After 39 years of teaching English online, and in person, and in 6 countries, I joined Cafetalk as a tutor in November of 2023. It has been a fun learning challenge for me and my students so far!

My highlight in 2023 on Cafetalk has been the fun and interesting students I have met here. And I love that the Cafetalk staff and website work so efficiently.

In comparison, several years ago I taught English in Mongolia. I remember my shock when I realized the students did not have enough English books for my lessons and there were no computers or tablets either. We also did not have a copier in the school, so students had to take photos of other student's books and use their phones to read what the lesson was about. Teaching that way worked, but it wasn't easy.

Then the pandemic hit and all of my lessons had be taught online. I was teaching at that time primarily (= mainly) teenagers in large classes (20 - 24 students) and they were very happy to be able to 'attend' classes at home, because most of them stayed in bed in their pyjamas and played video games during our lessons. 

What I learned about online teaching after my frustration about my teenage students started to fade (= become less strong) was there are many advantages to teaching online compared to in person. For instance, our natural environment improved thanks to people traveling less to attend classes. Also our time was better spent because we didn't lose time traveling and setting up computers in different school classrooms. And finally my teaching methods improved because I learned how to use visuals and online games better, both which make learning more enjoyable.

For example when I taught science to teenagers, this topic came up:

Even though students have books with such images in them, I used to only say something like 'please turn to page 70 and look at the two bonds we find in chemistry' when I taught them in person. Many students would not even turn to the correct page or would not look at the image. Using online teaching, I can project such an image on my screen and talk to the students and ask questions about the image in a more indepth (= deeper) manner. 

At Cafetalk I offer all sorts of lessons and have images and games ready to be shared with my students as soon as they sign up for a lesson. Recently I taught a 'holiday lesson' here at Cafetalk. I was able to share my screen with these vocabulary words as we discussed my student's plans for the New Year. New vocabulary was learned and practiced.

In summary, 2023 was a good year for me. Not only could I expand my teaching online possibilites, but I also learned from my students here about how I can meet their online learning needs better. For example, one student asked me if I could offer a lesson pack, but I didn't know how to use those because I have only been a tutor here for a few months. She told me about them, I offered them, and then she booked more lessons. We were both happy with that result.

I hope to work with you here at Cafetalk soon - book a lesson with me today!