In an ideal world you would have one teacher, spending all of his time just teaching you. This is called one-to-one teaching and as you can guess it is extremely expensive. You are paying for the teachers salary all by yourself.

Most language schools will have a maximum number of students in a class, usually around 12-15 students. If the number exceeds this they will open another class. The smaller this number, the more time the teacher can spend on you every hour. During the low season (winter, fall) the average number of students in a class can be even lower, about 8-10.

If the number of students in a class goes over 15 it will be very hard for your teachers to recognize you and spend time on your particular needs. It will also be very hard for you to participate, make suggestions, ask questions and practice your speaking in such a large group.

In many cities you can find language schools offering their courses for a range of prices. One fairly standard rule is that the lower your tuition fees are the more students there will be in each class. This is not completely true but it is usually a good rule of the thumb.

One good way to avoid crowded classes is not to travel overseas during the peak seasons (winter & summer holidays) for the schools. Or to pick a school that is slightly off the beaten track and that can offer good quality tuition all year round because they do not have overcrowded classes.