Is Online tutoring effective to learn a Foreign language like Spanish?

Nowadays due to the covid-19 situation online tutoring has become extremely popular. Students that would have never considered to learn a new language like Spanish with an online tutor for example went to the internet to find a Spanish tutor to take Spanish lessons online. 

But still some people doubt of the effectiveness of learning a new language with a tutor online. In this article we reply some of the most common questions that students have.

Is online tutoring effective to learn a new language like Spanish?

Yes definitely taking Spanish lesson online it is as effective as learning face to face. As far as the teacher is experienced in online teaching the lessons will be efficient.

An experienced teacher will have all the resources available for you to learn like if you were present in class. The tutor will share with you an online copy of the books if you don’t have a hard copy and the interaction and teaching will take place in a very similar manner as if the lesson was face to face.

When learning a new language the teacher has to be able not only to teach you something but engage with you and make you interact to apply the knowledge that she or he is teaching you. Therefore it will influence the most in your learning if the teacher is a good one or not, rather than if the lesson is online or face to face.

What are the advantages of learning a language online?

First, given the Spanish lessons are not physically it means it is easier for you and the teacher to agree on a time that is convenient for both parties. Second both of you will save on travelling time. That also means that the teacher will be willing to teach at more affordable prices.

Finally if the teacher is experienced enough he or she will make you feel during the class as if the lesson was taking place in person and therefore there will not be any differences in terms of quality. Being lessons online there is also the possibility to record the class, meaning that you can easily go over the things taught by yourself after the class.

What are the disadvantages of online learning?

The main disadvantage especially with kids is that is difficult for them to keep concentrated for a long time. When Spanish language learning is in person the teacher has more choices of games and interactions to keep the concentration span while if the lesson is online the teacher cannot control if the student is getting self-distracted on his phone or because of the TV. In terms of adult students if both parties are disciplined this will not occur.

How can I make sure that my tutor is experienced in online teaching?

It is recommended that you use a language centre, agency or tutoring platform where they are responsible of selecting and choosing the teachers. Some tutoring platforms will display how many hours has that teacher taught via their website.

If you are contacting a language school they will make sure that they only recommend you teachers that are experienced enough, as their reputation is on the line. However If you choose to contact a teacher online by yourself and you can’t really verify his experience online you might get a cheaper price but a much worse learning outcome.

How long will it take for me to learn?

Learning a new language is a long term goal. It all depends of the level of proficiency that you will like to reach. For the first stage, also called A1 in the European Framework of Reference for Languages you need to learn around 80-100 hours. After this amount of learning you can expect to have covered all the topics necessary for daily communication at a basic level.

This for example includes talking about your likes and dislikes, talking about your daily routine, hobbies, food, your home and your town, describing people etc. The next level will be A2 which already includes being able to express yourself in a wider range of topics and also in different tenses like past, future and conditional.

This is the level recommended to have meaningful conversations with native speakers and being able to understand for example movies and TV shows. It will take around 100 hours to reach this level on top of the 80-100 hours for A1. After this level the advanced ones are B1 and B2. Each of them will require an additional 120 hours. The final level is C1 which mans you can speak like a native and C2 if you want to be a teacher of that foreign language.