I don’t know if you agree with the statement put forward in the title of this text, but you surely must agree that shadow education is an issue increasingly raised by school owners, by persons willing to learn a foreign language and by our customers.
To start with, it would be worthwhile explaining what private tutoring actually is. According to Wikipedia definition „private tutoring comprises supplementary extra-school classes, which aim to refresh the learning material and to assist the students in doing the school homework.”
How does that relate to private foreign language lessons? In the case of foreign language learning, private tutoring frequently takes the form not of supplementary education but becomes the basic form of learning received individually in a place chosen by the course participant.
Why do course participants choose private tutoring?
There is no single correct answer to such question. Most of us will certainly think at once about lower lessons prices, due to lack of costs that a language school has to bear and a private tutor does not. Entry barrier into the private tutoring market is very low. Private tutors are frequently students, they do not pursue economic activity, so consequently they do not incur additional financial outlays. But due to individual character of private lessons their cost is still much higher than is the case of group classes in language schools. What factors determine selection of such form of learning?
First, flexibility. A course participant can optimally plan a series of meetings with the tutor. For similar reason individual classes in language schools enjoy unfaltering popularity. Moreover many people think that learning is less effective at group courses.
Second, convenience. Private lessons usually take place wherever the customer chooses. Consequently the time taken for a two-hour lesson is actually two hours, and not three or four it would take for travelling to and from the school.
Third, a native speaker. More and more people looking for private lessons would like the tutor to teach own native language.
From my experience those are the basic factors why so many people opt for private lessons instead of choosing the offer of language schools. Those elements make course participants more often reach for solutions which enjoy a growing popularity and may take another course participants away from language schools. The said solutions are such portals as LiveMocha or italki offering the option of online learning. In a nutshell – a person willing to give lessons registers at the portal providing information about their command of foreign languages. A course participant searches for persons meeting their criteria, and then make lesson appointment, e.g. over Skype. I will not dwell into details of the aforementioned portals because this is not the purpose of this entry. Their popularity can be evidenced by the number of Facebook likes. Over 647 thousand fans of LiveMocha and additional 74 thousand people liking italki sound impressive. I asked four questions to my friends whom I know to be users of those portals to collect info about their motivations:
– Why have you decided to use Italki service?
Martha: – I read about italki by accident somewhere on the Internet and decided I had to give it a try. Frankly speaking I was tired of traditional lessons at which I always had to arrive at the assigned time, regardless of whether I want and have energy to learn at the given moment. On the one hand, such classes strongly motivate but on the other I think that learning should be pleasant, it should derive from internal need, not from a must. What’s more, owing to italki I manage to save a lot of time I used to waste on travelling to classes. I think italki is an excellent solution for people like me, who live intensely and spontaneously.
Christopher: – I want to start as soon as possible communicating with „natives” and learn communicative language.
Thomas: – I opted to use italki due to flexible class schedules and the possibility to learn conveniently from any place. Other advantages of this service include individual classes in reasonable prices, access to a huge number of “natives” from all over the world.
– What strengths of this solution you can see?
Martha: – Definitely easy and fast access, the possibility to learn at any time and from virtually any place. It’s also cool that through italki I can get to know people from all over the world.
Christopher: – Many available people for each language. This is very convenient; I can talk over Skype when it suits me best. The community of people learning languages so everyone is open to conversation. Additional options, e.g. a board, where you write a text and people can check it for you for free.
Thomas: – Generally speaking I said it all in the first answer. Definitely native speakers are the decisive factor.
– Can you also see some disadvantages?
Martha: – Generally speaking none, but I think this is not a solution for everyone. I think some people will come to their own better in a traditional system of lessons. Not everyone is able to motivate themselves for regular learning.
Christopher: – I don’t know myself. Even the price is not a problem.
Thomas: – Self-discipline or flexible class schedule can be a disadvantage in this case.
– Would you use a similar offer (online learning) offered by a language school?
Martha: – Very much so. I think this would be a cool idea to combine traditional learning with on-line learning.
Christopher: – As for tutors over Skype – perhaps, because this is convenient. A friend uses tutors from Poland over Skype, but for me the fact that I’m taught by a girl student from Torin or I talk to a guy from Naples who studied at ELKA (a faculty of the Warsaw Technical University) gives me the possibility of getting in touch with live language.
Thomas: – Certainly yes. This would help me to systematize the lessons. If you get to like some course instructor it would be cool to have access to them outside school.
We can see that online private lessons are becoming more and more popular. Very often it is the convenience and flexibility and not the price of such solutions that determine the choice of such form of learning. But it is worthwhile stressing they have also some disadvantages, which their users are aware of. And that is why I would like you to see in them not only a threat but also an opportunity for language schools.
It is worthwhile to opt for expansion of the offer with online lessons or so-called blended learning, to meet the expectations of the course participants. There are many tools, starting from such known by everyone as Skype, through paid-for tools for performance of webinars, such as e.g. GoToWebinar, the powerful Adobe Connect platform or the Online Learning module in LangLion Platfrom created specifically for language schools. Implementation of such solutions provides language schools with a real chance to win new course participants. More and more school take advantage of this chance.
LangLion team monitors the trends emerging in education and consequently expands the functionalities of the Platform. For quite a long time we have been also offering to our customers the free module of Online Learning, which is more and more eagerly used by language schools. By integrating it with electronic class register we have offered to schools a powerful and convenient tool. So we are not surprised by the fact that some customers of the LangLion Platform offer only online lessons. Nevertheless a majority of them decide to use them also for expansion of the offer for customers. If you want to try out our LangLion Platform just go to http://langlion.com/en/, and register for free of any charge 30-day trial.