“I find it difficult to speak English face to face, so training by video conference must be horrible”….or is it?
Give language training by video conference a try – you might be surprised!
If you don’t like the idea of language training by video conference you are not alone. Many people are concerned about the quality of training using these platforms, due to an inferior sound quality, frozen screens, time delays, bad internet connections etc. Some people worry that if they find face to face communication difficult in English, that online sessions will be 100 times worse, they are anxious that they will find it difficult to understand what the trainer is saying to them and their training will be less effective.
But is this perception true? Although there are admittedly some glitches in the matrix from time to time, in my experience as a trainer, I find that training by video conference is practical, just as easy as face to face communication and more relevant today than ever before, you just need to give it a try and get used to it.
Here are some of the advantages of video conference training:
Lessons can be delivered in the comfort of your own home, at the office or while travelling, so there is never a need to miss a lesson (unless of course you want to!). You can normally choose a background which preserves your privacy as well as helping to imagine that you are actually on a beautiful beach rather than working from home!
The ambiance of a course depends largely on your relationship with your teacher, and I’m happy to report that my students who have switched to online training because of Covid 19 are happy with their sessions online. The vast majority of activities that you do face to face are available online thanks to constantly evolving video conferencing software that allows screen share, and facilities such as a whiteboard and chat. In fact, after every lesson with me online, I send you your whiteboard notes so that you can review the vocabulary, grammar and expressions that we looked at. This means less work for you! You can also record part of a session and use this feature to track your progress for example in terms of pronunciation.
No more being late for meetings! A positive effect of video conf calls is that people are in general more punctual, sessions don’t overrun and this makes organizing your training into your schedule easier.
Due to Covid 19 many companies will probably rethink the need for offices, business trips and working from home. Video conferencing is certainly here to stay, therefore doing an online training prepares you for the reality of video-conferencing in English and the vocabulary you will need: “Hello…Hello..can you hear me?” “press the unmute button!”