Why didn't it occur to me to teach online 10 years ago?

I was already using Skype a lot in 2009, when I was finishing my studies. I recently remembered that and wondered why teaching online hadn’t occurred to me back then.

But then other realities surfaced, and everything fell into place.

Back then, few people in Arkhangelsk had heard of unlimited internet: everyone paid by the megabyte. In Saint Petersburg, where I moved, unlimited access was already available. Yet I still tutored in person. I made plenty of use of my computer, taking it along to my students' homes. So what was stopping me from moving my work online?

A lesson is not just a conversation on Skype on free topics.

I prepare presentations in which I use both audio and video.

And here let's once again take a trip into our multimedia past.

• At that time, there were almost no normal educational audio files that could be inserted into a presentation and even simply played on a computer. I remember how at the institute we collected blank audio cassettes in the morning, brought them to a “secret” office with a bunch of tape recorders, and special women in 2-3 hours copied Popova-Kazakova’s famous textbook onto them for us. It would be possible to play cassettes on a tape recorder via Skype. But something tells me that given the sound quality, the idea is so-so.
• It's the same with video. CD disks with films appeared, but getting them was difficult and expensive. Nowadays, sometimes I’m too lazy to spend 5 minutes searching on the Internet... Then I remember how we, as students in a cold office, looked at what was available. I didn’t always come across a good movie, but it was another opportunity to learn the language.
• What about dictionaries? There was only one explanatory foreign dictionary for the entire department. We ran in during recess to rewrite the definitions, and dreamed of saving a lot of money and getting this unfortunate dictionary for personal use. Now I have it in the free app on my phone.

The world is now organized in such a way that online learning looks more convenient and logical. But I still remember that “unadvanced” life with a bit of nostalgia. Perhaps, such a Spartan experience strengthened my love for the language and even some more flexible, creative approach to learning.

Remember those fun times? Floppy disks, modems, ICQ?

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