Teacher Charlie's news and adventures from the world; Korea to Germany and all points in between!

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Learn English Online - New Methods in Online Teaching

With recent breakthroughs in typical methods of communication, it is now possible to pick up a new language in a shorter amount of time than ever before. This includes new methods of online teaching, including using tools such as Skype to communicate with students that live at a great distance. If you are interested in how to best learn English online, you’ll want to first look into these various methods, to find the best fit for your needs. To begin with, it’s a good idea to see what is out there, and how this could fit into your current skill set.

A good rule of thumb is to first examine why you are most interested in learning English. If you need it for upcoming travels, for example, you might have vastly different needs than those who need to learn English online for business purposes. There is a completely different vocabulary involved, and a different way of viewing lessons. When you are learning English for more informal reasons, for example, your instructor might place a higher emphasis on slang terms, rather than the business lessons that would focus on a more formal type of English.

When you are searching for the best program to learn English online, you’ll want to take these different needs into consideration. You can articulate these needs to the online language school, so that they are better able to tailor their teaching methods to meet your expectations. With the use of Skype, you will be able to see and hear your instructor, so you will receive a more technologically advanced method of instruction, that most closely mimics having someone in the same room to practice your English with. This can then be supplemented by online videos, songs, and other multimedia methods. Studies have shown that the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it as much as possible.

Unfortunately, total immersion isn’t possible for many people, because it costs money and time to go to another country and stay there until you are fluent. Yet when you choose to learn English online instead, you can get the next best thing, by throwing yourself into a new culture. Using these new methods of online learning has opened up the doors to learning a new language that wasn’t available even a few years ago. As the world becomes more and more international, this is ever more important.
By Grace Rimando
Published: 1/4/2011

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