about the culture, the customs and the lifestyle of the people who speak it. Your knowledge of the world and of those who live in it grows and you become better and wiser for it.

However, even though we understand both the practical benefits of learning a foreign language as well as the more indirect benefits, we usually choose not to go ahead with it. The reason for this choice is simple: lack of time. Learning a foreign language is something that takes time, which as we grow older becomes increasingly rare and infinitely more valuable. As a result, we only learn a foreign language at its most basic and utilitarian level, in order to just be able to add it to our resume.

Nowadays however, this seems to be changing. Computers and the internet can now be found virtually in every home and their features and applications can drastically change the way we learn foreign languages for the better. With this in mind, Dimitra Petkaki a Greek ESL teacher with more than 10 years of experience under her belt, created the Skypenglish website.

What is Skypenglish?

Simply put, it's a site which allows people to learn English through specially designed courses that will be done via the internet and specifically with Skype. In other words, the site introduces a truly groundbreaking type of private lesson, which does not require the student or the teacher to leave their school, office or home. This offers enormous benefits for all involved in the teaching and learning process. Let's look at the most important of those:

1: A truly personal and unique learning experience

One of the biggest benefits of private lessons is the fact that the only people participating in a learning session are the teacher and the student. The absence of other students means that the teacher doesn’t have to find a common denominator, regarding his students’ abilities, needs and interests, around which he should organize and carry out his lessons. In other words, the learning process will be tailored to the needs, level, capabilities and interests of each of his “private” students.

2: Saving time

One of the biggest problems for a foreign language learner, regardless of his or her age, is the transition from and to the language school because it takes up a significant amount of time, especially if the language school is far from the student’s home. This problem also affects parents of young children since they should drive or escort their children to the language school and back on an almost daily basis. Skype courses are done exclusively on a computer, so neither the student nor the teacher needs to go to a language school, which means that not only will the student not waste any time in transit, but also that the teacher will have more time to properly prepare each learning session.

3: Use of modern and interactive teaching material.

Language learning manuals are often not the most "exciting" books. Their subjects, themes and writing style usually fail to engage students, especially the younger ones. This problem is also present for older or adult learners as well, since the vast majority of manuals for beginners or lower level students have been written with young children or young adolescents in mind. Since Skype courses are done using a PC, the teacher has a great variety of resources at his or her disposal which can be used to make the lesson more enjoyable and engaging for each student. The teacher can use multimedia-rich interactive teaching material which may even include videos and games or even send the student to read texts or to watch audio-visual content directly on sites that he or she will find very interesting.

These are just a few of the benefits of Skypenglish. If you want to learn more or if you would like to better understand the teaching method, just visit the site and arrange a free trial lesson!