Our new online teaching concept

Školica started to teach Croatian online back in 2014, and our teaching methods and tools for online learning have remained relatively unchanged since then.
Over the last 6 years we’ve learnt a lot, and during this time many new ideas and best practices have emerged from the online teaching industry.
We’ve decided to make use of all of this to overhaul and modernise our concept for online teaching. This new concept which will be launched next month, in March 2020.

Introducing online group lessons!

Learning in a group is productive and motivating. We’ve seen this again and again, both when teaching in person in Germany and Austria as well as during our language trips in Croatia.

From March 2020 we will include the idea of group learning within our online concept with the introduction of regular online group lessons. We see group lessons as a positive – and necessary – addition to our current concept based solely on individual lessons.

Our recommendation will be for students to divide their learning time equally between individual and group sessions – i.e. with one group lesson for each individual lesson – however our new model will retain the existing flexibility, allowing students to make the final decision on this themselves.

In addition to the established learning benefits of studying in a group, our group lessons will make it possible for Školica students to get to know each other for the first time. We’re already giving thought to how we can further support this sort of peer interaction – watch this space!

How will group lessons work?

Group lessons will be less structured than individual lessons, focusing on things like: speaking and pronunciation, repetition of what has already been learnt, grammar exercises and conversation.

Lessons will be organised without fixed groups, to provide students with more flexibility and also the chance to meet and learn together with different students. Group sizes will be around 3-4 students, with a maximum of 6 participants.

Lessons will be organised on 3 different levels (basic/intermediate/advanced). Your teacher will provide guidance on which level is right for you.

Students can sign up for a group lesson simply by choosing a slot in our new online scheduling tool. Your existing teacher will provide you with a link to the tool and be happy to answer any further questions. Of course, we’ll do our best to plan time slots to cater to all students.

If you have any questions, your existing teacher will be happy to answer them. The first group lesson will be held on 16.03.2020, so there’s plenty of time to find out more and schedule your first group lesson.

Individual online lesson length

When we first introduced online lessons, distractions such as technical glitches, disconnections and bandwidth issues were far more commonplace than they are today. To ensure that students receive a full “teaching hour” (45 minutes) we scheduled online lessons to last an hour.

Over the past 6 years thankfully the technology has caught up and these sorts of issues now occur rarely. For this reason from 1st March, 2020 we’ll adjust the official online individual lesson length to the standard length of 45 minutes.

Of course, In cases where time is lost due to technical issues your teacher will be happy to extend your lesson length time accordingly. Our goal is to provide 45 minutes of actual teaching time.

Why are we changing our prices & packages?

Our language school is growing and 2019 was our biggest year so far.

Over the past year we taught Croatian to over 200 students, organised 4 weeks of language learning in Croatia in 3 different locations. Currently Školica is made up of a team of 8 people, including 6 dedicated Croatian teachers.

We’re proud to say that, despite this growth:

We’ve stuck to our original goal of requiring that all teachers have (or are on the way to completing) a university-level degree in foreign languages.
We’ve recently succeeded in providing full employment contracts for our teachers, in contrast to the industry-trend for short-term employment and high staff turnover.
Our online prices have remained constant, without any change or raise, since we started teaching online in 2014.

To be able to continue teaching Croatian at the same high level and further improve our teaching concept and services in 2020 we’ll be adjusting both our prices and our pricing structure.

New prices/packages from 1st March, 2020

When lessons are bought individually:

Individual lessons will cost 25€ per teaching hour (45 minutes)
Group lessons will cost 15€ per lesson (45 minutes)

There will be three discount packages:

Test – €149
4 individual lessons + 4 group lessons
Saving of 7% / average price per lesson: €18.63
Learn – €249
8 individual lessons + 8 group lessons
Saving of 22% / average price per lesson: €15.65
Study – €449
16 individual lessons + 16 group lessons
Saving of 30% / average price per lesson: €14.03

When learning in combination with our new group lesson concept, the overall learning price will actually drop slightly, with a lower average lesson price than in the past. All prices include 19% German VAT.

Notes for existing learners

For learners with unused individual lessons bought before 1st March, 2020 we will offer two options for converting these to our new lesson/teaching model.

Option 1 – more individual
3 old lessons (60 minutes) => 3 new lessons + 1 group lesson
Option 2 – more group
3 old lessons (60 minutes) => 2 new lessons + 2 group lessons

Existing students will need to convert their outstanding lessons to the new model before continuing with their learning. Please discuss and confirm this with your teacher as soon as possible.