Did you learn alone or with other students?

[linguaholic]

hi all

please note that this topic has indeed been discussed already. I will therefore merge the topics if possible

[xxxxxx]

Right now I am studying Hangeul through Home Tutorial and my teacher is being sent by the school to teach me at home. But next year I am planning to study already at the school premises because I know it will be very interesting to study and meet with different nationalities who also wants to learn the language.

[Ricardo187]

I've learnt english with other students at school, though, I'm learning french at home and practising it in the supermarkets and everywhere I need to communicate through that language.

[zackeymane]

I learned by myself. I think that was the perfect environment for me.

[Omnispeak]

I started learning alone at first but found it extremely monotonous and boring. Then I started going to classes and being in a group worked, it was so much better. I could speak with what I was learning and make mistakes and get corrected!

[NRiz]

I originally learned in school and I found that I would often progress a lot faster than some of my class mates. I at least always seemed to know the answer to the professor's questions. With that being said, not that I'm done with school and all my learning is self-motivated, I find that I am enjoying learning much more. I'm not slowed down by any students who don't understand concepts, and I can just learn at my own pace.

[Alrikidokie]

I've only ever learned language in a classroom setting or on my own. The combination works really well for me but I think private lessons would only enhance my learning experience. Even if just using Skype tutoring would work too.

[lizbeth19hph]

I learned our second language with a group of students as it is a subject integrated in our curriculum as early as preschool. Learning a new language in a classroom setting is more effective when done one on one in my opinion.

[Astdua]

Everybody would of course prefer to study languages, or most other things, alone with a tutor or something similar, as there is not enough individual attention paid to all of the students, usually. Well that depends on the quality of the course, but during high school Spanish, I barely got anything from my semesters due to the majority of the class not taking the language seriously, thus leading the teacher to pretty much not push it and let it flow on an easy level, just so we could be out of his classroom faster.

[PSLoveCharli]

I also started in a classroom setting (back in college, ha!) but unfortunately, I didn't take it serious -- only just trying to complete the classes for graduation. If I could go back, I would take it serious! But one-on-one teaching has been better for me lately, through my mentor at my job.

[sidney]

When I was still studying, we were not required to learn any language at school, so I mostly studied and learned on my own through the internet and with songs, plus with the help of translation dictionaries.

[Rosa]

At first I started in a classroom with close to forty other students. It was a big group but I really didn't mind since we all relied on each other for help. However, I found out that having a tutor gives me more focus time and so I get more done.

[caparica007]

English and French I learned at school with my colleagues, all my other languages I learned at home alone, except for Russian that I went to a school as well and I studied with a private teacher.

[kilat]

I studied a few different languages at school and college, always in classroom setting with a bunch of other students. I found I most enjoyed (and did best at) the ones where I was in a small group rather than a big class.

Since then I've studied a couple of languages with a private tutor (Indonesian) or in a group of 4 (Japanese), and have had a much better experience than I had when trying to learn in a class of 20 to 40 students.

I have a friend who says the exact opposite - that she does well in a large class as she's very competitive and wants to show that she can do better then everyone else. I guess I'm just not that bothered about what other students are doing, and prefer to work at my own pace rather than fit in with others!

[xbrix]

When I was first learning French, it was in a class at school. Thankfully, by the end of the first quarter, there were only 7 other people in the class due to others dropping out for a different language. Our class was the smallest class out of all the other classes. I don't know why they didn't portion out the other classes since some of them had over 20 student, but I guess it was better for me to learn.

[Channa]

I was in a class of maybe 20 or so people when I decided to become proficient in Spanish. Then, I moved to working alone and with my tutors. What did you do that worked for you?

I learn better with others around me, Going to school with children in my age group was so much fun. And so whenever we get our home work we would do it together. Because if there was something that you don't understand then someone in the group would help you to understand it. So working together with other work for me.

[g2narat]

I don't think I could ever learn alone. I need constant help from other people when it comes to languages. I used to just nod and keep a word in mind when I didn't understand something but I've learned to be more assertive when it comes to learning now. When I don't understand something I now try to stop the conversation and ask the meaning and how else I can use the word etc. It may sound distracting but so far people I've talked to say they appreciate the initiative to really want to understand them.

[Lin]

I was in a class of maybe 20 or so people when I decided to become proficient in Spanish. Then, I moved to working alone and with my tutors. What did you do that worked for you?

Thanks for starting this thread. I want to tell you that I mostly learn on my own.  . I had good tutors and very competitive classmates, but that couldn't match up with my passion. So, I learnt from videos, software programs and CD. I want to start refreshing my mind again, soon.

[Lin]

I learn better with others around me, Going to school with children in my age group was so much fun. And so whenever we get our home work we would do it together. Because if there was something that you don't understand then someone in the group would help you to understand it. So working together with other work for me.

Even though I was an introvert in learning, I must agree with you that learning as a group has great benefits. We learn from each other and we get to interact with each other. Interacting and doing is what is necessary for learning  things like a new language.

[sillylucy]

I can not learn in groups. I have to learn on my own or I will not retain the information. I did learn with other students in my language class, but it didn't really help. If we did review together then it helped if I had questions, but initial learning never stuck with me in large groups.

[Bonyi]

It is lovely to learn with other students.

[Cookiesandcream]

I learnt Spanish with my classmates who also opted it. There were about 40 of us but we were again divided into 2 sections so 20 people in each class. But I'm learning Hindi on my own.

[tinytinsparrow]

I studied Spanish for the first 8 years of my schooling in a class with other students. However, I am someone who picks up things very quickly (my parents always referred to me as a sponge) and the rest of the students did not. I ended up doing some supplemental stuff on the side and on my own because of this. Once I became more fluent than my teachers, I began to lose interest in the language and didn't take classes for it after it wasn't required.

When I started learning Korean, I decided to do everything on my own. I picked up things much quicker and my thirst for learning the language grew. As long as I have native speakers that I can get in contact with every now and then to practice with or ask a few questions, I won't ever participate in a classroom environment again.

[Sandman]

Both the languages that I am fluent in are taught at school here so that would be with other students, as for learning other languages one can take classes but for the most part this type of learning is through self study

[Rob93FL]

When I took Spanish in high school, I was in a classroom with around 25 students. I took Spanish 1 in a classroom and Spanish 2 online. My Farsi class, however, is a private lesson. The only three people in the room are myself, my twin sister, and the teacher.