ONLINE LESSONS, HOW DOES IT WORK?

Are you wondering how does an online lesson work? Here is how an online lesson works, step by step…

email1.SEND ME AN EMAIL

  • Drop me an email at stephanie@frenchlessonsonskype.com explaining:
  1. your needs & objectives
  2. your current level
  3. favourite day/ time (local time in France) to have Skype lessons
  • Once a suitable time slot for your trial lesson has been found, I’ll book the trial lesson and create a student account for you.
  • If you decide to have more lessons, this student account will allow you to purchase, book your lessons and, if necessary, amend or cancel a booking.
  • Your trial lesson is free, and there is no obligation to book more lessons afterwards.

skype2. COMPLETE THE QUESTIONNAIRE

  • You will receive an email confirming your trial lesson. If you don’t receive it within a short time, something has gone wrong, so please contact me so I can sort it out.
  • This confirmation will contain a short questionnaire for you to please complete & send back to me at least 24 hours before the trial lesson so that I have time to prepare an appropriate lesson for you.
  • You can self-assess your language skills by using the European language’s framework. Of course, I will confirm your level at the end of our trial lesson.
  • Please, don’t forget to let me have your Skype (or Zoom) ID. My Skype ID is voilastephanie; please send me a Skype invitation.

sand timer3. DO YOU NEED TO MODIFY YOUR BOOKING? 

  • 48 hours before our lesson is due to start, you’ll receive a reminder via email.
  • If you need to modify or cancel your booking, do it as soon as possible by using your student account via my website, you don’t need to contact me directly. Just go back into your student account, click on “My Bookings” and do it from there. You can change or cancel a lesson up to 24 hours before the lesson is due to start. 

printer4. DOWNLOAD OR PRINT THE LEARNING MATERIAL

  • You’ll receive on my behalf an email from DropBox containing the documents you will need for the lesson. Dropbox is a global & secured collaboration platform to share & store files. Using DropBox allows me to send you all the documents (PDF/ videos/ audio files etc.) at once while if I send several documents to an email address, my email might be blocked by the security system and ends up in the junk box.
  • Dropbox is available online at dropbox.com and for Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, as well as Android and iOS phones and tablets. It is free of charge if you create a personal account. Click HERE to watch a video to explain how it works.
  • To download and/ or print the documents, click on the link provided to access the documents. If you don’t receive these emails, please check your junk or spam folder; alternatively, it might be that your firewall settings are preventing you from receiving them.
  • If you need me to send you the documents the day before, perhaps because you don’t have access to a printer at home, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to accommodate this.
  • Please don’t study the documents in advance as they are intended for you to discover during the lesson. The reason for this is that, in real life, you won’t have the chance to prepare in advance for what someone says to you, so it’s better to learn from day 1 how to answer without panicking or freezing!
  • 5.IT’S TIME FOR OUR LESSON! 
  • Please use a computer/laptop, as it’s much harder to use the video and chatbox simultaneously on a tablet.
  • I’ll usually send you a short message before starting to say hello and check that you’re ready. If you are, I’ll call you.
  • Please let me call you as, if we call each other at the same time, we won’t be able to connect ; )

french lessons on Skype or Zoom5.TIME FOR OUR LESSON

a. Question & small talks time

  • I’ll always start the lesson by asking if you have any questions regarding the previous lesson, the homework corrections I’ll have sent you in advance…or, indeed, any questions at all!
  • It is also the moment when we have a quick and informal discussion. Getting used to improvise small talks is important, as this is what you will have to do with your colleagues, clients, friends or family-in-law. 

b. Revision/discussion in French

We’ll then spend at least 10/15 minutes revising the previous lesson. 

c. Let’s learn something new!

  • The content will depend on your needs, objectives, level and the type of lesson you’ve booked. Let me give you an example:
  • Let’s imagine that you’ve booked a general lesson and that you’re a beginner. First, we’ll listen to an audio file or watch a video. To make listening to French a bit easier for you, I’ll teach you a few words you might need. After I’ve played the audio file for you, I’ll ask you a few questions to make sure you’ve understood. Of course, you’ll be able to ask me questions yourself if you feel you haven’t understood or don’t know how to pronounce something.
  • Then comes your favourite part, the grammar point! We’ll always study grammar in context. I’ll explain the grammar to you, give you a few examples and ask you to give me a few examples too just to make sure you’ve understood. You’ll be able to continue practising by doing some grammar exercises for homework.
  • Finally, we’ll do a roleplay to reactivate the vocabulary and grammar learnt.
  • If you’ve booked a conversation lesson, we’ll spend more time focusing on speaking and listening; obviously, the more advanced you are, the more we’ll be able to talk during the lesson.

Black and white heart6. AFTER THE LESSON

After your online lesson you’ll receive:

  • An email asking you to leave me feedback. This email is sent automatically after every lesson. I don’t expect you to leave me feedback each time, but it’d be much appreciated if you could do it at least once. I’m a self-employed teacher, so feedback is very important to me. You yourself probably found it quite helpful and reassuring to be able to read other students’ feedback, so please do the same for others. It’s also the best reward for me if you think I’m doing a good job. If your feedback appears on my website, your last name won’t be displayed. 
  • If you prefer to send me your feedback via email because you want to talk about your lesson(s) in more detail, please feel free to do that. I’ll do my best to meet your needs, but you’ll probably get what you want faster if you just ask for it. I won’t take any constructive criticism the wrong way as I know I’m not perfect and, like good wine, I can improve over time! 😉
  • An email from Quizlet. Quizlet is a free online learning tool I use to create flashcards for the vocabulary we study together. After the lesson, it can also help you memorise the vocabulary and remind yourself how to pronounce it as you can test yourself with some fun games and multiple-choice quizzes. You can also use the site to create your own flashcards if you wish. You’ll need a password to access my flashcards; I’ll send it to you via email.

homework7. HOMEWORK

You don’t need to do homework, but I strongly recommend it if you want to progress faster and get more for your time and money. If you don’t do any homework, you need to accept that your progress will be significantly slower.

  • Homework comes in two forms: scanned exercises or online exercise links I send you via email. I might also ask you to write an essay.
  • After the lesson, please do the exercises as soon as possible so that the language is fresh in your mind and I have plenty of time to mark them.
  • You can either type your answers or write them by hand.
  • If necessary, scan your homework (PDF): If you are going to write them by hand, you’ll obviously need to scan the document before you can send it to me. If you don’t have a scanner at home, but you do have a Smartphone, you can use a free application like CamScanner to do this. Please always select “save as PDF” and please crop anything unnecessary around it.  Please do not send me photos. 
  • Always send your homework via email, do not use Dropbox or WhatsApp. 
  • If you do online exercises, then the website will allow you to check your answers yourself. Please go over your mistakes and, if you don’t understand where you’ve gone wrong, just ask me at the next lesson. If you don’t understand your mistakes, you’ll just carry on making them.

practise8. BETWEEN LESSONS

Do you want to progress more quickly? Then practise your French as often as possible. I recommend 15 minutes per day, 5 days a week. Why? Because it is much harder to find an excuse not to do your homework for 15 minutes while it is much easier to find an excuse if you plan to do it for an hour or more at once! 

ideaHow? Here are a few ideas:

  • Use the Quizlet flashcards & games I prepared you. 
  • Read and listen to an audiobook the same time
  • Flick through a French magazine talking about your favourite subject
  • Read my blog