For teachers
Guides for online language teachers
Everything here is written for someone who teaches one-to-one or small-group language lessons over video, and who is trying to do it well without spending three unpaid hours preparing every lesson.
Lesson notes students actually reuse
Most lesson notes are written once and never opened again. The difference between notes that die and notes that get reused is structure, not effort — here is the format and the ten-minute workflow behind it.
The online language teacher's tool stack
What you actually need to teach languages online, what you can skip, and where the hidden hours go. A jobs-based breakdown rather than a list of apps.
How to teach pronunciation online
Video lessons strip out the mouth, the room and half the frequency range. Here is a method for correcting pronunciation over video that does not rely on the student being able to see your tongue.
Correcting students without discouraging them
Error correction is the most face-threatening thing that happens in a language lesson. What to correct, when to correct it, and the techniques that get uptake instead of silence.
The first lesson with a new student
The trial lesson decides whether they come back, and most teachers spend it on the wrong things. A minute-by-minute structure, the diagnostics worth running, and the questions that actually predict retention.
Language homework that actually gets done
If most of your students arrive with the homework undone, the homework is wrong — not the students. Six design rules for tasks adults finish, and the review habit that makes them non-optional.
Using the IPA with students
Teaching the whole chart is a waste of everyone's time. Teaching four symbols that name a specific student's specific problems pays for itself in one lesson.