Online Classes - Are they worth it?

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Overview of Online Classes

While developing my language skills online I have mainly learned through two methods: online classes and individual learning. As of now, I’ve had 290 hours worth of 1-to-1 classes through Preply, as well as group courses on the LTL Language School website, online courses and sessions on social media platforms.

Online classes can usually be split into three types; One-to-One Classes, Small Group Classes and Online Courses. In this blog I will give my own account of learning through online classes, and the benefits and drawbacks of each setting.

One-to-One Classes

TLDR: Ensuring a high-quality lesson with handmade lesson materials will drive up the price, but be worth it if quality learning is the most important aspect. Passionate learners will likely prefer these.

Quality: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

These classes are done in real time, and offer the closest relationship between the teacher and the learner. One-to-one classes are also the best for ensuring student comprehension and participation, because tutors can immediately elaborate on points and slow down/speed up as necessary.

Before the class begins, the tutor can reach out to discuss learning goals, which they will take into consideration while preparing the trial class. These goals could be as specific as needing to learn a difficult grammar point, or as broad as ‘survival Chinese’ or ‘conversational French’. If given, homework will be related to the lesson, and learning resources are closely catered to the learner’s level.

Price: 🌟🌟

It is very easy to find cheap tutors, but choosing the more experienced and qualified tutors will often yield to the most progress - there is often a reason they are so expensive. Even though each language tutor will try their best to meet the learner’s specific learning goals, be aware that they most likely have a large number of students, and tutors on the cheaper end might struggle to fully tailor classes to each person. Because of this, broader learning goals are the way to go unless the tutor is more expensive. On average, one-to-one classes are the most expensive option of the three.

Convenience: 🌟🌟🌟

To begin learning, simply visit the website, choose the target language, and book a one-off trial class with one of the showcased tutors. Depending on the platform, lessons can either be paid for one at a time or in a slightly discounted bulk package. Some teachers may not have the same availability as you, especially if they live in a different time zone. Having many students can also affect their availability. Despite this, class times can often be shifted and moved to meet the needs of the student and teacher. It is also possible to have multiple tutors to achieve different learning goals, although this leads to a disconnect between the teachers’ awareness of the student’s learning curve. Assuming there is a popular teacher with lots of students, the convenience factor isn’t going to be very high.

Note: Some platforms don’t pay teachers for trial classes. In this circumstance, the teacher may prioritise existing students over new prospects.

Small Group Classes

TLDR: Small group classes are also in a live setting, and will see you in small student groups with a single teacher at a moderate cost. Learners who are collaborative and confident will thrive in this type of online class.

Quality: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Because these classes aren’t tailored to a specific student, they are usually topic-based. In LTL’s case, after buying credits the learner can book interesting topics at a suitable language level.

Group learning is excellent for promoting discourse during online sessions, as students can be encouraged to interact with each other. This will make conversations feel more familiar and have a better flow in the future. However, a notable downside of this type of learning is that unless there is a particularly observational teacher leading the class, introverted students have an excuse to hide behind high-flying or extroverted students, which could inhibit their progress.

Price: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

To start learning the learner will most commonly buy a class package. Due to multiple students paying for a single class, this option is intrinsically much cheaper than 1-to-1 sessions. Another reason for this is that it doesn’t take up so much of the teachers time, as classes are prepared in advance by either the teacher or the organisation itself. Something to look out for is whether or not there is a refund option after bulk buying sessions in case it isn’t for you. Some websites don’t offer this, so the money is locked in as credits that need to be used.

Convenience: 🌟🌟

Availability is usually better for group classes, as there can be multiple teachers involved in the learning process, and each class will have multiple students instead of just one. While classes may be available at most times, due to the nature of group classes there is a chance that these classes are ones that either aren’t of interest or have already been taken. Class times also can’t be moved, as there are multiple students booking. Therefore group classes are slightly less convenient than one-to-one classes.

Online Courses

TLDR: Online courses are by far the most independent of the three online class types, as the materials are provided up-front, and there is no tutor to have live conversations with you. This type of learning is the cheapest overall, although sometimes at the cost of quality.

Quality: 🌟🌟

Online courses can give you a comprehensive run-through of a curriculum, sometimes even spanning an entire grade level. As online language courses can sometimes not include a live tutor at all, meaning that all of your learning is just individualised learning supplemented by the course. Online courses will usually contain a road-map theme, and each section will begin with a video or core learning segment before providing activities and exercises to test your understanding. Some courses offer a certificate upon completion, which can then be used on a CV or resume. Due to the lack of flexibility in these classes, the learning content is fixed and can only ever teach a set amount, which can impact the lesson quality.

Price: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Usually a course will provide the beginning segment for free, meaning that you have access to resources at no cost, and can decide if the course is for you. Once the course is made by developers, it doesn’t need constant monitoring. Therefore, if the course is sold by a popular company, the price shouldn’t be unreasonable. One single payment will usually unlock all of the lessons, too, meaning that it won’t be an ongoing expense. If a monthly or yearly subscription is offered, this gives even more variety to how you pay for classes.

Convenience: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Through an online course, you can accurately track your progress by going through a pre-selected, step-by-step programme. A benefit of this type of learning is that because all of the learning materials are provided upon payment, you can do as much or as little of the course as you want at any given time, and aren’t locked in to a class. Because these aren’t live sessions with a tutor, there won’t be a clear-cut method to get a quick response to any burning questions about the learning content, and it might also prove difficult to find elaboration on things that might not be explained too well in a video. However, there will be comment boards that will likely have the question already posted and responded to by the developer (and even other learners, who sometimes explain things even better!).

Textbook Learning

While textbook learning isn’t exclusive to online learning, it is worth mentioning. This will mainly be used in 1-to-1 or group learning sessions.

Benefits of Textbook Learning

Often, tutors will use a textbook and guide the student through it. This is good for multiple reasons:

- From the tutor’s perspective, using a textbook saves lots of time that would be spent designing PowerPoints and learning aids. It also lets the tutor have an on-paper record of exactly where the student is in their learning journey. This will ensure that you can always pick up where you left off, even after a long study break.

- From the student’s perspective, using a textbook lets the student have an idea of what they will be learning in the future, as well as providing a tried-and-tested approach to their target language. Sure, sometimes bad lessons happen and teaching ideas don’t connect with the learner, but with textbook learning, the odds of this are significantly reduced. Textbooks can also be annotated, and while this can look messy for any perfectionists out there, I promise that if you write notes on a textbook it will lead to language comprehension coming much quicker. Writing notes on a textbook during a lesson can mean that if you are reviewing something, you can immediately re-answer any questions you have by looking at what you have written.

Drawbacks of Textbook Learning

The main negative of this is that textbook learning can become tedious and boring, and for some this can happen very quickly. This is especially difficult if you just aren’t a textbook learner. There are many ways to learn a language, such as role-play, games and creative practice. While textbooks do try to take this into account, it can be very hard and time-consuming for a teacher to bring a textbook to life for so many different types of learners, as there will be some activities and exercises that the student simply doesn’t want to do.

Conclusion

Hopefully this blog helps learners decide which learning method is best for them! There is no objectively correct choice here, and people can attain their goals through any of the options. Good luck in your learning journey!