Frequency: How often should I have English Lessons?

My learners are not used to being offered the freedom to decide how often they have their lessons, and how long those lessons should be. The ultimate decision of how you schedule your English learning with me is your choice, but I have guidance to help you decide.

Longer or shorter lessons? My normal lesson time is 60 minutes. This is a good amount of time get into the English learning mode, pick up something new, and practice it. If you have lessons longer than this, you might find it difficult to concentrate. 120 minutes is a long time for your brain to focus on something new and complex. If you need to learn this way, I plan a “break activity” in the middle of the lesson. This is something light, fun, and easy, and a little break for your brain. If we try to learn for 120 minutes with no break, you will not remember a lot of what we learn. I would not recommend having lessons longer than 120 minutes. When you sleep, your brain takes what you did that day and processes it. Your brain sorts through all the information and memories, and files it in your long-term memory. If you try to learn too much in one day, you risk it being too much for your brain to store at night-time. Some of this information will be forgotten.

Lessons every day or once a month? Most people are happy with a one-hour lesson every week. This is a nice amount of lesson time and rest time for most people, and it fits in with their lives. If you need to prepare for something that is happening soon, we can work for one hour every day. Every night you will sleep and record what you learned in your long-term memory. The more often we meet, the quicker you will improve your fluency. Your brain will work hardest to improve how quickly you find words, and how much your English flows when you speak. It will also improve your listening very quickly. If you can only learn once a month, some of the time that we meet for your lesson will be getting your brain ready to learn English again. Our brains need to switch from one language to another to learn. If you learn once a month, you might want a 120-minute lesson to help you switch languages and still have time to learn new things, and practice them. For most people Once or twice a week is the best way to teach your brain to improve fluency, and give it the time it needs to record new information when you sleep.

At the end of the day how often and for how long is all about what you want to learn English for, and what your life is like. Your lessons need to be enjoyable and not a chore. I will consider all of this when making your learning plan. We will work together to find the best number of lessons to fit into your life, and help you reach your goals.

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