice with intent

• Practice to specifically build your understanding ability
• Practice to specifically build your reading ability; Work on your speed
• Practice to specifically build your speaking ability; Work on your speed
• Always practice using new words immediately, writing them in a sentence, which you say aloud until the sentence and the word feel natural
• Practice getting the grammar right; revisit mistakes with a positive mind, to learn from them and practice the right way
• Practice with questions/answers out loud; there is nothing wrong with talking to yourself, or the cat, or the dog or a good friend.

Recommended activities

• Connect with local French or Spanish speakers. There are many ways to find them in a variety of social actvities. Ask around, look it up on the Internet
• Listen intently to as much audio a possible, adapted to your present level. Play and repeat very short passages, try to imitate the sounds until the speaking speed no longer bothers you. That is what actors do, so why not you?
• Listen to CDs, SBS news and other radio programs, podcasts….
• Watch French/Spanish movies, news, the Internet and YouTube make it easy to find interesting things at different levels of language difficulty
• Read in French/Spanish, the Internet makes it so easy to access newspapers, articles, blogs. Choose topics that interest you where you have some knowledge and will enjoy discovering more facts and opinions.
• Keep a journal

We take your language tutoring success personally. We always review your needs, recommend the best study program and work out with you a good study plan from now to your exams. If you have not spokenb with us yet, contact us now