Changes to Online Classes
How I want my classes to feel for students!
Something dreadful happened this week. A lovely regular online class attendee was in class, but I wasn’t.
In my own defence, the class had been moved previously due to a personal mini-drama so things weren’t where they were supposed to be adminstratively. But that’s no real excuse. I guess it was just waiting to happen. I’ve been trying to schedule and reschedule morning and evening classes in three different locations, with varying success. (Shockingly, one venue pulled on a Thursday evening before a class on Monday. In my entire career I’ve never had that happen!)
I don’t want to run my business like this and so I’ve made a tough decision. My online classes take as long to prepare as a full ‘in person’ class, but for fewer people and I still need to test the technology/rehearse before each class in a way that I don’t need to offline. A lot of this is down to experience, of course. As I learn more and trust the technology to do what I want, the less of an issue this will be and as we build up a ‘chat team’ we may want to increase the frequency. But right now, it’s an issue that means I usually don’t prepare a long time in advance for a class that may never happen. This week I thought it wasn’t happening.
The move to one subject-driven conversation class a month
So for the moment, I will be running just one online Spanish conversation class a month, rather than a weekly one. This means that numbers will hopefully start to grow for the online class around a topic making the conversation better for everyone. (Talking to just me one to one isn’t really what you’re signing up for!!)
Lined up so far are a discussion around paying (with some great games to get the conversation going), and an October class on olives - very deliberately as it’s olive harvesting time in Spain, and there’s a whole culture around it.
Bingo!
The fact that I’ve reduced the number of ‘charlas’ (conversations) doesn’t mean there’s nothing happening.
One of the things that people find quite hard is instant number recall, and playing Bingo (in Spanish) is a great way to practise and get that recall going. So once a month we have a Bingo session booked. I’ll keep this going until the new year, see if you enjoy it and want me to continue. Monthly may be too frequent, but let’s give it a whirl!
September 10, 2026 sees the kick off - it’ll be fun! (Be sure to book in plenty of time.)
Tackling the tough stuff
Periodically I’ll be running online conversations to help with learning. The first is looking at the ways that we can help ourselves to remember and learn, study techniques that people have found useful. Do join us, and feel free to bring your own suggestions.
Going forward this ‘slot’ might include a Spanish grammar point that people want clarity on. Maybe it’s the differences between a Spanish region’s vocabulary and ‘standard’ Castillian Spanish. It might even be something about travel to Spain or Latin American countries. I’m always open to suggestions.
Having fun
And some weeks we’ll just be doing something that’s fun. Already scheduled is an online Christmas singalong. Singing a mix of well known songs, but in Spanish, what a lovely way to celebrate Christmas together. (This is a group singalong, not a karaoke!)
So keep your eyes on the schedule - I hope that you’ll enjoy it. There is a lot less chance of me making the same mistakes again, and I’m hoping it will be more what you genuinely need than me making guesses.
