When I started UPGRADE back at the time when we didn’t even contemplate wearing face masks, it was just another language school.
Just as for everyone else, the pandemic was a bucket of cold reality in our faces. Just as everyone else, we had to re-invent ourselves. Just as for everyone else, it was ‘pivot or die’.
We could no longer go to our clients’ installations, nor could we use physical materials. We could no longer continue doing what we’d been doing. It was time to learn.
So what did we learn?
Well, to start with, we discovered that on-line teaching had great potential. Surprise, surprise! If you’d asked me in 2020 (and in fact some of our clients did!) if we could teach our classes on-line to their staff, I would have given you a sad smile and proudly recited a list of reasons why face-to-face teaching was superior to on-line classes. How wrong could I have been!
When I think back to it now, I feel a little ashamed of myself. One of the great things that Covid-19 did for teachers was to show us that on-line teaching could not only work, but could actually exceed face-to-face classes when it came to the quality of teaching.
When done properly, on-line teaching enables a far more personalised approach and, because it happens in the medium which our clients use for internal and external meetings, it is far more relevant to the client. Simply put, it’s ideal for business English.
Would you like to have a beautifully elaborated screenshot of what we did in class? Or would you be interested in having your own feedback document summarising your progress? How about having a personalised audio track for practising your pronunciation (in studio quality, of course)? Back in 2020, I would have called you a dreamer; now in 2022, this is just the new standard.
And all of this is possible without leaving the comfort of your own home. It no longer matters where you or your colleagues are – as long as you have internet connection and a pair of headphones, you’re on!
UPGRADE has come a long way since the pandemic started. Thanks to our clients’ feedback and our relentless drive to be better at what we do, we can now say that we have a fully established methodology for on-line teaching in corporate environments. Thank you for your support and accompanying us on this great journey.