Archive for the ‘Learning English Online’ Category
Sunday, July 4th, 2010
TalktoCanada.com has primarily been focused on teaching adults, but is increasing its “kids” client base. One of our teachers — Lusi Brace — talks about her experience teaching kids online.
She says…”I believe that the online teaching is definitely a breakthrough in education. Working for TalktoCanada I have had the pleasure to teach different nationalities and different ages. In the last couple of months, I’ve started to teach children online. Although for some teachers, it can be challenging to maintain a child’s attention and concentration in a class environment, the online experience does not shy away from that same effort. I would say it requires more effort to keep the child concentrated in a virtual classroom where he or she has an easy access to internet. However as a TalktoCanada teacher I am trained and prepared with materials to keep my students interested in the lessons. I try to organize the lessons to meet each of my student’s needs. I believe that it is important to get as personal in understanding and helping the student whose needs might vary from learning the language, building vocabulary, or reinforcing their reading and comprehension. In a virtual classroom I have from 3 students to just one so it is easy for me to help them acquire the knowledge and skills that they need. When I teach children online I try to keep the lessons as entertaining and simple without forgetting the necessary and essential points of the lesson. More importantly it is easier to also keep in touch with the parents and communicate their child’s strengths, weaknesses and improvements. I welcome any concerns that the parents might have about their child and try to work with them to help the student become better and more prepared. Not many teachers can say that teaching children is effortless, but I can happily confirm that teaching children online is no longer an effort but a pleasure.”
To sign up your child today for lessons please click on this link: http://www.talktocanada.com/individual-training/user-fees/
Tags: concerns, having fun online, kids and computers, learning online, native english speaker, parents, teaching english, teaching kids online
Posted in English Improvement, Learning English Online, Teaching Online | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Ideally this 4 part series has helped you understand more about corporate language training, and the questions that you need to ask yourself before signing a big contract.
Whether you decided to go with Face to Face training or E-Learning – the language providers should be able to accomplish your goals by the end of the course. Attention to detail and personalization is essential in weeding out the good from the bad, and the great from the good.
We are all connected through the universal language of business – English – and we just need to work together to make sure we are all on the same page.
Check out these helpful blogs for Business students:
http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/01/the-five-best-books-on-english-for-business-students/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/01/top-3-tips-on-how-to-improve-your-spoken-english/
Tags: computer, contract, corporate English training, e-learning, training via WebEx, understanding
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
1) Tell me a little bit about yourself: Caddie Bornais, Windsor, Ontario Canada, I have a BA and MA in Philosophy, a BEd, and TESL certification. My favourite band: The Beatles, Favourite book: Einstein’s Dreams, Favourite author: Neil Gaiman. Favourite colour: Red, Favourite Sport: Roller Derby.
2) What was the last book that you read? I just reread Wuthering Heights
3) Describe yourself in 3 words: curious, fun-loving, and offbeat
4) Why do you like Teaching with TTC/Online? It is a lot of fun, you get to meet different interesting people, I really just love teaching, and learning from the students!
5) Motto that you live by: There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
Tags: BEd, MA, Native English, Neil Gaiman, online teacher, roller Derby, The Beatles, Windsor
Posted in Learning English Online, Teaching Online | No Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
Tags: Canadian English speaker, corporate English training, corporate training, Lessons online, networks, online learning, pronunciation practice, value
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
TalktoCanada.com has helped hundreds of individuals and companies since it has started in early 2006. I have to admit that being here since the start it has been a rough ride trying to convince students around the globe to give TalktoCanada.com a try. After much persistence and great offers for new students, including the 1 hour no obligation trial lesson, we have been able to start achieving our very lofty enrollment goals. A lot of schools will only allow you to sign up for the whole English course, not part of it especially if you are considering going to your more traditional classroom setting with a teacher physically in front of you.
Students who do register for just a 1 hour trial lesson, are usually very pleased with the results and we enjoy an over 90% registration rate after the trial lesson. This goes to show you that a lot students are now seeing the possibilities and quality that can be obtained through an online English training company.
So if your on the fence and not sure about online English language learning with TalktoCanada.com the trial lesson is a great chance for you to test out our services without making a commitment. One lesson will give you enough information to make an informed decision about our services, so I highly recommend you visit the link below to get started.
http://www.talktocanada.com/individual-training/user-fees/
A lot of our current students were just like you before they tried online learning. They weren’t sure about TalktoCanada.com and they weren’t sure we could do what we said we could do. Please register for our 1 hour trial lesson today and let us convince you that we are the right solution for your English learning needs.
Tags: individual lessons, learn English Online, native English speakers, no strings attached, skype, TalktoCanada.com, Trial lesson, webex
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Pricing is sometimes a tricky concept when it comes to corporate language training. Of course the prices are higher than they would be if they were individual lessons due to many “behind the scenes” operations that are not always noticed upfront.
Depending on the size of your training – it will heavily influence the “extras” that you will be paying for.
Some questions that you need to ask yourself:
- How many students will be trained and over what period of time?
- What “extras” are being offered or needed?
- What support or back up is offered – for e-learning, what technical support is available?
Sometimes money shouldn’t be the (only or most important) deciding factor – yes it is important obviously – but it shouldn’t be the “be all and end all” of your decision. Reputation, support, flexibility, vision and initiative should also weigh into your decision.
Check out this blog about investing in English training:
http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/11/the-best-investment-you-can-make-when-learning-a-language-is-speaking-that-language-with-a-native-speaker/
Tags: corporate English, facetime, native English speakers, prices, skype, value, webex
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Now that you’ve figured out why and what you are going to be studying the next step is figuring out a time for corporate language training. You need to ask yourself, “Is it realistic to ask my employees to use their lunch break to study English?” In most cases the answer will be no. You need to find a time when your employees are not too tired from day to day tasks (end of the day is not a good time) – and aren’t too sleepy (first thing in the morning – also not a good idea). The best time is about 1 or 2 hours into the working day, or just before lunch. Lessons should be no longer than 2hs long, and be held regularly over a period of at least 12 weeks.
Employees should understand that corporate language training is essential for their advancement in any company, and as such should be taken seriously with 100% participation. You need to figure out how your employees will respond the best – either by face to face training or the increasingly common e-learning that is offered by TalktoCanada.com.
There are benefits to both – face to face training creates an atmosphere where students may take it more seriously – and put a little more effort in – it’s harder to not show up to a real class than to a virtual class. E-learning however offers convenience, native speakers, and interactivity that a face to face setting wouldn’t be as easy to incorporate into the learning material.
E-learning also focuses a lot on pronunciation and fluency – which is extremely beneficial in all aspects of business. Meeting simulation, role plays, debates, opinions, conversations…are all things that are present in an e-learning course EVERY SINGLE LESSON. It’s impossible NOT to talk in a lesson – and actually having it virtually breaks down some of those barriers, and students feel more confident when participating.
Regardless of what training you decide on, it needs to satisfy all of your needs and accomplish your goals within a reasonable amount of time. Corporate training that offers magical solutions in a short amount of time are probably too good to be true. It takes time and energy – and as the saying goes “the more you give the more you get back in return.”
Read some blogs about the benefits of E-Learning with TalktoCanada.com:
http://www.talktocanada.com/category/learning-english-online/page/5/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/03/moving-to-an-internet-enabled-english-training-program/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/11/how-talktocanada-com-makes-online-english-learning-personal/
Tags: corporate language training, curriculum, dogme, methods, native english speaker, sleepy, timing, webex
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Corporate English language training is a topic that most companies both large and small who operate international have talked about at one point or another. There are so many different variables for each company that it’s hard to talk about a one size fits all approach when discussing training with a new corporate client.
Every company is different in it’s needs, some need to train very large amounts of workers while some only need to train a few. Sometimes the training is very specific, such as, English telephone etiquette or very broad such as general intermediate business English conversation. On an operational level, TalktoCanada.com can work with very large amounts of students to a small number of students. Before you consider enrolling your company in any type of English language services, I recommend you answer as many questions of the following as you can. By being clear and having a focus to your training at your company, you will be better able to find the right solution and even more importantly the correct company.
- How many of your staff need to be trained?
- Are they all the same level of English or very different?
- Will they all be learning the same content or does there need to be some variety?
- Are you looking for a mass-market cheap solution with a high student to teacher ratio or are you looking for something more, where students are able to talk to the teacher in a low student to teacher ratio such as at TalktoCanada.com?
- What is the time commitment you expect your workers to give to an English training program?
- Most importantly of all, what are your expectations. Always discuss your expectations with your training provider so that there is no confusion.
Corporations interested in English language training should always take the time to learn a little more about the details. Without knowing all the details yourself, you may find yourself in a situation of not getting the results that you are expecting. When it comes to training, it’s all about the results and comes down to, and whether or not all of my staff can speak English fluently as expected or not.
Tags: canadian teachers, corporate training, english as a second language, english online with webex, esl, face time, goals, money, time
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
What do you want to get out of the training? What are your objectives? What are your long term plans and goals? These are questions that you need to answer before determining what kind of language training would be beneficial for you. Figuring out what your employees need is crucial in determining the content and best method of training.
Of course everyone has the same overall goal – to learn English – but many have specific goals that can be the focus of the lessons. Business is such a broad topic that narrowing it down can be quite a difficult task. Learning vocabulary related to telecommunications won’t be helpful for a company that sells medical supplies. Specialization and complete understanding of what a company is all about is important to achieve success.
Course content should cover a variety of things. Basics in grammar, vocabulary, idioms and expressions, practical application, and review of learning should be fundamental aspects in a lesson. Activities and exercises that stimulate the students instead of putting them to sleep is always a challenge – making everyone happy all the time is sometimes a difficult task – but appropriate content that connects and flows together, paired with an excellent teacher is a recipe for success.
Read these blogs about how TalktoCanada.com takes advantage of the online classroom and uses it to its full potential:
http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/03/how-to-be-creative-in-the-virtual-classroom/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/12/why-canadian-accents-are-the-best-and-the-easiest-to-learn-and-understand-for-esl-learners/
Tags: aims, business english, Canada, corporate training, creativity, demonstrations, dogme, english experience, esl, face time, foreign language, global english, goals, hot new trend, individual training, innovative teaching methods, language training, Learning English Online, objectives, skype, webex
Posted in English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Corporate language training is becoming increasingly popular nowadays. As companies 
begin to expand into different countries and markets, they realize the importance of having functional English skills to conduct meetings, communicate both orally and through writing, and for social events as well.
It is unrealistic to assume that employees will take it upon themselves and enroll in an English course – outside of working hours, and out of their own pocket no less. As it is also a misconception to believe that everyone in business has a functional level of English.
There are many language training providers out there – face to face – telephone training – and e-learning. All offer a different approach and cater to different groups in different ways. As a company, you need to decide what your goals are and how you are best able to achieve them.
In this 4 part series I will go over the different aspects of corporate language training to help you understand the different aspects and importance of selecting the appropriate corporate language training providers for your employees.
Have a look at these previous blogs to get an idea about how TalktoCanada.com can meet your corporate training needs:
http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/05/getting-to-know-talktocanada-com-how-do-we-teach-english-online/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/11/how-talktocanada-com-makes-online-english-learning-personal/
http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/12/part-v-using-the-dogme-approach-in-group-lessons-putting-a-name-to-the-methodologies-that-talktocanada-com-uses-to-teach-esl-online/
Tags: Canada, creativity, demonstrations, dogme, efl, english experience, esl, global english, individual training, innovative teaching methods, interactive feedback, language speaker, language teacher, languages, online english learning, TalktoCanada.com
Posted in English Improvement, English for Business, Learning English Online | No Comments »
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