With internet access becoming cheaper and more accessible, more and more students are turning to online English lessons with Skype to improve their English skills rather than signing up for courses in traditional academies. When considering which type is best for you, it’s important to think about when, where and how you prefer to study. Let’s look at how the experience of learning English on the internet can differ from a physical English classroom.
Location
Of course the most obvious difference is the location: would you prefer to be in a school setting with desks, textbooks and a white board or in a virtual classroom via a webcam at home? If you need external motivation, you might feel more inspired to study English when you have to make the effort to go to a school building and work with other students. There can be lots of distractions at home - the TV, kids, pets or the telephone. But if you are quite self-disciplined, then interacting with your teacher on Skype should be motivating enough. Many students find studying from home much more comfortable and convenient because they don’t have to spend time getting to and from their lessons.
Timing
The timing of lessons is another important consideration. If you book Skype English classes, you usually have the option of choosing how long you want your lessons to be and at what time of the day and week. This flexibility is particularly useful for people who work or have families and don’t want to study at a school in the evenings or at weekends. Classes can also be taken at any time of the year and are easier to reschedule if something comes up. Of course, if you want your children or teenagers to study English during school holidays according to a traditional set timetable, language schools can give them that sense of stability.
Interaction
Depending on your personality, studying English in a conventional classroom with a group of other learners who have the same level as you could be an advantage or disadvantage. Some people thrive on the social aspect of working in groups, talking and interacting with new people. Speaking with people who have the same level of English as you can also help you build confidence. Although you can take group classes over Skype, it tends to be easier to study one-to-one with a teacher. You’ll have their full attention, rather than sharing their attention with classmates. This means a higher intensity of learning and lessons focused more on your individual needs.
Materials
There are many different styles of learning; some people learn better through pictures and images, others with music, and even others who learn best with ‘kinaesthetic’, physical activities involving bodily movement. This is no different for learning English. Think about how you learn - do you learn by handling physical objects, drawing pictures or playing games? Then a normal classroom setting might suit you better. Some students like the feel of a physical textbook with pages they can turn and notebooks they can copy information into. Others, however, respond much better to computers and technology, preferring to type rather than write and to save lessons on their computer drive. Online teachers can utilise technology during a lesson by playing Youtube videos, podcasts, radio programmes and sharing a wealth of images from the web to enrich the learning experience. This style of learning may be more suitable for audio and visual learners.
So if you’re thinking about taking an English course, whether it is online or at a school, the most important thing is to choose the option which is the most suitable and motivating for you and your needs. Good luck!
This post was written by Hannah Yurk Hannah Yurk, Online Academy Manager and Administrator of Break Into English, a company that specializes in online English classes via Skype.
