Now you can learn a foreign
language with :art4art: Communication!
Learn Individually | Learn in a Group | Corporate
... from just £28 per hour!
At :art4art: Communication we know that many people have been let down by their past experiences of language learning.
Above all, you tell us you haven't learned what you need most: the ability to communicate effectively. Writing, you say, can be done out of class hours. "When I am in the class, I want to practice speaking and listening."
You don't need to be Einstein to know that language is about communication. The more you get to practice listening and speaking skills, the more you'll be able to use them when you most need them. Right?
While we never underestimate the importance of concentrating on all four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) our focus is always on communication: speaking and understanding the language. We want to get you to a level you are satisfied with, making sure you learn at your own pace.
We extend our philosophy to the provision of language tuition for children, always making sure to operate strictly within the requirements of the National Curriculum. Children need to improve their exam grades, and with us can expect a significant jump in performance levels after only a few hours of tuition.
So you want to learn a language! The good news is that learning with a :art4art: Communication teacher means you can have lessons whenever and wherever you want.
You will make great progress, not only because the lessons are intensive and tailored to your needs, but also because you are the only student; there's no-one else in the class to hold you back.
You'll receive structured homework, and the more of this you can do after your lessons, the faster your progress will be. Homework can account for up to 20% of your overall learning.
Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced student, a child or an adult, we aim to cater for your needs.
Learning individually with :art4art: Communication is flexible. We operate a pay-as-you-go system (you pay the teacher at the end of each lesson), so you can have as many or as few hours' tuition as you feel you need. You just let your teacher know, for example, if you need to take a break, or increase the number of hours' tuition you have per week. The choice is always yours.
Fees: from £28 per hour (pay-as-you-go)
While one-to-one learning tends to be the preferred choice and often the most effective way to learn, we also offer you the opportunity of learning with a friend or work colleague, your partner, or even as a whole family.
Two people learning together is particularly effective, literally bringing an added dimension to the class. Students in partnership usually form a strong bond, motivate each other, and work together well.
Learning for small groups is always fun. We suggest up to five people as a suitable maximum in the class, because it's vital to keep the tuition as intensive as possible. After all, you want to learn quickly don't you?
Group Fees: from £36 per hour (pay-as-you-go)
How it works | Rates | Guidelines
"Improve your linguistics, por favor!"
“A survey conducted by the Dti among small to medium sized businesses demonstrates that the inability of UK businesses to communicate with international trading partners is having a direct impact on profitability:
• At least one third said they had lost out on international business deals because of a lack of language skills
• Forty-seven per cent said that a business enquiry in a foreign language might not get past their switchboard
• Sixty-three per cent said they would not be able to understand even the most basic business contract if it was not written in English.”
(Extract from Evening Standard)
Would you put yourself in one of the categories above? Perhaps we can help you. Read on...
How it works
We offer in-house language training on an individual and small group basis.
Our tuition is convenient and flexible, as we arrange for training to take place at times suitable for you and your staff.
Our teachers can structure and plan lessons which are practical and relevant to your type of business. If your staff need training in specialist vocabulary, get in touch with us and we will do our best to meet your requirements.
As part of our thorough staff recruitment procedure, :art4art: Communication conducts a face-to-face interview with each and every teacher. This means you can rest assured that the teacher we select for you comes with our highest recommendation.
We want to make sure that our working practice is to your liking which is why we have a set of Guidelines to help you understand the way we work. It's all common sense stuff.
Above prices exclude VAT. Invoices are usually submitted monthly in arrears, keeping it nice and flexible for you. You can arrange to make a pre-payment for a block of lessons. Please call to discuss.
1. Tuition fees are agreed between you and :art4art: Communication before tuition commences. Any matters concerning fees should be discussed directly with :art4art: Communication, and not with your teacher.
2. :art4art: Communication, in liaison with you and your teacher, arranges the first teaching assignment. Any alterations in the teaching schedule should be discussed directly with :art4art: Communication, and not with your teacher. :art4art: Communication will be as flexible as possible in arranging your lesson times.
3. Once the first lesson has been arranged, your teacher should telephone you at least two days in advance of the date set for tuition. The purpose of this is i) for your teacher to introduce him/herself; ii) to ensure you and your teacher are clear about where and when the tuition will take place.
4. At the end of each lesson, your teacher will ask the student to sign a Time Sheet, showing the hours of tuition given.
5. Once the start date has been agreed, :art4art: Communication issues you with an invoice for an agreed number of tuition hours. All invoices should be paid within the time specified on the invoice. Late payment can result in suspension of our tuition service.
6. If your teacher arrives to provide pre-arranged tuition and the student is not available, the full lesson fee is due. Your teacher will wait 20 minutes for the student's arrival, but is not obliged to wait any longer.
7. If your teacher needs to cancel a lesson, you will be contacted immediately and the lesson rearranged, ideally for that week.
8. If you are unable to give 24 hours' notice before cancelling a lesson, the full lesson fee is charged. Alternatively, if you want to postpone a lesson, you may rearrange it for a more suitable time - provided that you give 24 hours' notice, weekend days excluded.
9. :art4art: Communication teachers should project a smart, professional image, arriving and leaving punctually. If your teacher is likely to be late, you should be contacted and informed. If your teacher is unable to continue with tuition or will be absent for a sustained period, :art4art: Communication will endeavour to find a replacement teacher for you.
10. :art4art: Communication stays in contact with you for the purposes of feedback and evaluation. If at any time you are not entirely satisfied with your teacher, :art4art: Communication will endeavour to find a replacement teacher for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Either the teacher travels to you or you travel to the teacher. A member of the Team will arrange the first lesson for you - at a time that suits - by listening carefully to your requirements and selecting the ideal teacher from our qualified and experienced team.
Your tuition can get started immediately - generally, students like to have their first lesson within 7 days. At the end of your first lesson, and provided that you are happy, you arrange the time of the next lesson with your teacher. We will ring or email you after that first session to check you are happy with our service.
Call now on 0800 6126 323 to book in your first session of intensive language learning.
Although learning a language is no overnight process, because our tuition is intensive, you can expect to learn much faster this way than by other methods. There is genuine value in learning a language intensively: adults find out how to communicate and deal with real-life scenarios; and children are offered a full learning experience, giving them the skills to approach exams with confidence.
We teach two-to-one and small groups of up to 5 or 6 students, maintaining the intensive nature of tuition. The key to success is intensive tuition, and as long as students in a group share similar goals, speedy learning is virtually guaranteed.
Our teacher-finding service won't cost you a penny; nor will your initial consultation with us. For one-to-one tuition, fees start at just £24 per hour. For two students studying together, or for small groups (with 3 or 4 students) the cost per person is lower. For example, we teach up to four students together from £40 per hour. Ours is a simple and flexible 'pay as you go' system, whereby you pay the teacher at the end of each lesson.
If you are likely to be paying 'en bloc' then please enquire about the different charges and payment system.
Our rates compare favourably to those of other leading tuition providers in London, despite the fact that we conduct a face-to-face interview with each of our teachers; the importance of which cannot be underestimated. To the best of our knowledge no other company of our type invests time in meeting its teachers.
Yes! Free of charge.
We send an :art4art: Communication Diploma to every student who completes 20 consecutive hours of private tuition with us.
If you want to prepare for a formal qualification, we recommend going for GCSE level. We can prepare you for this exam and you can take it in a local examining centre.
Materials are not included in the fees, which cover the expense of your teacher's time and skill.
However, we can advise you which book (or books) would be suitable for your particular needs.
Click here to see the materials we think may interest you (suitable primarily for adults with little or no prior knowledge of the target language).
We always recommend you get hold of a small dictionary for the language you are learning, and of course to bring a pen and a notepad with you to the lessons. Perhaps you'd like to take notes and copy them up for homework. This is a nice way to remember what you are taught.
The better the relationship between you and your teacher, the more quickly you will learn the language. This is why one of us in the office will spend time discussing your exact requirements with you on the telephone. What's more, we'll contact you (and your teacher) after your first lesson to make sure all is well. We personally interview all the teachers, who must possess a teaching qualification and/or teaching experience.
Our teachers adhere to a set of Guiding Principles - minimum standards we believe you should expect from our service.
National Curriculum is one of our specialities. We have teachers who specialise in Primary and Secondary education. We teach English and all foreign languages on the National Curriculum to A-level.
We teach right across the South Coast, mainly in Southampton and Portsmouth area, but expanding in the South East, so you can expect us to have the right teacher for you in your catchment area. Find out how
we can help by dialling 0800 6126 323. By the way, would you like to know how we select our teachers? Please keep reading.
Our teachers are carefully selected for you
We are very proud of our team of qualified & experienced teachers.* A healthy blend of native and non-native speakers, our teachers are committed professionals, and thanks to them our reputation keeps on growing.
* :art4art: Communication teachers have teaching experience, a teaching qualification and/or university degree.
Here's how we recruit our teachers:
1. Initial telephone conversation
2. Written application form
3. One-hour face-to-face interview
4. Reference checks
Paying particular attention to each candidate's qualifications and experience, we choose our teachers carefully. Ours is a thorough, tried-and-tested selection process, designed to ensure you and your teacher are totally compatible. With the right language trainer to guide you, your tuition will get off to the best possible start.
Our teachers give private tuition for adults and children throughout the South Coast - mainly across the Southampton and Portsmouth area. They teach from their own homes - if you'd like to travel - or visit you in your home/place of work.
We want to find you a teacher who suits your individual needs - if for any reason you are not entirely satisfied with the teacher we select for you, we will do our best to find you an alternative.
The majority of :art4art Communication teachers specialise in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Romanian and Russian. Our teachers are also specialists in many other languages, so tell us your requirements and we'll do our best to match them.
Be determined! Your success will largely depend on your motivation and commitment - sometimes more so than your linguistic ability. We recommend a tuition programme of 2 hours per week (with additional homework as back up) for you to get maximum benefit. There are no age limits. You are never too young nor old to get started. So call us now. Here's the number: 0800 6126 323. The call is free from UK landlines.
From this point on, at any stage in your learning you can order your A4-sized Progress Report for just £25. Alternatively, if you continue your learning with us and go on to reach 50 hours of tuition, we will send you your Progress Report free of charge.
What's in a Progress Report?
Thanks to detailed information we get from your teacher*, in approximately 200 words we showcase your progress to date and offer recommendations to help you get the most out of your future lessons.
Your Progress Report states the total number of hours' tuition you have completed, and includes verification from the Head of Teaching Department of :art4art: Communication.
What follows is example wording from a Progress Report:
Jim is a friendly student who displays considerable interest in the subject and participates in the lessons with great enthusiasm. Despite Jim's busy schedule, he always arrives punctually and devotes 100% of his attention to each lesson.
He writes about ideas relating to language in considerable detail, showing a confident use of linguistic terminology. His writing skills have really come on in a short space of time. This is because he is prepared to commit time to homework away from the lessons. Listening more intently to what is being said will inevitably benefit long term progress. It is an aspect well worth paying more attention to, as native speakers don't always slow down in conversation!
Despite his limited vocabulary, he always attempts to communicate with use of the target language. He is never shy of 'having a go' and this is evidently hastening him towards being a competent communicator.
Overall, an impressive start - keep up the good work!
Like the look of it?
Apart from its primary function - to help you get the best from your learning with us - a Report like this could really impress your present or future employer.
Now there's something worth thinking about.
* Regretfully, if we are unable to successfully contact your teacher to obtain the information we need, we are unable to send you your Progress Report. It's an unlikely scenario, but it could happen.
1. Fees are agreed between you and :art4art: Communication before tuition commences.
2. The first teaching assignment is arranged by :art4art: Communication in liaison with you and your teacher.
3. Once the first lesson has been arranged, your teacher should telephone you at least two days (time permitting) before the first lesson. The purpose of this is a) for your teacher to introduce him/herself; b) to ensure you and your teacher are clear about where and when the tuition will take place. You may call your teacher at any time.
4. At the end of the first lesson your teacher should confirm payment methods and rules regarding lesson cancellations (see points 7. - 9.).
5. You sign a Time Sheet (brought by your teacher) at the start or end of each lesson, when payment is made. The Time Sheet shows the total hours of tuition per month and acts like a register.
6. If your teacher arrives for an arranged lesson and you are not at home, or if you are unable to arrive at your teacher's home for an arranged lesson, the full lesson fee is due; this is usually collected by your teacher after the following lesson. Your teacher is not obliged to wait more than 20 minutes for your arrival.
7. If your teacher travels to you, the payment you make to your teacher at the end of each lesson is inclusive of any travel expenses.
8. There is no charge if you give at least 24 hours' notice when cancelling a lesson with your teacher. If you cancel a lesson within the 24-hour notice period, 50% of the lesson fee is charged.
9. If your teacher needs to cancel a lesson, you should be contacted immediately and the lesson should be rearranged, ideally for that week.
10. If your teacher is unable to continue with tuition or will be absent for a sustained period, :art4art: Communication can find a replacement teacher for you.
11. :art4art: Communication teachers should project a smart, professional image, arriving and leaving punctually. If your teacher is likely to be late, you should be contacted and informed.
12. :art4art: Communication teachers aim to be as flexible as possible with their appointment times. While you may prefer a fixed day and time, you can also vary your timetable.
13. Whether tuition takes place in your home, place of work, or in your teacher's home, it should be in a quiet room with a dining table or desk.
14. You can expect your teacher to prepare an appropriate teaching schedule, suitable for your own specific needs.
French | German | Greek Hindi | Italian | Romanian Spanish | Turkish | Urdu
French
Recommended course book
Facon De Parler 1
Very useful course book for adults who learn French to use it for tourism and socializing with French people, because it deals mainly with holidays, restaurants, leisure.
Recommended self-study guide
Speaking Better French
Very good for adults who are keen learners. It's about achieving better fluency with everyday speech.
Recommended grammar book
Help Yourself to Advanced French Grammar
Very good from GCSE level onwards, but especially for A level.
German
Recommended course book
Themen Neu: Level 1: Kursbuch 1
Course book. An excellent introduction to German. Interactive and attractively illustrated. Cassettes available.
Recommended self-study guide
German: Level 1: Learn In Your Car
Lovely for beginners. Two cassettes and a very small vocabulary / grammar book. Lots of repetition
Recommended grammar book
Harrap's New German Grammar
A user friendly grammar guide
Greek
Recommended course book
Get by in Greek: the All-in-one Language
Combining a language course with travel information, this pack consists of a guidebook for visitors to Greece, an accompanying audio-cassette, and a booklet which summarizes phrases and conversations and is designed for quick reference. It is superb value for money and is excellently presented.
Recommended self-study guide
Teach Yourself Beginner's Greek
Book and double cassette pack. A complete course in Modern Greek for beginners. Simple and easy to use.
Recommended grammar book
Concise Modern Greek Grammar
This grammar book, abridged and with certain revisions, is the one that has been used in Greek public education for the past few years. Very good reference!
Hindi
Recommended self-study guide
Teach Yourself Hindi: Book and Cassette
Recommended grammar book
Outline of Hindi Grammar
Italian
Recommended course book
Contatti: Student's Book
A popular course book for beginners to GCSE level, with cassettes.
Recommended self-study guide
Italian: Level 1: Learn In Your Car
Lovely for beginners. Two cassettes and a very small vocabulary / grammar book. Lots of repetition.
Recommended grammar book
Italian Verbs and Essentials of Grammar
Describes itself as 'the one book that does it all!'. It's good.
Romanian
Recommended course book
Colloquial Romanian: A Complete Language Course
There are so few Romanian learning resources for English speakers out there, but this method is by far the best.
Recommended self-study guide
Lovely for beginners. Book and CD.
Lovely for beginners. Book and CD.
Recommended grammar book
Romanian Essential Grammar
Brilliant grammar book. One of the best around.
Spanish
Recommended course book
Espana Viva: Language Pack
Ever-popular course book with 2 cassettes.
Recommended self-study guide
Learn in Your Car: Spanish: Level 1
Lovely for beginners. Two cassettes and a very small vocabulary / grammar book. Lots of repetition.
Recommended grammar book
Schaum's Outline of Spanish Grammar
Brilliant grammar book. One of the best around.
Turkish
Recommended course book
Colloquial Turkish
This pack contains a cassette and book for an introductory course to Turkish. Written by experienced teachers of the language, "Colloquial Turkish" offers a step-by-step approach to Turkish as it is spoken and written today.
Recommended self-study guide
Turkish in Three Months
This book provides a working knowledge of Turkish. New grammar points are explained clearly and plenty of examples are given to support them.
Recommended grammar book
Turkish Grammar
Since its appearance in 1967, Professor Lewis's Turkish Grammar has been the standard work on the language throughout the English-speaking world.
Urdu
Recommended self-study guide
Teach Yourself Urdu: Book/cassette Pack
Recruitment opportunities
We maintain an open forum exclusively for :art4art: Communication teachers, allowing free exchange of ideas and techniques. Our aim is to encourage continuous professional development.
If you are interested in joining our teaching team, we would love to hear from you. Email us your CV here or give us a ring on 0800 6126 323. The call is free of charge from UK landlines.
As we just provide you with a 'taster' here, we suggest you have a look at the National Curriculum in much greater detail by visiting this Government site, the National Curriculum Online: www.nc.uk.net
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