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How people will learn Portuguese in 2014

posted on January 10, 2014

This year I have been especially curious about predictions for the new year, in particular predictions regarding eLearning. Two of the articles I read recently touched on a topic that is very dear to me: the power of synchronous online learning, that is, online learning in which a group of people is connected at the same time so teachers and learners can actually interact. I’d like to explain why I think that this matters so much.

Today there are abundant resources to learn languages on your own and even for free. Do they work? Yes, maybe it is not for everyone to learn alone, but self-learning certainly works for many people for a while. But there are challenges and limitations to learning languages on your own. You need a lot of discipline. It can be kind of boring. And most importantly, you don’t have timely feedback to help you learn better. This is why we often meet learners who can read and write Portuguese pretty well, but cannot enjoy a simple conversation. And most of us learn a language to interact with other people, right? When it comes to speaking and listening comprehension, practicing with real people who can give you the right kind of timely feedback is the key. Unfortunately our friends don’t always know how to help us learn, as much as they mean well.

This is why at Street Smart Brazil we have focused our expertise and energy in delivering an effective, interactive, and convenient learning experience to our clients. We have been offering synchronous online Portuguese lessons since 2008, initially via Skype, and now with the option of using Google Hangouts for group classes. With real-time, shared video and audio, learners are completely engaged with their instructor and with other learners. You can be anywhere in the world and still enjoy a learning experience that trully is face to face.

Our journey has had challenges, too. Over the years it has been suggested that managing a high touch tutoring business is challenging and difficult to scale. This is true. But what matters to us is the experience we can offer our customers. What matters is how much our customers learn and how much they enjoy the journey. And while we continue to receive feedback like this, we will continue to carefully create and passionately deliver our online Portuguese classes.

If you are curious about the articles I mentioned above, they are here and here.

 

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About Luciana Lage

Luciana Lage founded Street Smart Brazil drawing on her passion for Brazilian Portuguese language and culture. Luciana has also taught Portuguese at University of California, Berkeley, and currently teaches at the University of San Francisco.

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