Is french tutoring ever worth it - got no idea what to do

[BlueFlower78]

Hi,
My husband and I have a daughter who is in year 10 at the moment and doing her gcses next year. She's really struggling at the moment because she hates her teacher even though she doesn't mind studying french. We've found someone who will teach her and he seems competent but he will only tecah her if we commit and pay for 3 months at a time (£175 in total so just under £15 a session). This seems like a good deal and we can afford it but we are also paying for her maths and chemistry tuition as well and we aren't sure if it's worth it. What would you do in our situation? Thanks

I think French (any language) tuition can totally be worth it however I wouldn't be signing up for three months. There are loads of amazing language tutors - and tuition online works absolutely fine these days so you have a large pool to choose from. Take a look on TutorHunt - I have found fabulous tutors in loads of subjects over the years on there. PM me if you want to have the name of the one I found on TH who has been excellent and charges £20 ph.

I'd make do with books and apps.

That's very cheap indeed. I, and all my fellow language tutors charge from £35 per hour, depending on level.

definitely worth it but I would insist on 2 trial lessons so you know its a good match... I would try to negotiat4 just committing for a month at a time

Totally echo using apps - I had real fun with my daughter doing French vocabulary and quizzes online in lead up to gcses and she improved a lot

Thanks everyone for your quick replies! Wasn't expecting answers so quickly lol. Do you think there are any siginifcant benefits to having a tutor vs using books and apps or are they about the same?

The advantage of a tutor is that they can respond to your DDs specific needs. They should identify where she is struggling and concentrate on that.
I wouldn't be committing to 3 months without a trial at least though. Your DD needs to get on with the tutor and their style of teaching.
It might be that your DDs struggles relate to something easy to fix, and not needing 3 months of tutoring.

I'm a French tutor and I would say that it's worth it, especially for the speaking side of learning a language. A good tutor can really help to increase confidence and also help with exam skills.
I'm a qualified teacher and an exam marker, so am very familiar with the specification and requirements.
I would be asking what experience he has of the exam board that she's doing, and for any testimonials/ reviews from previous students.
I would also be wary of the 3 months sign up. I never ask students/ parents to commit until after the first lesson, and then I offer a discount for block bookings, but don't insist on it. I am, however, considerably more expensive!

I'd definitely use a tutor if money were no object. I had one for Latin and he was absolutely brilliant but expensive. Back then you just had "teach yourself" books which were fine but not that intuitive if you'd never learned a language.Also, school curricula weren't yet online (early 90s) so if your school teacher was rubbish or your school didn't offer the subject, there was no easy way of knowing what you were supposed to cover. Nowadays, the multiplicity of resources easily available has narrowed the gap between tutor and DIY methods, so if cost is an issue I'd still go for the free apps and other free or cheap materials such as used books.

FWIW I learned French from scratch as an adult using an old book called French in Three Months, plus Duolingo at the library/parents' house, as we didn't have broadband at home. I got to about B1 that way (and it took longer than three months, lol!) and it was good preparation for living in France.