Getting a tutor is not the whole solution - it is one of the keys

Once in a while, each instructor gets a phone call, email or text message from a potential student that makes one feel uncomfortable. The reason is in the student's apparent belief that simply getting an ESL tutor would make their English soar to new heights. Without any work involved, that is.

Learning English (or any other language, for that matter) is not and should not be as simple as hiring someone to do the heavy lifting for you. This is, after all, about what goes on in your brain. Yes, your ESL instructor knows English (one would hope), but does that immediately make your own English proficiency better? No, it does not. Yet the erroneous impression on the part of some learners remains.

For this reason, instructors tend to shy away from those that want to hear some guarantees of rapid improvement. Without diligent work on the part of the student, all of the instructors' promises, credentials and reassurances are meaningless to the matter at hand: helping the student with their English.