Our Instructors
What Sets Our Instructors Apart
Language Professionals, NOT JUST Native Speakers
Most instructor profiles online emphasize that the teacher is a native speaker. And that is certainly important. An instructor must speak the language well in order to teach it.
However, there is much more to effective language instruction than being a native speaker.
Many native speakers, even though they speak their language perfectly, have very little awareness of how the language actually works. For example, if someone learning English asked why we sometimes refer to our mother as “she” and sometimes as “her,” could you clearly explain the difference between subject pronouns and object pronouns?
Some people can. Many cannot.
If an instructor cannot explain basic grammatical distinctions like this, the learning process can quickly become confusing and frustrating.
It is a common misconception that grammar is unnecessary when learning a language. In truth, it is possible to learn a language without studying grammar — we all did it as babies. But doing so again as adults would require years of full immersion and would likely be very slow and frustrating.
By learning grammar, we are able to leverage everything we already understand about language from our native tongue. Instead of starting from scratch like a child, we can build on knowledge we already possess.
Master BOTH Languages
Why is it advantageous for an instructor to master both Spanish and English?
An instructor who speaks English well can relate new Spanish structures to concepts the student already understands. From the beginning, students learn that word-for-word translation is limited. Languages do not simply substitute words; they express ideas differently.
As students advance, Spanish increasingly diverges from English. Some structures exist in Spanish that have no direct equivalent in English. When these concepts appear, a teacher who understands both languages can explain them more clearly and anticipate where students are likely to struggle.
This also applies to pronunciation. Learning new sounds often requires exercises similar to speech training. Effective pronunciation training frequently begins with sounds students already produce in English and gradually transitions to the sounds required in Spanish.
An instructor who understands English phonetics can guide this process much more effectively.
Some online schools rely on instructors who live abroad and speak little English. When students struggle to understand them, the schools may claim that this is beneficial. That can be true in a total immersion environment when the student already has a strong foundation.
However, a few hours of lessons per week is not total immersion. When students are learning the basics, explanations in their native language greatly accelerate understanding.
Personal Experience Learning a Language as Adults
All FINAL MILE instructors have personally learned at least one language to fluency as adults.
This experience is invaluable.
Learning a language as an adult is very different from learning one as a child. By having gone through the process themselves, our instructors understand the challenges students face and can relate to the frustrations and breakthroughs that occur along the way.
This experience has also exposed our instructors to a wide variety of language programs and teaching methods across different schools, countries, and languages.
That perspective helps them recognize what works well—and what does not.
Experts in Language Naturalization
Most people have met someone who studied a foreign language for years in school yet cannot speak it today.
The statistics are staggering.
Millions of Americans studied a foreign language in high school or college, yet the majority cannot follow directions in that language, let alone hold a conversation.
Why does this happen?
Because learning a language as an adult involves two distinct phases:
- Grammar and Vocabulary
- Naturalization
Most schools do a reasonable job teaching grammar and vocabulary. Many tutors can explain verb conjugations, sentence structures, and vocabulary lists.
But this is only the first phase.
The real question is:
How many students have they taken to fluency?
Very few.
The reason is that fluency depends on the second phase: naturalization.
Naturalization is the process through which a language becomes a ready and automatic tool for communication. Once a language is naturalized, the speaker no longer needs to consciously think about grammar rules in order to form correct sentences. Communication begins to feel natural.
The methods used to naturalize a language are very different from those used to teach grammar and vocabulary.
FINAL MILE instructors are specifically trained in our proprietary methods of language naturalization. The most challenging stage in the language learning process is the transition between learning grammar and vocabulary and the beginning of naturalization. At this point, both the method of instruction and the way the student learns change significantly.
During this phase, the goal shifts from learning rules to developing speed and ease of communication. Two important factors begin to improve: comprehension latency—how quickly you understand Spanish—and articulation latency—how quickly you can correctly express a thought. As these delays decrease, conversation becomes increasingly natural.
Once this transition is achieved, continued progress comes primarily through immersive exposure, and improvement becomes much more natural and enjoyable. The student is then off on a very rewarding journey toward true fluency.