Education / Further education French tutoring

Learning a foreign language is not exactly easy for many children and young people. This makes it all the more important to start tutoring at an early stage when the first problems and gaps in knowledge appear that can no longer be remedied independently. This means that tutoring in French should take place when you realize that your child cannot manage without outside support and the existing deficits are getting bigger and bigger. Don't wait too long, but look for a competent tutor as soon as possible who will enable your child to reach the level of knowledge, be it in reading and text comprehension or grammar, of the current school lessons. Because only if the basic knowledge is available can the advanced learning content be applied and the French language mastered.

However, French tutoring is not only suitable for filling gaps in knowledge, targeted tutoring can also be beneficial as preparation for tests and admissions to secondary schools and can improve the average grade. Children and young people whose parents are unable to support them in their learning also benefit greatly from regular French tutoring, as do pupils who have motivation problems, fears of exams or speaking freely and need individual support.

However, if you are an adult and want to improve or build up your French language skills, it may make more sense to turn to a language school that offers both group lessons and individual lessons and has many years of experience in teaching French as a foreign language, as not all tutors also offer lessons for adults.

You can book French tutoring from private tutors as well as from professional learning institutes. Private tutors usually offer one-to-one tuition, while learning institutes often offer group tuition. However, you can usually also choose individual tuition for yourself or your child, which you should enquire about directly in individual cases. A distinction is also made between the school and level at which the students are studying, i.e. primary or secondary level, preparation for the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate or admission to French studies.

For some time now, French tutoring has also been offered via Skype or other online channels, where the tutor and the student do not have to be in the same place, but can take lessons online.

When learning a foreign language, it is particularly important that the tutor speaks the foreign language at a high level, i.e. that he or she did not start learning the language just a few years ago. For tutoring in French, teachers should be fluent in the language, for tutoring at higher school levels or in preparation for entrance exams, e.g. for grammar school, they should preferably be native speakers and also have a good command of German. Persons whose native language is not French should have already taught for several years at school or in professional educational institutions in order to be able to provide you or your child with the necessary knowledge. For private tutors, it is advisable to ask for a recognized language diploma. For French tutoring, this should be the DALF C1 or DALF C2.

French tutoring can vary greatly in price. This is partly due to the qualifications of the teachers and partly due to the requirements of the pupils. The higher the school level, the more expensive the tutoring sessions and the higher the skills of the tutors. Private tutors offer tutoring for primary school pupils from as little as CHF 20 to 30, whereas for preparation at learning institutes for certain entrance exams, such as for grammar school, you can expect to pay much higher costs of between CHF 70 and 120. As the prices vary greatly and also depend on whether individual or group lessons are chosen, you should clarify the costs individually in advance, for example via our contact form.

In French tutoring, as in any other subject, it is particularly important that the student and teacher are compatible and like each other. If you don't like going to tutoring and are reluctant to talk to the other person, you will achieve less linguistic success than someone who is looking forward to the lessons. It is therefore sometimes necessary to change tutors if you don't like them. To prevent this, it makes sense to have a trial lesson, during which you as a parent should be present but stay in the background and observe. This is possible with private tutors, but you should ask about this with tutoring institutes.

When searching, make sure that the teacher has the necessary qualifications and experience to teach appropriately at your child's or your own school level. You should also consider whether group or individual tuition is an option and what learning goals you are aiming for. Be sure to discuss these with the school or tutor at the outset and set a reasonable time frame. Do not take out a subscription for six months or a whole year at the beginning, even if this is sometimes cheaper. Wait for a few tutoring sessions first and see if they produce the desired results. When choosing a French tutor, you should also make sure that the distance to the school or the tutor is not too great and that the lesson times leave you or your child enough free time.

The experiences of others can also be very useful when looking for a suitable tutor. Ask around in your circle of friends and ask your child's teachers for their opinions and experiences. You may receive valuable tips and addresses.

Especially before school tests and special exams, parents often realize that their children do not have the necessary skills to pass them with the desired grade. In such cases, selective French tutoring can be very helpful, focusing exclusively on passing a test or exam. However, this assumes that the pupil already has basic knowledge and does not have any major gaps in their knowledge. This is probably not enough for children and teenagers who do not have this and who despair at even the simplest French grammar rules. They need more regular lessons to eliminate existing deficits and prevent new ones from developing. Anyone who is struggling with this language should therefore take advantage of regular French tutoring to revise and consolidate what they have learned at school.

Talk to your child's teachers about your plans and ask for their views on tutoring. This will give you an individual and professional assessment and you can determine the duration accordingly. It makes sense to talk to your child's French teacher at school again after about two months and review progress. Is further tutoring necessary or would it be better to stop for a while so as not to put too much strain on the child's motivation? Despite all the tutoring, it should not be forgotten that pupils of a certain age must be able to learn independently and take responsibility for it. Children and young people who can always rely on receiving outside help at any time will eventually stop trying to find their own solutions to problems and learn independently, which means that long-term tutoring is not always a good idea.