I’ve been working remotely long before it became the norm. I haven’t stepped foot into an office since 2017, and quite frankly, it would take an act of God to get me to commute again.
The freedom and control that I have over my time are invaluable. I get to dictate how I spend my days, whom I share them with, and how much communication I have with colleagues in between work tasks. For someone with a neurodivergent brain (I have ADHD), controlling my environment helps me stay focused and on task. The stress that came with being interrupted, the office noise, and even picking the right outfits for work were so stressful that it took away from being able to do my job well.
That same stress and anxiety would apply if I had to learn language lessons from someone who showed up at my home to give me those lessons. Simply put, if my options were having an in-person language tutor or not learning a language at all, I’d choose the latter.
I know the environmental benefit of learning virtually and that matters to me. But even if I didn’t have to worry about the carbon footprint left behind by my teacher commuting to and from my home, I still wouldn’t want anyone knocking on my door to teach me something.
Here are the three reasons I love learning a language virtually and am thriving while doing it.
1) I get to learn from the best teacher for me and my life. I live in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee. There aren’t very many native Italian speakers in my part of the world. Why would I limit myself (and Global LT) to finding a teacher in a 20-mile radius of my home when I can learn from an incredible teacher in Milan? Her schedule matches mine and we have engaging conversations and lessons despite her being halfway around the world. I’d take that over who was physically available any day. She sends me my homework and materials virtually, too. I haven’t had a working printer in years (does anyone anymore??), so having my worksheets emailed to me ahead of my lessons is awesome and saves me time – not to mention printing costs and materials.
2) My lessons fit my life. Most of my language lessons are taught before my workday since my teacher’s time zone is six hours ahead of mine. If I had to juggle that and commuting, my language lessons would never happen. But since all I do is walk to my office and pop open my laptop, I’m immediately connected and there’s no lag time between learning and getting back to work. My lessons integrate into my life, which means they’re easy to continue and stick with until I’m fluent.
3) My home can remain a mess. Let’s be honest. If you had someone coming over to your home once a week to teach you something, wouldn’t you be worried about tidying up before they got there? I have two small children and two dogs. While I’m not living in squalor by any means, I know I’d go on a cleaning rampage before my teacher arrived, so she didn’t think we were slobs. Since I learn virtually, I don’t really have to worry about that. I blur my background and she’s none the wiser about the state of my home. I don’t have to worry about my children making too much noise or interrupting our lessons, and I don’t have to worry about locking the dogs up so they don’t jump all over my teacher. I get to focus on learning and nothing else during my lessons.
Learning virtually is now the standard, not the outlier. Covid changed the way we connect, learn, and work - I think - for the better. Everyone is now more comfortable with virtual tools like Zoom and Teams since we’ve had years of experience using them. Why not take that knowledge and put it towards something useful like learning a new language?
The Global LT teacher network is vast and the chances of us finding the perfect teacher for you -anywhere in the world – are high.
If you want more information on how you can start your virtual language journey, let’s chat. We’d love to talk to you about the benefits.
This post was written by Patricia Diaz, Global LT's Vice President of Marketing. Read her bio.
