We are now online!

On March 16th our school transitioned from in-class lessons to live online classes due to rising concerns about the COVID-19, a virus that has significantly altered our lives in a very short period of time. We are now living in a new reality and thanks to technology, we can keep delivering language classes for our students.

With a few minor hiccups along the way, the transition has gone fairly smoothly and the big majority of the classes hasn’t seen any interruption in their schedule, with the rest catching up within a week. It has been a fast learning curve for both the administrative and the teaching staff with the teachers having to quickly adapt their class activities and materials for the online delivery. The results of their dedication and hard work can be seen in our students’ feedback which has been largely positive.

Here is what our students are saying about their online learning experience:

I really enjoy these virtual classes. In fact, I think it’s my highlight of the week!! I really like the breakout room feature on Zoom. I think the partner work is nice and gives everyone a chance to speak and practice. (Rita, Japanese language student)

I think it’s going very well. Zoom is an excellent platform and SoYoung is a truly stellar teacher. It has been a learning curve for us all, but we are getting the hang of it. Of course, it’s not the same as being present in person, but on the other hand it’s nice not to have to travel to class. I’m very grateful that the classes are continuing. Thanks for helping make it happen. (Harry, Korean language student)

The transition from “normal” didactic to the online lessons has been quiet smooth and our teacher Makiko has been outstanding.  (Vanni, Japanese language student)

I’m taking Russian with Nicholas and it has been excellent! I have absolutely no complaints, and he is an incredible teacher. 
I hope to continue taking classes with IH in the future. Thank you for all your hard work during this difficult time! (Jessica, Russian language student)

I’m so pleased that IH was able to move so quickly to online classes. I’m still waiting for my Japanese class through another school to transition online – it’ll end up being about a month between our last in-class session and our first Zoom class! So I think it’s important to recognize how amazingly fast you and the team responded to the quickly evolving situation with COVID-19!
I’ve been taking level 1 Korean with Jimin Shin and she’s been doing an amazing job making sure we all have an opportunity to practice speaking. She encourages us to turn our cameras on but is flexible and understanding with those students who prefer not to show their video. Learning virtually like this is a big adjustment, and she’s doing great making it easier for us.  (Edmund, Korean language student)

If you are interested in taking one of our live online classes, our new session begins on April 27th. We hope to see you in one of our virtual classrooms!