FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
That depends on a few things:
- How many lessons you do per week (one lesson per week is fine, but you can accelerate things by doing two per week)
- How consistent your lessons are (if you skip a lot of lessons here and there, your progress will be slower. If you take a one month summer break from lessons, you will lose less ground than if you take a three month summer break)
- What you do in between lessons (I don’t ask you to do boring homework, but I do ask you to do a few easy things to help your progress)
Yes you can, if you really want. However the reason that lessons are one hour long is because one hour is the longest that most people can handle mentally – even super smart people. In my experience with past students, the only ones who have been able to consistently handle a two hour long session are people who already speak another Romance language fluently. The other Romance languages are Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, Ladino and Romansh. So if you speak one of those languages fluently, you would be fine to do a single two hour session. Otherwise I’d suggest breaking them up into 2 x 1 hour sessions on different days.
I have also had some advanced French learners who have been able to do two hour sessions. That’s because they already have digested most of the language structures that differ between French and English. If you think you might fall into this category, you would probably want to do at least 1 x 1 hour session with me before booking a two hour session.
Yes, you can. When you first learned your own language as a baby or toddler, your parents didn’t write out words on a whiteboard, did they? They just spoke to you and to each other. That’s how you learned. That’s how everyone learned their own language. By listening and speaking.
You may find that as an adult you learn things more visually, eg how to use computer applications. But language is first spoken and heard before it is ever written.
That’s totally fine. You will receive written notes of the content we cover during each lesson. When we start having conversations, I will often use the chat function of Skype or Zoom to type out clearly what I’m saying to you, so that you can make the connection between the spoken words and the written language. Remember also that when you learned your own native language, your parents weren’t showing you flashcards and dictionaries and grammar books. You learned your native language by listening and speaking, just like everyone else.
No, you don’t. In fact there are some distinct advantages to learning online. One of them is that I can type French words and phrases in chat. This can make it easier for you to understand what is being said during a conversation if your auditory understanding doesn’t yet match your ability to speak French.
I teach people all over Australia. Thanks to Skype or Zoom, you can have a lesson wherever you are. In fact, you can be anywhere in the world, as long as you have a half decent internet connection.
This is extremely rare, but if it does happen, you won’t be charged for the lesson. We will organise a replacement session via email or phone. You will only be invoiced after we have completed the replacement session.
No, because it’s going to make learning much harder for you. You need to be in a relatively silent place so that (a) you can hear me clearly and (b) I can hear you clearly. An occasional dog barking at home isn’t a problem, but uncontrolled noise from other cafe patrons whose behaviour you can’t control will make the learning process difficult, when it should be easy.
Again this will only work if everything is almost silent. I’ve worked with clients who have been outside and the wind noise on their microphone has made the process very tiring for both of us. Usually it ends with the client going back indoors.
That’s completely OK. There is no obligation to continue learning if you decide you want to stop or pause your learning. You don’t have to sign any contract or commitment to ongoing lessons. You can stop as easily as you can start.
Sure you can. Some students like to use things like DuoLingo to help build their vocabulary while still taking weekly or twice weekly lessons with Fast French. You’re free to add in whatever other techniques you feel help your progress.
Yes you can do a lesson every two weeks, instead of one lesson a week. It’s not really recommended, however, because I’ve seen from experience that students tend to lose ground when they have 14 days between lessons. Having only seven days between lessons means that everything is still fresh in their minds by the time the next lesson rolls around.
Generally no. I teach teenagers but not kids. I do sometimes teach younger children in extremis (when their parents plead with me to teach their kids), but I get better results with students who are at least high school age or older.
Yes I do. Since I work with teenagers sometimes, I’m obliged to have a current Working With Children Check card. The WWCC card is an Australian background check conducted by legal authorities on people who work with children. I’ll happily show you my card at the start of the first lesson.
Yes, I’ve taught people in their 70s and 80s just as effectively as I have young and middle aged adults.
Yes I do and I have done. It can be useful for a couple to learn together, especially since they can practice with each other. They may also plan to travel to French speaking countries together. Pricing increases a bit for a couple, because my job is harder.
I also sometimes teach each member of a couple separately if they each have significantly different levels of French. It’s usually their choice, not mine.
Yes I do. However the benefits are less clear than for couples. The different French levels between two friends can mean that one friend understands very easily, then becomes bored while waiting for the other friend to catch on. Some people see this group learning as a way to save money. This is true. But remember that you’re only receiving half the individual attention you would receive if you were doing solo lessons. In terms of dollars per hour of personalised tuition, it’s actually more expensive than doing solo lessons.
Please also note that the Free Trial Lesson applies to the group as a whole. So if two people do two separate Free Trial Lessons, then decide they want to do group lessons, they would have to pay for one of the Trial Lessons before starting group lessons.
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