How to choose a teacher

I wrote about foreign language teachers, but, in general, it works for almost any tutor.

In general education and language schools, salaries are usually low, and good teachers flee to tutoring. On tutoring sites, you are not dealing with the system, but with the reputation of a particular specialist: they collect reviews quite responsibly. Although, of course, a teacher with regalia can be an absolute mediocrity, and an unknown student can give excellent lessons for pennies. Moreover, the reviews are good both here and there: students have few evaluation criteria and examples for comparison, but there will be some progress with any teacher, even with free video lessons on YouTube.

It is often advised to pay attention to the speech fluency of the tutor himself. It's almost like choosing a weightlifting coach based on how much weight he can lift. There are excellent teachers and translators who cannot speak the language they work fluently. I discussed the stages and mechanisms of developing speaking skills in the article “On the development of speaking skills.”

How many Olympiad winners he has trained is also not always an indicator: capable guys grasp everything on the fly. Real skill is required when teaching the average person.

Finding a truly strong teacher is not an easy task. An unprepared person can only do this by accident, and at the first stage he will still have to rely on reviews and regalia.

I trained English teachers for many years, and it seems that I was able to identify indirect signs of professionalism that anyone can rely on at the first (exactly the first one!) interaction with the tutor.

A serious specialist is accustomed to the fact that people are different and learn at VERY different speeds. Therefore, until he understands who and what you are, he:

definitely won’t speak quickly when presenting material. Periodically checks to see if everything is clear. The speed of speech can increase ONLY if he says something unrelated to the lesson: for example, when he jokes or makes an appointment for the next meeting;
speaks very simple language. Terminology is also minimal, and he will introduce it slowly, very clearly. If he uses complex words unnecessarily, you are most likely looking at yesterday’s student who has not yet shown off his stuff. In general, if you hear “scholastic” or “dichotomy” – run. The specialist does not make it difficult – he makes the already complex process as easy as possible;
won't dump too much information on you. It will sense how much you can process at once. If you didn’t understand something and he didn’t track it, that’s bad;
after complexly structured information, he will definitely pause: almost any brain needs at least a few seconds to process such information. And after these seconds, the student may also have a clarifying question;
as a rule, he does not need to choose words: the formulations have been perfected over the years, everything unnecessary has been thrown out of them. Attempts to divert from the topic are most often stopped: any garbage on the air makes it difficult to perceive the material.
he does not deal with two issues at the same time and will not allow you to – at each moment a specific task is being solved. But if he jumps from topic to topic, doesn’t finish his thought, and often interrupts, these are warning signs.

You don’t need to describe your problems in length and detail: after a few phrases, he understands them better than you, believe me. Most likely, he will quickly say “I see” and seize the initiative. You only need to do what he says – he will track the rest himself.

A person’s inner mood is usually felt: he came to give or take (sometimes it’s 50/50). If he talks too much about his achievements, I don’t recommend it: perhaps he is a good linguist or translator, but the teacher in class is teaching – this is where his self-expression is realized, and not in something else. The teacher has an inner need to give. Another type of people engages in narcissism in the classroom – they grab everything for themselves.