Just as with any topic or talent—there are many kinds of people, of all ages and backgrounds, who come to try their hand at it. When it comes to learning English, there are many types of beginners: Native speakers who enroll in elementary school, adults who speak a foreign language and want to start learning English, and even those who are scholars in other languages but want to try their hands at something new. If you need English lessons for beginners, you might be wondering where to start.
Here, forks the road. Will you choose the route of self-disciplined study with textbooks or apps? Will you seek out the “professional” road by hiring an in-home, local, private tutor to bring you the challenge of English learning each week at steep hourly rates? Will you try a class, or two, or three, and progress all the way to “Advanced English 4” before realizing you can hardly hold your own in a casual question-and-answer session? Luckily, those are not all of your options.
The final option has come with the advent of the internet which continues to open doors, in our lives and in our minds. Through platforms like Eurekly, people of all ages, all backgrounds, are taking lessons in English for beginners and so much more. They don’t worry about the frustrations that come with the other options. Let’s see what benefits appear along the way as we explore this path to English.
Better than Books and Apps
Books are fundamental. Books are wonderful, and indispensable sources of knowledge when you know the language in which they are written. But, they are not to be confused with actual teachers. Many people have tried in vain to teach themselves languages from sheer grit and grind by repeating after themselves from the pages of a textbook, and perhaps some have succeeded. For the most part, the evidence suggests other techniques (like technology and tutoring) are superior.
The Journal of Computer Assisted Language Learning recently found that technology really does help students absorb English, even when they’re not just beginners, but learning as a foreign language. This seems to be an advantage of apps that promise to teach languages at your own pace, but the challenge is that these apps lack that teacherly element. They are pre-programmed, smart-but-unresponsive, and one-size-fits-all approaches to English that simply don’t work for all beginners.
Online tutoring has the advantage of flexibility here: it uses both of the most effective tools for teaching while also being responsive to students by staying one-on-one in approach. It gives you the individual attention, listening, and instruction you want. But, isn’t that the same as local tutoring? Not really.
Less Pain than Local Instruction or Institutions
Local tutors come in a slim supply. Because of that, they can charge higher rates for their limited time and their in-demand talents. You’ll pay more for a local tutor than you would for any other option (except maybe a university-level course). You also have to meet their conditions of when to meet, where to meet, and how to go about getting their services—none of that is figured out in advance in any standardized way because of their freelance nature. If you choose to go the college route, don’t expect to pay any less.
If all you want to do is flex your English to the point that you can eventually speak like a professional—a university, college, or community class is the long way. You won’t get individual time with the instructor, and you’ll go at the pace of the last-to-follow student in the room. The process can be full of frustration as you compete for the ability to get a question in edgewise or wonder why you’re wasting time on English lessons that won’t serve your actual life or work experience.
Tutoring, in this sense, is completely yours when it happens online. They can help you improve your English in the areas that you need. Moreover, tutors price to compete, giving you lessons as low as $10 per session, and some have the ability to give you a free trial session. Online tutoring is the fastest route too—you move at your pace, not at the pace of other students or local tutors, by choosing the where and when of English lessons.
Putting Flexibility to Powerful Features
With online tutoring through Eurekly, you get an online tutor dedicated to your learning as a unique individual. The virtual classroom is equipped to serve every need with features to present, screenshare, take notes, send files, attach assignments, set reminders, and more.
Even if you feel like a beginner in your quest for English mastery, online tutoring is your chance to get a leg up. The right online tutor can bring fun to English lessons that helpfully guide you along the path of fully styled sentences and new, nuanced vocabulary like you can’t yet imagine!
