Hello! My name is Abigail and welcome back to Polyglot Progress.
I have been using italki to learn, improve, maintain, and even teach languages for over
seven years now. I've been a student, I've been a teacher, and if you've ever watched
any of my other videos, chances are you've heard me mention it at least once. But while
I have made videos on speaking and I have made videos talking about other specific resources,
I've never really gone in depth on how I use italki and I've been asked about it a lot and I
mention it so much that I felt like it was time to do that. So that's what we're going to do today,
but before we get into how I use the website for my learning, I do just want to point out
that this video is sponsored by italki themselves so I do have a code for you to
use it for your language learning. If you're one of the first 50 people to use the code PROGRESS5,
you'll get an extra $5 worth of italki credits when you spend your first $10 and then come
right back here and I will tell you all of my secrets to how to have a really good lesson.
Okay, so, first things first, a lot of you might not need this but just in case you are new here
or you've tuned me out every single time I've ever talked about italki: what is italki? So italki is
a platform where you can take private and group language lessons in more than 150 languages with
tutors and certified native-speaking teachers from all around the world.
And the model for italki is pay per lesson as opposed to subscription based and lessons
start at just $5 which ends up making it, in my opinion, one of the most affordable options
when it comes to getting speaking practice. And then there's also a community area with quizzes
podcasts and other materials to help you learn your target languages but, spoiler, I'm pretty
much only going to talk about the customized one-on-one language lessons today because this
is a video about how I use italki, and private lessons are just by far how I use the platform
most of the time. The site has changed a lot in the nearly eight years that I have been on it,
but from the beginning I would say like 99% of my time on italki has been spent either
taking or teaching private lessons. And, honestly, before we get a lot further into
this video I do just want to say that italki is overall really easy to use. I just know that I,
personally, was so, so nervous before my first lessons and because I've been using italki for
so long I really feel like I have perfected my approach to finding tutors and taking lessons,
so I just wanted this video to be there for anyone who is feeling nervous and wants a little bit of
advice or anyone who is just curious. I will willingly admit that I am very nosy and want
to know how other people are learning languages and using the resources that I use, so who am
I to stop the other nosy people out there from knowing exactly what I'm doing. So with all that
out of the way, let's start at the beginning: how do you find the tutor that's right for you?
Italki splits the people helping you learn languages into two types: community tutors
and professional teachers. I'm pretty much going to be using the terms teacher and tutor pretty
interchangeably throughout this video, but the actual distinction is that professional teachers
have some sort of teaching certification while community tutors are native or advanced speakers
of the language who don't necessarily have a certificate in teaching the language. Which
is better? Well, that's sort of up to you. But, honestly, I'll let you in on a secret: I don't
really feel like there's that much of an inherent difference between lessons with community tutors
and professional teachers. I think a lot of people expect– and how I used to think about it– was that
professional teachers would give these really structured lessons with Powerpoints and textbooks
and homework, while a lesson with a community tutor would be conversation-based and you'd just
be having a chat and getting corrections based on your speaking. And that's not necessarily wrong,
that is sometimes true, but I've also had conversation-based lessons with professional
tutors and I've also had really structured lessons based on a personalized curriculum for me with
community tutors. We'll talk all about lesson structures later and why you might want either
of those things and why I pick to do either of those things, but the point that I just want to
make right now is that you don't necessarily need to rule out one type of teacher if you're looking
for a specific lesson type. What you do need to focus on when picking a tutor is pretty much
everything else. And I will say I think I probably put a little bit more time and effort into picking
a tutor than maybe some other people do, but I really love having tutors that I come back and see
regularly over long stretches of time. I feel like they are really able to learn my learning style,
they're really able to pick up on patterns and the mistakes that I'm making, and they also just have
this ability then to see my growth even when I can't necessarily see it and they can communicate
that to me, all of which sound really small but I think make a huge difference when it comes
to my growth as a learner and just my confidence and motivation, which are also really important.
I've definitely had to take breaks so it hasn't been every single week, but whenever I am taking
Bulgarian lessons I meet with the same tutor every single week and I've been doing that for over 3
years now. I'm very much so in it for the long haul when it comes to tutors, which makes it a
little bit more important and a bit more worth it for me to really invest a lot of time into picking
the right person. And even when I'm not looking for a new long-term tutor because sometimes I do
meet with new people so I can practice listening to other dialects or just get a fresh set of eyes
and ears on my abilities, I’ve found that putting a little bit more time and effort into the tutor
selection process ends up saving me a bit more time and just makes things a lot more enjoyable
than if I just pick random people and go trial by error that way. And to figure out which tutors
feel like they might be the right fit for me I watch a ton of introduction videos and read a ton
of teacher bios. Ultimately, I'm really looking for two things in my tutors and teachers. I want
someone who has a personality that aligns with mine and that I feel like I will feel comfortable
talking to, especially if it's a language that I'm nervous in or I am looking for a tutor that
I want to meet with for a long time, and I of course also look for people that feel like they
have a teaching style that aligns with whatever I'm looking for in that moment, whether it is
someone who's going to help me feel more confident or someone who has experience proctoring a certain
exam that I want to take and can really help me hone my skills specifically for that. When I am
looking for that main tutor that I hope to spend the next several years of my life meeting with,
I don't necessarily find them on the first go. Sometimes it takes a bit of meeting with people
to find the right fit and that is totally okay. I used to feel really bummed when I would take a
lesson with someone and they wouldn't really feel like the right fit, but I definitely no longer
feel that way. Every lesson is an opportunity for me to practice speaking and a way for me to
improve my skills and it just makes it an even better feeling when I do find the person that
clicks with me and is a tutor that I want to keep meeting with. I think the more students that I
taught as an English teacher and the more lessons I've taken as a learner the more I've realized
that there is so much diversity in the ways that people teach languages and learn languages,
so it makes sense that you don't necessarily find the right fit every single time. But even
when it's not the right fit, every lesson is an opportunity for you to practice your language
skills and even in the worst case scenarios you probably learn a few new words and learn
some styles that you don't necessarily respond to as well when it comes to language learning,
plus it just makes it all the sweeter when then you do find a tutor that's the right fit.
And once I've found the right tutor and booked our first call, it is time to prepare for the lesson.
As soon as I book my first lesson with the tutor I really like to send them a message with just a
little bit of info about me, my language level, my goals for the language, and what I'm hoping to get
out of our classes. If I'm not a total beginner in the language I will write this in the target
language. That way the tutor gets a sense of my writing abilities and also it's just another
opportunity for me to get to practice. Every single tutor or teacher I ever met with has gone
over those types of things with me in the first lesson, this is just something that I started
doing after I was a tutor on italki because I feel like it gives the teacher a better sense of
who I am coming in and the kinds of things that they should be expecting and it just makes me a
little less nervous before my first lesson because I know that if I forget to mention something about
my goals and my history with the language I've already sent it, the tutor is already aware,
and we're going to be able to shape a class that helps me achieve those things. If this is a
language that I am still a very beginner in– maybe this is my first time ever speaking the target
language– I will also make myself what I like to call a “cheat sheet”. This is basically just a
sheet of phrases and words that I'm likely to need in the lesson. Things like, “what does this word
mean?” “I can't hear you” “Could you repeat that?” This is definitely not something that I do when
I am at a higher level in the language. Even as, like, an upper beginner I don't feel like I really
need this. Just based on my language levels I haven't even needed to do this in in a few
years now. But I mention it because I promise, as silly as it sounds, having this can make you feel
so much more comfortable and make your first time speaking a language so much less scary because you
know that you do have this as a safety net to fall back on if you do forget a word or if something
comes up like your computer is frozen and you don't know how to say that. Another thing I like
to do before any lesson, regardless of whether it's a new tutor, an old tutor, a new language,
an advanced language, is warming myself up for the lesson by spending a little bit of time using
the language beforehand. Now depending on when I've scheduled the lesson for, I might not get
a chance to do this. I have been known to sleep up until like 10 minutes before class and I also
previously would schedule lessons during my lunch break at work, so I didn't really have the time to
do this. But if I do have time, depending on how much time I have, I might watch a YouTube video,
write in my journal, or just talk to myself in the language for 10 to 15 minutes. And I
really do this for two reasons. The first reason is that I found that doing this really helped calm
my nerves and was really crucial to help helping me build my confidence enough that now I don't
get nervous before taking lessons and the other probably more obvious reason is that it just warms
my brain up to use the language and I feel like I have an easier time speaking and understanding the
class once it does start. And then the last thing that I always do before lessons is make sure that
I'm ready to be in a lesson. I always make sure I have water or tea, I always make sure my laptop
is plugged in, and I always make sure that I have a pen and notebook, my homework, or whatever else
I might need in the class. And this is another one that might seem a little silly. I'm not going into
like a 4 hour class. I'm in class for an hour or less, but I think it is so important to make sure
that I am in the right mindset to give all of my attention to the class and not how dry my throat
is and that nothing is going to interrupt the class at any point, like my laptop dying. Once all
of that is finally done, it's time for the lesson. So with that, let's talk lesson structures. This
is definitely the thing that changes the most with my italki approach just based on the language
itself and my level in it and my goals for it. Sometimes I take casual conversation classes
where we just chat about whatever comes up for 30 minutes, sometimes I like really structured
lessons where we're working through textbook exercises for an hour, and most of the time
it's a mix of both. I really like taking lessons where for about half an hour we just talk about
our lives/our weeks/whatever we feel like chatting about and then we move into something a little
more structured and specific, like working on textbook exercises or going over something that
I wrote and correcting it. How I decide my ideal lesson structure really just depends
on my current goals for the language. Like right now for French I'm really looking to polish up my
speaking skills because I let them get so rusty and I'm hoping to take the DALF in the future.
I knew that because of that I really wanted to work on building my confidence when speaking,
I really wanted to work on cleaning up the many, many errors I've been catching myself making,
and I really wanted to enrich my vocabulary and just make my speech overall a lot more persuasive
and professional sounding. So recently I've been taking lessons with Philippe, who's been
teaching me all about public speaking but through French. Each week I've been doing some homework,
like writing a speech or an essay or something else related to public speaking, and then we
spend our classes having a debate or practicing speeches or learning about what makes a good
public speaker or watching videos of people from around the francophone world giving speeches and
talking about what they're doing. These lessons have been so cool because not only am I getting
to use my French, but I'm also using my French to learn something new. I’ve never had any sort of
public speaking coaching and I kind of feel like since graduating school I just haven't done any
type of public speaking in general and so now I'm getting to improve both my language skills and my
confidence when it comes to speaking French, but I'm also just improving my public speaking skills
in general. I've already learned so many different things and really made note of what certain people
do that makes them so persuasive. But I really cannot stress how variable lesson structure is
for me. Currently, I think all of my languages have a completely different structure that I
use for the lessons that I take and those lesson structures evolve over time. I used to have very,
very structured Bulgarian lessons, and now we just have very casual in-the-moment conversations and
that's because as my goals change and my levels in languages change so do the structures that I
want to use to learn them. And I think one of the most magical things about italki is that it's not
like taking a class in school where it's the same thing all the time, you can always be adapting
your classes to meet your approach to self-study and you're never locked into any one specific
way of learning. That said, I do have three non-negotiable things when it comes to my lessons.
Number one: lessons need to be monolingual or as monolingual as possible. As soon as I'm at like
a low A2 level, I want to be learning new words, asking questions, and getting feedback entirely
in my target language. Even if we are using like a textbook or a PowerPoint presentation or some
resource like that, I want to be discussing that resource in the language. Number two: very similar
to number one but not exactly the same, I want to be using the language the whole time. Structured
lessons for me do not mean listening to someone lecture about a specific grammar point in English.
They mean me doing textbook exercises on a new verb conjugation and then asking questions about
why I got certain things wrong in the target language, they mean me reading a news article
aloud and getting feedback on my pronunciation and then summarizing the article in the target
language to the tutor. I can read textbooks on my own time. My lessons are a time for me to actually
get to use the language with a person and get to practice all of the things that I've been working
on, while also learning new things. And lastly, number three, a very simple one: no matter what
type of lesson I'm taking, I always make sure that my tutor is sending new words and corrections in
the chat. That way I can work on learning that new vocabulary and also just make note of the patterns
of mistakes that I'm making and try to make a little bit more progress with those next time.
And speaking of doing a little bit better next time, one thing that I always do after a lesson
ends is take a second to focus on what I did well and what I can do better next time. Lessons can
be a really great benchmark of your progress, so even if it's something small like knowing that I
remember to use the subjunctive when I needed to or noticing that I always used the wrong
preposition with a certain verb can be really great to show me that I am making progress and
also give me a little bit of help in knowing what I should work on before my next class. And
then the other things I do between lessons don't necessarily get done immediately after the lesson,
but I do things like making anki cards for any new vocabulary that I learned, writing
down any grammar points that I made mistakes with or learned about in the class so I can
use them correctly in the future, and of course doing my homework if my tutor has assigned any.
Once I’ve found a tutor that I really like and we found a lesson structure that works
really well for us, I really try to get us into a really consistent routine. This is also very,
very dependent on my goals for the languages and also just my schedule at the time,
but I feel like having a routine like taking a Spanish lesson every Wednesday at 7:00 or taking
a Bulgarian lesson every Friday morning really just helps me stay accountable and also make sure
that I am on track to meet my language goals. And then in addition to having like a set day
and time for each language, I also really like to book my my lessons out for the month. I feel like
it just makes it a lot easier to guarantee that I'll be able to get on my tutor’s schedule and
it just helps me plan my life accordingly. I know, like many things in this video,
this probably sounds like a very, very small thing, but this practice that I started during
university of treating my language lessons like actual classes with set dates and times
and reoccurring schedules has really been so vital for my consistency and also just
my ability to continue learning languages even when life gets really really hectic.
And that is how I use italki. If you feel like there's anything that
I somehow managed to miss in this video and you have any questions
about italki feel free to leave them down below, I'm happy to answer them!
And if you use italki to learn languages and you have a different approach from
mine I would love to hear all about it in the comments. Like I said,
I'm nosy. I want to know how everyone's learning languages all the time. So, please,
tell me all about what you look for in a tutor and the kind of lessons that you like to take.
Huge shout out to my tutor Philippe for letting me film some of our lessons for
this video and to italki for sponsoring this video. If you want $5 of italki credits for
free with your first purchase of $10 make sure you use the code PROGRESS5,
it'll also be down in the description. I'm going to go do my homework for my next
italki lesson. I'll see you in the next one and remember practice makes progress
[Music]
I'm realizing now that my hair color is like the exact same color as the italki logo so,
you know what they say, those who match together…. learn languages together— I don't know