Blog
Online Language School vs. Marketplace (Preply, italki): Which Is Better for Teachers?
For a language teacher deciding where to work, the choice comes down to one tradeoff. A marketplace like Preply or italki brings you students, but it takes a commission on your lessons and owns the relationship with…
How to Develop a Language Curriculum (and Make Students Remember It)
A language curriculum is the ordered plan that turns scattered lessons into a course: a set of goals, a sequence of units and lessons, the materials students study, and the checks that show they are learning. Developing…
How to Create an Online Language School
You can create your own online language school by turning your lessons into flashcard decks, organizing them into a curriculum, and inviting your students to study on their phones - with no website to build, no…
How to Teach a Language Online: Tools, Lessons, and Finding Students
To teach a language online you need three things: a way to turn your lessons into something students can study on their own, a way to deliver those lessons and see who is keeping up, and a steady way to find new…
The Best All-in-One Language Learning App: One App Instead of Three
The best all-in-one language learning app is the one that keeps everything you need - vocabulary, review scheduling, audio, and real speaking practice - inside a single place, so you stop copying words between tools and…
What Is a Spaced Repetition Learning System (and Why It Works for Language Learning)
A spaced repetition learning system is a study method that brings each word or fact back for review right before you would forget it, with the gap growing every time you recall it correctly. It tracks how well you know…
What Is the Best Free Flashcards App? Anki vs Quizlet vs Lingocard
The best free flashcards app depends on how you study. Anki gives you the most control over spaced repetition, Quizlet has the biggest library of ready-made sets, and Lingocard is built for languages, with audio on…
Speaking Practice with Native Speakers vs. Other Learners: Which Is Better?
Both help, in different ways. Native speakers give you authentic pronunciation, natural phrasing and cultural context. Other learners give you a low-pressure space to speak more, make mistakes and build confidence. The…
Vocabulary or Grammar: Which Is More Important to Learn First?
You need both, but not in equal amounts at every stage. Vocabulary gives beginners the fastest results: even a small set of common words lets you ask for things and understand simple answers. Grammar turns those words…
How to Find a Language Exchange Partner (and Make Friends)
To find a language exchange partner, look in three places: people around you, local meetup groups and online language exchange apps. Then agree on what you both want, set a simple routine and split your time roughly…
What Are Receptive and Productive Skills in Language Learning?
Receptive skills are listening and reading: the ways we take in language (input). Productive skills are speaking and writing: the ways we create language (output). Both matter. Input builds understanding and leads…
How to Make a Language Study Plan: The SAGE Method in 4 Steps
A good language study plan answers four questions: where you want to be, what you need to work on, what you'll study with and when you'll study. We call it SAGE: Set your goals, Assess your strengths and weaknesses…
Microlearning in Language Learning: How to Use Your Hidden Moments
Microlearning means learning in very short sessions, a few minutes or even seconds at a time. In language learning, it works best in the "hidden moments" of your day: waiting in line, riding the bus, brushing your…
What Are the 4 Core Language Skills? Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing
The four core language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening and reading are receptive skills: you take language in. Speaking and writing are productive skills: you use language to express…
English Phrasal Verbs: 156 Common Phrasal Verbs with Meanings and Examples
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word like up, out or off that together create a new meaning: give up means stop trying, and look after means take care of. Below are 156 common English phrasal verbs, grouped by…
Cloud-Based Vocabulary Building: Learn Words on Any Device, Online or Offline
Cloud-based vocabulary building means your word lists, flashcards and progress are stored in an online account instead of on one device. You can add a word on your computer, review it on your phone during a commute and…
Spaced Repetition Schedule: How to Use Spaced Repetition to Learn a Language
A spaced repetition schedule reviews each word at growing intervals: soon after you learn it, then after a day, a few days, a few weeks and a few months. Every correct answer pushes the next review further out, and…
What Is a Frequency Dictionary? Learn the Most Common Words First
A frequency dictionary is a list of a language's words ranked by how often people actually use them, from the most common down. Learning in that order pays off fast: in English, the 1,000 most frequent words make up…
Language Flashcards: How to Use Them to Learn Any Language
To learn a language with flashcards, put a word or phrase on one side and its meaning on the other, then test yourself instead of just rereading. Cards you remember come back less often, and cards you miss come back…
How to Improve Vocabulary: 7 Proven Ways to Memorize New Words
The best way to improve your vocabulary is to combine seven proven methods: listen to and repeat new words, use flashcards, attach images, memorize whole sentences, practice pronunciation, learn synonyms and antonyms…
How to Find Native Speakers to Practice a Language: 3 Ways That Work
The easiest way to find native speakers to practice with is to offer them something in return: practice in your own language (a language exchange), a skill you can teach, or payment for their time. The fastest free…
How to Learn English Fast: 3 Problems I Solved and How You Can Too
The fastest way to learn English is to beat the three problems that slow most learners down: remember new words with flashcards and spaced repetition, starting with the most common ones; turn spare minutes into study…
