TAKING ADVANTAGE OF LIVE ONLINE SPANISH CLASSES

     Live online Spanish classes are the best online modality for learning Spanish, although online Spanish classes offer clear advantages. The main difference between them is that if you are looking for classes online, the study center does not always refer to human interaction with live classes, but to recorded educational resources that students are given access to, such as videos, lectures, audios, practices, apps, documents in different formats, while live classes refer to an interaction with a teacher, with an expert in what she or he teaches, who can rely on other existing resources or create them, but without reducing the amount of real time of interaction with a native speaker.

     If you are paying for live online classes, and in addition to this you have a Study Plan designed for you, taking into account your educational need and the achievement of specific objectives, then you could improve your learning even more if you take into account some suggestions before, during, and after your live online class.

     First of all, to take advantage of live online classes, the students should research previously on the topic to be learned. As Tobias S. says “Prior knowledge has long been considered the most important factor influencing learning and student achievement.” (qtd. In “The Relevance of prior knowledge in Learning and Instructional Design”). For that reason, it is advisable to know the vocabulary that will be used in the class, and as well as, prepare some questions in advance of the topic and possible content.

     When students know in advance what the content is about, they will pay attention and have more opportunities to participate with questions or information during class. In addition to actively participating, note-taking is another key to improving learning. That is difficult when the teacher explains orally but does not write. Therefore, the recommendation is to make a concept map and link the main words to remember the content. In our classes, the teacher writes the necessary information and the student has access to the documents and to the recorded class when it has finished.

     The last suggestion for taking advantage of live online Spanish classes applies when the class is over. Even though there is a record or not, students should review the content just learned and prepare a summary. To achieve it, the mind map should be completed, in case it is necessary. Likewise, students could ask themselves questions and answer these using the material have just learned. The analysis and synthesis of the content will allow them to prepare a summary.

   Students can take advantage of live online Spanish classes and prepare their mind before class, participate, and reinforce the content learned after it, and added to this, not only learn specific content but also enjoy of the interaction with another human being.

Reference:

Hailikari, T., Katajavuori N. y Lindblom-Ylanne S. (2008, October 15^th). The relevance of Prior Knowledge in Learning and Instructional Design. NCBI. Recover from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2630138/

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