(5) Recommended for beginners: “How to use English conversation school”

■School types and characteristics

When it comes to English conversation schools, there are a wide range of schools, from major companies to privately run schools, so it is difficult to say which one is better. For more information, please see "Viewing English Conversation Schools from the Perspective of Business Administration and Economics."

Here, we will focus on the lesson formats offered by the school and explore ways to use the school that are recommended for beginners.

■English conversation lesson format for beginners - which one can you continue with?

There are two types of English conversation school lessons: one-on-one and group lessons. There are also foreign (native) and Japanese instructors, and there are variations depending on the combination of these. Let's take a look at the relationship between these variations and the ``4 principles of not giving up.''

　Although I keep insisting, the following are the ``4 principles to avoid giving up'' for beginners in English conversation.

　No0: Relationship of trust with instructors

No. 1: Calm space and atmosphere for learning

No.2: Opportunity to experience improvement and effects

　No3: Reasonable cost

■One-on-one (private lessons) vs. group lessons

At first glance, group lessons seem to be much cheaper than one-on-one lessons because the lesson fee is split. However, improvement in English conversation lessons is basically proportional to the "conversation time", and learning efficiency also decreases in group lessons, so there is not much difference in total cost.

For example, in a 45-minute lesson, if it is a one-on-one (private lesson), you will have 45 minutes to improve yourself. However, for example, in a group lesson of 4 people, your time will be 45 ÷ 4 = 11 minutes. In other words, to achieve the same improvement, you will need several times more sessions or a longer period than one-on-one sessions.

Group lessons certainly have the advantage of allowing you to learn with others who have the same goal, but there is a limit to the number of students that one instructor can care for at the same time, and the most important of the four principles is No. 0: A relationship of trust with the instructor. In this case, one-on-one is advantageous.

*There are some methodologies in the world that use IC recorders to create a one-on-one effect even though it is a group lesson, but since it is not common, I will not go into details.

■Foreign instructors vs. Japanese instructors

For English conversation beginners, Japanese instructors have an overwhelming advantage in terms of the most important of the four principles: No. 0: a relationship of trust with the instructor.

Of course, there is no problem with foreign instructors as long as they are fully bilingual and can speak Japanese.

■Fixed instructor vs. different each time

For English conversation beginners, it is advantageous to be able to designate a teacher and always learn from a fixed teacher in terms of the most important of the four principles, No. 0: A relationship of trust with the teacher.

Recording the student's situation and sharing it among instructors, called a "medical record," has a certain effect, but it does not come close to what can be learned from a fixed instructor.

■Summary

For beginners to continue learning English conversation, we recommend one-on-one lessons from the same Japanese instructor (or a fully bilingual foreign instructor) every time.

When choosing an English conversation school, you need to make sure that this type of learning is possible.