With another Lingoda Language Sprint around the corner. We decided to chat with some of the most popular YouTube influencers to find out why they love languages, why they love teaching, and why they love Lingoda!
First up, it’s the brilliant Leila and Sabrah.
LoveEnglish – Teaching English to the world!
Friends, Colleagues, YouTube ‘partners in crime’! We have known each other since we were 16! Yes, for a whole 5 Years! Mmm…maybe implying we’re 21 is a little ambitious? We’ve actually known each other for almost 20 years, so you do the maths!
We met at college in the South of England and after that went to different universities and didn’t really keep in contact. But as fate would have it, we found we kept bumping into each other, we connected on Facebook and eventually our teaching paths took us in the same direction, working for a university college, teaching media and academic English. It was then, 3 years ago, that we began to hatch a plan. We thought, well, we both teach English, we both enjoy being creative, we both studied media at university…add those ingredients together and we decided…YOUTUBE!
YouTube and teaching English
Starting our YouTube channel was harder than we thought. We found that adapting our teaching styles for YouTube after each teaching for almost 10 years in the classroom was the biggest challenge! But after a bumpy start we finally understood what YouTube was about, we perfected our editing skills, and figured out how to use lighting and finally felt comfortable in front of the camera!
LoveEnglish are women to watch!
The biggest highlight of the YouTube journey for us was winning YouTube’s ‘Next Up ‘Women to watch’ in 2018. Going to YouTube space, working with the YouTube team for a week in London and meeting inspiring female creators was a massive boost and motivator! And of course, our YouTube students have been fantastic! We found an entirely new way to enjoy teaching and feel massively rewarded by helping so many students learn English. Having that reach and impact is something we take seriously and want to ensure the knowledge and advice we share is as top notch so it can truly support our students with their English language learning journey and help them to get better jobs and life prospects.
Why work with Lingoda?
That’s why we value our partnership with Lingoda so much. We trust Lingoda to offer our students the best online learning experience available. I’ll let you into a little secret…teachers are the worst students. No, not because we are lazy but because we have pretty high standards! What’s the teaching methodology being used? Are they providing good materials and exercises to practise? Can they teach in an engaging way? Oh yes, our demands are high! But having both studied with Lingoda our expectations were more than met. We realise that not everyone has the time, money and ability to come to England and study in a school so learning online but still with native speakers, is the ideal solution for many people.
Let’s face it life is hectic these days and for some people committing to study abroad courses or even intense online courses is just too big an ask and it can put them off learning a language. In our opinions Lingoda offer a model that can be adapted to suit the needs of everyone, as you really can study pretty much when you want and for how long you want without having to compromise on the quality.
What’s online teaching really like?
Teaching online is a whole new way of learning and some students can worry about something being ‘missing’, so online schools need to work extra hard to provide engaging and well-prepared lessons which will impress their students. Lingoda has really mastered this as from our experience the lessons always come with an interesting PowerPoint or good materials and the teachers are dynamic, energetic and experienced.
We found it was easy to build a rapport with our teachers and found the range of topics and subjects very broad and well thought out. I (Sabrah), loved my chatty and personable Spanish teacher who always gave me lots of extra tips and was the only teacher I have had who has managed to get me out of the bad habit of saying the Spanish ‘h’ when it should be silent! That was a real achievement! Muchas gracias, muy amable!
How to keep motivated when learning a language
From our experience one thing that language learners can really struggle with is motivation. Learning a language takes commitment, time and dedication and with us all leading such busy lives it can be hard to find the time and motivation to learn a language. We know we have both been trying to learn languages for years! This is one of the reasons why we think the Super Sprint and Sprint are an awesome way of getting students motivated and it can be the stick of dynamite they need to really get to grips with their English! The possibility of getting your payment back is of course a very good motivator and it is a very generous offer. But also, we think the fact that it gets you studying every day or every other day is just a fantastic way of helping students to commit to learning English and making real progress. It is a well-known fact that immersing yourself in the language and practising daily is the best way to learn and this offers you the chance to do that, whilst at the same time being flexible. It only requires an 1 hour every day or even every other day of your time which is nothing when you consider how much time we all spend on Netflix or Instagram!
Why is Lingoda good for learning languages?
We are proud to work with a company like Lingoda who are helping so many students achieve their goals in life by learning English and doing it in a way that is affordable, professional and engaging. We think they are a pretty unique combo! And on that note, we will leave you with our top tip….DO NOT GIVE UP! Those who keep going and don’t give up, succeed even if it is tough….Keep going with your English language learning and believe that you will eventually achieve fluency even though the journey can be an arduous one at times.
We will leave you with this inspirational quote from our treasured English author AA Milne:
‘ Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.’
Good luck!
