Homeschool Foreign Language Curriculum
Super Hero has been making steady progress with his French lately. I’m so pleased to have found our rhythm after a choppy period full of changes. We are now using italki.com, one of the new breed of language learning sites. Here you may find your own native teacher for the unbeatable one-to-one learning. There are literally hundreds of highly qualified teachers (certified to teach) and tutors (for practicing conversation with language enthusiasts) to choose from. A professional teacher may even offer you a few programs for you to pick. There’s also a free option for language exchange with others in the community. Lessons take place via skype, or other live chat or live video app of your choice.
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Highly Affordable One-to-One Foreign Language for Homeschool
Italki makes one to one learning extremely affordable, not to mention convenient. I keep modifying Super Hero’s schedule depending on what’s happening the following week or two. This suits us just perfectly, although I do prefer to keep the schedule consistent of course.
After the first few trials, Super Hero decided on a native professional French teacher, Francine. I must admit, Skype language lessons may not be suitable for all children. Some kids may require more hands-on, games, or other lively activities. Francine, however, seems to have a way with kids. She does list children as one of her specialties. And even though the lesson is not of video-game-exhilaration caliber, it’s very enjoyable. So much so, that Super Hero chooses to continue week after week. Since he began with Francine on February this year, and he still keeps his lessons twice weekly (with a few breaks here and there) I’d say Italki’s quite a winner! And so is Super Hero, for his French has progressed by leaps and bounds.
Anyhow, I wanted to share Italki with you because it may be just the right addition to your foreign language learning. It doesn’t matter which language you fancy, you will find a professional teacher or tutor at Italki. I’ve seen oodles of teachers for the most popular ones like Spanish, French, and Chinese; to more uncommon ones like Urdu and Pashtu. All for a really affordable one-to-one rate.
I can’t be more pleased with this awesome service. So much so, that I’m now adding Latin, and perhaps even Spanish (so that he learns proper grammar from a professional 😉 ) to Super Hero’s italki account.
If you decide to jump in, let me know how you like it.
Happy language learning!!
Hi Patricia,
Just curious if you and Super Hero are still enjoying italki. I am currently looking into online Spanish tutors for my 7 and 10 year olds and find it hard with such an extensive list of service providers. I believe I’m down to Nulengua, Homeschool Spanish Academy, italki and 121Spanish. But, I’m still researching reviews.
Hi Jackie, Yes! We absolutely continue to use italki. What I love most about it is it’s flexibility. You can change the schedule whenever you please or need to. Even if something unexpected happens like Super Hero getting up with a cold or a sore throat, I can just let the teacher know right then and there. They’re always so willing to accommodate. He’s currently taking French, Spanish and Latin lessons. He says he’ll eventually take German as well. Can’t complain about that 🙂 All his teachers are excellent, yet his Spanish teacher stands out. I can’t recommend her highly enough. Just this morning, he told me Spanish was his favorite —he looks forward to it. We’re staying put with italki for one-to-one lessons. This summer I added lingq.com, which I found absolutely fantastic, too. (I’ve become a lingq ‘fanaddict’ myself.) That way, he can practice his reading/listening daily on lingq for 10 to 15 minutes. Then he does his real conversations/grammar/digging deeper on italki once a week for each language. Actually, he takes Spanish twice weekly. Really couldn’t be more pleased with this set up. Hope I answered your question, but please let me know if you would like to know more.
Thank you so much, Patricia! That was extremely helpful. And, it speaks volumes that Super Hero has even added two more languages since your original review a year ago! I will also look at the lingq site. By the way, we’ve been using your SOTW timeline and schedule, too. I use it completely as you laid it out, and couldn’t be happier. It’s made covering the material a breeze since the schedule is laid out perfectly. Plus, with the added narration pages, we don’t have to double up with Writing With Ease. I can just apply the WWE concept to their history (and science) lessons. I just love it!
Good morning Patricia, nice to talk with you, I just come to see and read your site and I m very interested in. My name is Sansanee, I live in Thailand and I am a Thai citizen, normally I work as French speaking guide in Bangook,I graduated from Chiangmai University, and learned faculty of Humanities. Right now I am 50 years old, I am very interested in teaching Thai language for children, so this is my e mail address if you will reply me, sprasuth@yahoo.com , thank you very much and hope to here from you