The one major benefit of having main teachers (at least in my experience) is that they know the new words you have learned and may repeat them on the next lesson. This repetition helps move the newly acquired vocabulary to the long-term memory, which is important when learning a language.
I think before reaching the advanced stage, it can be hard to work with many teachers if your priority is effectiveness. Topics will get repeated - not always a bad thing, but sometimes more time-consuming than worthwhile - and it makes it harder to track your progress systematically.
I also tend to have a favorite. I try a few teachers but I usually find one I really like and then other lessons don't seem as enjoyable. So for me, I try to stick to one person with occasional conversations with others.
Thank you all for your advices. I still cannot make up my mind. I think at the beginning it's useful to stick to one teacher to advance, though I started to learn my actual target language at an institute (intensive course) where we had several teachers native ones and non natives. I enjoyed it.
You are right Roy, maybe I focus to much on conversation, but I am quite advanced in grammar and have a BIG difficulty learning new vocabulary. Actually I am lazy, I do not spent time memorizing things, I never use flash cards for example, and I just adore meeting new teachers and reading novels, looking at films, trying to understand politics, having an insight in the life of people of different cultures concerning the language I am learning (ithe Arabic world is big, has along history and the actual situation is complex).
Thank you Guyomar for your post, it's good to hear from a teacher who is herself a (excellent) language learner. Unfortunately I am not at an advanced stage yet, because I am probably too curious and spend more time reading interesting cultural facts then memorizing vocabulary.
Sobian , I agree with you repetition is very important and that's the reason why I feel a little bit lost at the moment. I do not repeat systematically what I learned!
Mohamed (Simo) I try to understand the natives but it takes a huge time looking at films and Tv series.
Your note reads as if you are not focusing upon vocabulary and reading - only focusing upon conversation.
The problem with conversation is we quickly forget our conversations.
But, to answer your question: I prefer one or two main teachers, so they can focus on growing my capability. And several teachers so I do not learn only one or two accents and then get lost when someone with a different accent speaks.
Good luck.
Roy
