Skype lessons, or distance learning with a live teacher, what is it like?

October is time for magic. Colourful leaves, roasted chestnuts, long, rainy nights and of course – Halloween! I must admit that I’ve felt a bit of that magic since I first started teaching English to children online through our e-learning platform and Virtual Classroom.

Skype lessons for young children

From the first day on, I’ve been privileged to “fly” into their homes, their living rooms and studies, not necessarily as a Halloween witch with a pointy hat (that’s not how you want your students to see you), but rather as a modern-times Mary Poppins.  Minus the umbrella.

As Mary Poppins used to say: “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.”

Convenient for everyone involved

That’s how I like to teach. One huge benefit of guided online learning is focus and flexibility. The student and the teacher access interactive content on GO, our e-learning platform. The teacher, parents and children regularly decide on when to meet. Your lessons can be in the morning or in the evening, during holidays and travels, come rain or shine or when one of you has a cold.

An element of fun

As a teacher, I’ll plan and prepare the day’s topic which includes specific sets of activities. Our learners are surprisingly focused – that’s part of the magic of distance learning. I think this may be because neither the teacher nor the student can afford to be distracted – we are not in the same room.

Sometimes, your student, in a flash, wants to know more about, let’s say, dinosaurs from “The Land Before Time” animated film. Fantastic! It’s easy to make them happy! Just quickly search the Internet and find all you need to know about Littlefoot (Apatosaurus), Ducky (Saurolophus) or Spike (Stegosaurus). Then share your screen, like magic.

I was surprised by their focus and concentration

From there on, you’ll end up teaching anything from (pre)historic animals facts (“Apatosaurus was a herbivore”) to family relations (“Littlefoot is traveling to meet his grandparents”), or jobs (“People who make animated movies are called animators. And what would you like to do when you grow up?”). Lessons keep a natural spontaneity. Best of all, students can review at any time during the week, on their own or with a parent or sibling. We’ve had one boy play memory games with his grandfather.

Of course, each lesson is adapted to the student’s age and level of English (or any other language course). Another plus is that there is no software download, our virtual classroom is accessible in one click. Finally, each child’s learning area is private and secured with a login.

Rich and varied learning

This is why in my experience, language acquisition online with a live teacher is productive, highly effective, convenient, and easily accessible and fun – both for the student and the teacher.

October is time for magic. Give your little trick-or-treater a very special gift for this Halloween – a gift of distance-learning English lessons, with our highly qualified, experienced and motivated teachers!

Meet the teachers first – it’s easy

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Candy is great for a trick-or-treater, but learning English is even sweeter. 😀

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