Individual English lessons better than group lessons? – Any day of the week

You know the vocabulary, you know the grammar, you went to evening classes and even spent your last vacation in England at a language school. Still, when you wanted to say something in English in that last business meeting, you just didn’t breathe a word.

What happened? When you have to speak in a foreign language and you are not used to it, your neurons misfire and you will fall into a state of shock.

In a worst case scenario you have developped strategies to dodge situations where you have to speak English, which will make your everyday business a living hell, trying to avoid talking English completely. So what’s behind all this? This whole phenomenon dates back to times when we were still troglodites. You perceive speaking English as a danger and your autonomic nerve system switches to flight or fight mode. Your blood flows from your brain into your arms and legs.

In the cracking days of cavemen this totally made sense, as there were only two options for dealing with a problem. Either run away or pick a fight. Both of which are not customary any more in a modern business environment.

So whats the solution? Very easy: take individual lessons, and train English in a relaxed conversational setting. This way your subconscious learns not to perceive speaking English as a danger any more and adds it as just another part to your everday life.

For the same reason, group lessons are no good. They enable exactly the type of behavior you want to get rid of, namely being able to dodge uncomortable situations and let other people do the talking for you when it should be your turn. Indiviual lessons will not let you get away with it and put the finger right where it hurts.

Additionally, your teacher can customize the lesson exactly too your specific needs. So you don’t waste time and energy jockeying for position in a group lesson. You have the full attention of your teacher. Futhermore, you can also agree on you individual time schedule, which comes in handy in an always more stressful business life of today. You can even choose to have your lesson on Skype and don’t have to leave your home or office at all.

But make no mistake, even the best method will not provide any shortcuts. And if you want to make it happen, you will still have to put in the work and the time. Still, there is one significant difference: With individual English lessons you will be successful.