You can learn English one-on-one! No matter your English level, our dynamic private English lessons can help you boost your verbal and written English communication skills.
Whether you need academic English, business English, or general English, we have flexible private English class options online or on campus in Northampton, MA.
Program Details
English Private Tutorial: Definition
When you take private English classes, you work individually with a trained English tutor. Your tutor creates lessons that are right for your level and important for your goals. In private English lessons, you can control what, when, and how you student English. You can study academic English for school, business English for work, or social English for everyday life in the US.
Program Info
Tuition FeesFrom $50 – $85 per hour per person
Language levelsBeginner and up
Location
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X
Online
Taking classes online means receiving live lessons with your ILI teacher via a video call at a pre-scheduled time.
In-person
In-person lessons take place at our campus in downtown Northampton, MA and require your physical attendance.
Online / In‑person
Minimum age17
FrequencyYou decide
Group Size
Average1
Maximum2
Course Timings
DurationYou decide
Your Private English Schedule
Online and in-person private English lessons give you flexibility to choose when your lessons take place (between 8am and 9pm, Monday to Friday), how long they last, and how frequently they are scheduled. Just book a total number of hours and we work with you to figure out the best schedule. The length of your course is determined by how many hours you purchase.
TIP: The best way to learn English with a private instructor is to book a block of hours to establish a time-frame and regular routine to your lessons.
Benefits of Private English lessons
One-on-one English classes with your own private English tutor gives you the best opportunity to:
Learn English with a friendly teacher who can guides you
Practice English intensively to become more fluent
Focus on the areas of English where you need the most help
Increase your fluency if you already have good English speaking skills
Select lesson times that are best for your schedule, even if it’s busy
You can learn online or come to our school in Northampton for lessons
Our teachers
Four ILI English teachers in front of the school on a sunny day.
All of our English instructors are dedicated professionals with Master’s Degrees or TESOL certificates. ILI is also a teacher training center, which means ILI’s staff are up to date with the latest approaches to English language teaching, from group Intensive English courses to private English lessons.
As well as controlling your own schedule and shaping content of your private English lessons at ILI, you also get to choose whether you attend classes you prefer to stay online or face-to-face in Northampton MA, USA.
In-person, private English tuition in Northampton, Massachusetts
Visit our school in downtown Northampton for your private English class and join our friendly community of language learners and teachers.
We’re just a few minutes’ walk from the Roundhouse parking lot and the Peter Pan Bus Terminal (Peter Pan line, R42, R44).
In-person private English lessons recreate the kinds of real-life situations you may find yourself in when you’re speaking English in the USA. Plus, you get to meet our welcoming team and other fellow students.
Online private English tuition with ILI
Our online private English classes will also be with a real human, in real time. The private English lessons will be created just for you in the same way as with the in-person option.
One big benefit of online classes is that it saves you the logistical hassle of getting to and from the school each lesson. If you’re busy, you save time by just logging in and out for your private English lesson.
Northampton, Massachusetts is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) and observes daylight saving time (DST). You can arrange private English lessons with a tutor from anywhere in the world, so long as they fit into ILI’s working day. You can check out the compatibility of your time zone here.
If you’re not sure which private English tuition option is best for you, please contact us and we can discuss this with you.
On the first day of your Private English lesson, we will give you an informal assessment to make sure we completely understand your current level and your language needs.
If you’re going to be sharing your class with someone else, we’ll want to be sure that your levels are compatible with each other, so you can both benefit from your English classes.
Tier 1: Basic English in Use
A1 Beginner Level : IEP classes teach you basic vocabulary and short phrases for survival in everyday situations. You learn the fundamentals of building sentences and questions and naming important objects, places, people, and activities.
A2 Elementary Level: IEP classes help you engage in simple conversations, give short presentations, make longer sentences, and write short paragraphs about familiar topics. You improve basic grammatical structures, pronunciation, and vocabulary to communicate about travel, school, and daily life using general English.
Tier 2: Intermediate English in Use
B1 Intermediate: IEP classes teach you how to communicate appropriately and clearly in most social, work, and school situations with greater ease. You work on correcting grammatical errors, using some academic and business English, and revising longer pieces of writing. You expand your knowledge of most common grammatical structures, while incorporating some idiomatic language into presentations and texts.
B2 Upper Intermediate: IEP classes help you communicate effectively about both familiar and unexpected topics in most social, business, and university situations with less strain and greater detail. You expand your academic and business English skills while reading authentic articles, composing essays, and conversing with a large degree of independence. Students on the University Pathways Track may receive a recommendation for an ILI Partner School upon achieving competency in B2 CEFR, which correlates approximately to TOEFL iBT 80+ and IELTS 6.5+.
Tier 3: Advanced English in Use
C1 Advanced: Classes prepare you to speak, write, read, and listen in collaboration with native speakers in most professional and academic situations with relative ease. You enhance interpersonal skills to advance your career in an English speaking country, fixing minor grammatical errors and incorporating a wide range of grammatical structures, idioms and nuanced expressions to persuade, clarify, and elaborate.
C2 Proficiency: Classes support you as you master the ability to understand, synthesize, and analyze virtually everything heard or read. You enhance your knowledge of slang and jargon, perfect complex grammar and idiomatic language, and polish your communication skills for any professional or academic setting with consistent ease.
Your Progress in English
One big question you might have is how long do you need to study English until you reach your goals? The answer is not simple. Many factors affect the rate of your progress in English, such as:
Your start level in English
Your learning pace and style of learning.
Your commitment to homework, self-study, and using English outside of school.
How well you cope with English-only instruction in the classroom and how comfortable you are joining in with classroom activities.
Your native language. It’s a fact that native speakers of some languages, like Spanish or French, may make progress faster than speakers of other languages, such as Arabic or Chinese.
Here is an approximation of how long it takes to go from Beginner level to each of the following levels if you are in a 21 hour a week program:
A0 – A1 | Beginner to Elementary2-3 monthsThe learning journey from Beginner to Elementary takes about 2 to 3 months on average. Elementary is TOEFL iBT 0 – 20 | IELTS 0 – 2
A1 – A2 | Elementary to Upper Elementary3-5 monthsIt takes about 3 to 5 months to go from Beginner to Upper Elementary. Upper Elementary level is TOEFL iBT 20 – 40 | IELTS 2 – 4
A2 – B1 | Upper Elementary to Intermediate 6-8 monthsIt takes about 6 to 8 months to go from Beginner to Intermediate level in English. Intermediate is TOEFL iBT 40 – 60 | IELTS 4 – 6
B1 – B2 | Intermediate to Upper Intermediate8-9 monthsIt takes approximately 8 to 9 months of lessons and language immersion to go from Beginner to Upper Intermediate English. Upper Intermediate is TOEFL iBT 70 – 95 | IELTS 6 – 7
B2 – C1 | Upper Intermediate to Advanced9-10 monthsIt will take around 9 to 10 months to go from Beginner to an Advanced level of English. Advanced is TOEFL iBT 95 – 110 | IELTS 7 – 8
C1 – C2 | Advanced to Proficiency11 months +It will take at least 11 months to go from Beginner to Proficiency, with a considerable amount of time and effort in and out of class. Proficiency is TOEFL iBT 110 – 120 | IELTS 8 – 9
We’re certain that you’ll have some questions ahead of launching into a private English program, and that’s why we’re here to help.
Here are some of the questions we get asked the most. Please use the form below to get in touch, and we’ll be right back to you.
Selected FAQs
Flexibility is one of the many benefits of a private tutorial. As long as the teacher is available, you can set up your tutorial to meet your scheduling needs.
It’s normal to purchase a block of hours and schedule regular lessons with your teacher each week. The length of your private course is then determined by how many hours you purchase.
A private tutorial means one student with one teacher.
1 hour only: $85
Tier 1: 1 to 9 hours of class time at $75.00 per hour
Tier 2: 10 to 19 hours: $70.00 per hour
Tier 3: 20 or more hours: $65.00 per hour
You can purchase any number of tutorial hours. We honor the discounted rate once you accumulate over 9 and again over 19 hours.
In other words, you purchase 5 hours to start at 5 x $75 = $375 then decide to add 5 more which would bring you to 10 accumulated hours. You would then pay the $70 rate ($350)
For cancellations we ask that you give your instructor 24 hours notice. There is no charge the first time you do not attend a confirmed session. After that, any time you do not join a confirmed session, regular charges will apply — even if you send late notification. Refunds are calculated based on the number of hours used and which price tier was reached. For instance: if you purchased 10 hours (10 x $70 = $700, the Tier 2 rate) but only use 7 hours (7 x $75= $525, the Tier 1 rate) your refund will be $175 ($700 – $525)
Private tutorials can be scheduled for online or in-person at ILI in Northampton.
Yes you can. We recommend a minimum of 10 hours of private language lessons because as that allows your teacher to plan your learning trajectory and help you achieve the best progress.
The first thing to remember when you’re taking private language lessons is that you get to go at your own pace. That’s because you’re in the driver’s seat!
Since there is no one else in the class, you get to set targets to match your specific goals.
There are no requirements however, we recommend that you follow up after lessons to keep refreshing what you’ve learned.
But the harder you work between lessons (including things like watching TV in the language you’re learning, and all the other great free ways of practicing the language), the faster you’ll get there.
We don’t expect you to do this perfectly, but a lot of language learning is about repetition, so the more times you see, say and hear the language through the week, the more it will sink in and become part of your own vocabulary, ready to expand in the next lesson to impress your teacher!
You can book any amount of hours for private English lessons. Here are some popular choices one-on-one English classes:
Private, individual 1:1 English lessons
These are the prices if it’s just you taking private English lessons with your teacher. The price is the same whether you study English online or face-to-face in our language school at ILI Northampton, Massachusetts.
1-hour, one-off English lesson$85Ideal for a taster lesson
5 hours of Private English$375
10-hour Private English course$700Ideal as a refresher or to get some basics
20-hour Private English course$1,400Good for moving up a level
Private, two-person, 2:1 English lessons
These are the prices if you are going to take English lessons with your teacher and a friend, colleague or family member (online or face-to-face at ILI Northampton):
1-hour, one-time English lesson for two$50 eachGreat to find out how you get on with each other!
5 hours of 2:1 Private English $225 each
10 hours of 2:1 Private English $450 each
20-hour 2:1 Private English course$900 each
If you require a different course duration or a different class time to usual, please get in touch and we’ll tell you what’s possible and provide you with a quote.
Refunds are calculated based on the number of hours used and which price tier was reached. For instance: if you purchased 10 hours (10 x $70 = $700, the Tier 2 rate) but only use 7 hours (7 x $75= $525, the Tier 1 rate) your refund will be $175 ($700 – $525 )
Complaint Procedure
Students are encouraged to voice their opinions during feedback in class and directly to the instructor. If a student has further concerns about the class or program, World Language students should contact the World Language Coordinator, Heather Hall, by email. Further concerns should be brought to the attention of the Executive Director, Caroline Gear. Contact information is below. Students will receive a confirmation of receipt of complaint within 7 days. The final step in resolving a complaint is to contact ACCET, the agency that accredits the school. You can find the ACCET complaint procedure here.
ILI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical handicap, political belief or affiliation, membership or non-membership in any organization, or veteran status in any aspect of the administration or treatment of students or in employment. ILI is committed to ensure that all of its services are accessible to qualified persons with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
ILI is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training and the International Association of Language Centres and a member of the American Association on Intensive English Programs
Raiza Perez learned English at ILI
