When a Student Needs More Than the School Day Allows

Most French teachers field some version of this question a few times a year. A parent asks whether their student should get outside help. A student who wants more than the syllabus allows asks where to go next. A class period is a fixed length and a curriculum has to serve everyone in the room, so the question comes up whether or not anyone is doing anything wrong.

This is what we’d tell a colleague who asked. Most of it has nothing to do with us.

Signs Outside Support Is Worth Considering

• The gap is specific enough to name. “She freezes in the speaking section” is something a tutor can work on. “He’s bad at French” isn’t.
• There’s a deadline the class calendar doesn’t serve. AP and IB candidates, students sitting a DELF session, and students applying to programs with a language requirement are all working to a clock that runs independently of your syllabus.
• The student is ahead, not behind. Advanced students may simply need more challenge or practice than the course sequence can provide.
• Something changed. A move between curricula, a year away from the language, or a heritage speaker placed by age rather than by skill.

When It’s Probably Not the Answer

• The problem is organization, not French. If work isn’t getting turned in, a second teacher won’t fix that. It usually makes the week more crowded without making it better.
• The student doesn’t want it. Tutoring a teenager into a subject they have decided to resent rarely works, and families spend real money finding that out.
• The gap is two weeks old. A new unit is allowed to be hard for a while. Give it time before adding anyone to the mix.
• The family can’t sustain it. Six weeks of steady work beats twelve weeks that stop halfway, and the second option costs more.

What to Tell a Family to Look For

These apply to any tutor, not to a particular one.

• Experience with the specific exam, not just the language. A fluent speaker who has never prepared a student for the exam in its current format is teaching French, which is a different job.
• A diagnostic before a plan. Anyone who can describe the plan before meeting the student is describing a product, not a plan.
• The same person every week. Rotating tutors restart the relationship each session, and the student pays for that in lost time.
• Willingness to coordinate with you. A tutor working against the classroom sequence can leave a student more confused than they started.

Did a Teacher Send You This Guide?

Tell Dr. Kerley what your student is working on. You don’t need to choose a program first. She’ll reply within 24 hours, and she won’t contact the school unless you ask.

If you’d rather compare programs first, see general tutoring for teens, AP French, DELF and DALF, or the full list of exams.