9 Magically Great Sites to Find Skype Spanish Teachers
Learning through online video chat can feel like finding a magical unicorn in your backyard.
It’s exciting! It’s captivating! It’s so majestic!
How could such an amazing thing be real?
The bad news is that your doubt of the existence of unicorns may be well founded. But the good news is that excellent Spanish classes through online video chat definitely do exist, and they’re just as magical and majestic as that one-horned fantasy creature.
Learning Spanish online is very popular for good reason—it’s incredibly convenient and effective.
While you can improve your Spanish with Skype in general, you should try to get the most you can out of online Spanish lessons. And one of the best ways to combine Skype and effective Spanish lessons is—naturally—to take Spanish lessons via Skype.
If you’re looking for a magical but completely real teacher who can help you improve your Spanish skills over Skype, this article is perfect for you!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Why Learn Spanish with a Skype Teacher?
One reason you might want to learn Spanish with a Skype teacher is that it’s often less expensive than a private teacher or course would be in person. And that makes perfect sense—the teacher or tutor doesn’t have to travel to a specific destination or even leave his/her living room. With so much time saved, online teachers can afford to charge lower rates. So while Skype lesson prices can vary dramatically, they’re usually less expensive than in-person courses.
Additionally, studying with a Skype teacher provides you with more direct language support than independent study does. No matter how well a written source explains a concept, you’ll inevitably have questions that are not fully addressed. You may end up spending hours flipping through books trying to find the answer. If you have a Skype teacher, though, it takes just seconds to ask your question and get an immediate response.
Plus, learning Spanish with a Skype teacher usually allows you to connect with a native speaker, which will teach you more authentic Spanish. Having a fun and friendly online Spanish language exchange is a great way to improve your skills and fuel your motivation.
Working with a Skype teacher means learning with content and topics that you’re interested in, since the lessons are usually customized to each student.
You can keep using your favorite learning program with your tutor, studying topics on Skype, then reviewing them in a program on your own time.
For example, you can watch an authentic Spanish video on FluentU, like a trailer for an upcoming movie or a news segment about a current event. Then, during your lesson with your teacher, you can talk about the movie or the news, learning new vocabulary for discussing the things that matter to you.
After the lesson, you can come back to FluentU and input the words you learned. This will give you a chance to see the words in use naturally through more videos. You can also read example sentences, listen to audio pronunciations and take practice quizzes to help remember the words for next time.
Finally, learning Spanish with a Skype teacher will improve your conversational skills. While many of your other Spanish skills will also improve, studying with a Skype teacher offers exceptional improvement for conversational skills in particular. This is helpful because conversational skills are extremely important, but they’re difficult to improve independently.
Things to Consider When Selecting a Skype Spanish Teacher
Price. Price points vary wildly. Teachers with more experience or who live in areas with a higher cost of living often charge higher rates. When selecting a tutor, it’s helpful to consider what you’re willing to spend so you can decide if you’d like more lessons with a less expensive teacher or fewer lessons with one who charges more.
The teacher’s experience. Most of the best teaching services employ only experienced teachers. However, some teachers still have more experience than others. Those who are more experienced might have an easier time explaining difficult concepts. However, those who are less experienced may come across as more conversational, which is also valuable.
The teacher’s region of origin. Since Spanish varies regionally, selecting a tutor from your target region is essential if you want to ensure your Spanish is regionally appropriate.
The teacher’s fluency in English. Particularly if you’re a beginning Spanish student, you might want to find a teacher who speaks some English. This way, if you’re struggling with a concept or grammar rule, your tutor will be able to explain it to you in English. It’s also less daunting than diving in with a teacher who can only speak Spanish.
Class size. Some services offer one-on-one teaching. Others offer group classes. One-on-one teaching ensures that material is always at your level, but group classes help you connect with other learners. Knowing your preference will help you find your ideal class scenario.
Internet connection. The one caveat is that Skype lessons are best for users who have a stable internet connection. If your internet keeps cutting out, you may miss some of your lesson time and/or feel inclined to pull your hair out.
9 Magically Great Sites to Find Skype Spanish Teachers
Live Lingua
Live Lingua offers Skype language classes for 11 different languages, including Spanish. Lessons are one-on-one with native Spanish speakers from across the Spanish-speaking world, including Spain, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and more. Plus, each teacher has a university degree and experience teaching Spanish.
Additionally, the website lists helpful details about each teacher such as hobbies, favorite foods and more. This will help you select a teacher who you can really hit it off with.
Prices start at $9.99 per hour.
Preply
Preply is a service that is designed to connect students with tutors via Skype. There are over 4,000 Spanish tutors on Preply, so you have plenty to choose from.
Preply offers a terrific filtering system that you can use to find your ideal teacher. You can filter by price, country of birth, gender and more. The “specialty” filter is particularly useful since you can use it to find a teacher who specializes in popular topics like AP Spanish, business Spanish and more.
Plus, tutor profiles detail their experience, education and availability to help you make your selection.
Teachers set their own rates, and prices start at just $3 per hour.
Verbalplanet
Verbalplanet focuses on providing one-on-one language lessons. They offer dozens of different Spanish teachers who can help you along the way.
There is no set way to sort teachers by country of origin. However, you can browse each teacher’s profile to learn more about his/her experience, education and interests.
Prices start at about $11 per 45-minute class. Some tutors also offer loyalty discounts.
NuLengua
NuLengua has the dual mission of providing online Spanish instruction and empowering women in Latin America, so you can feel good about learning and helping a woman achieve economic independence.
NuLengua’s teaching methodology was developed by a team of professionals. Lessons are one-on-one, and teachers aim to teach exclusively in Spanish for immersion-style learning.
To schedule a lesson, you must purchase tokens. Prices start at $10 per lesson.
Speak Shop
Speak Shop offers one-on-one lessons with Guatemalan teachers who each have 10-20 years of experience.
Lessons are conducted via Skype, but you can also use text chat during your lesson. The curriculum is customized by your teacher in order to better meet your needs and goals.
Taking lessons requires a monthly membership, which starts at $9.99 per month. Once you have a membership, you also pay for lessons. Prices per lesson start at a little more than $10 per hour.
Verbling
Verbling is a language tutoring service that aims to help students speak like a local. As such, Verbling lessons focus on conversation.
Teachers come from a wide variety of countries including Spain, Mexico, Colombia and more. Each teacher’s profile includes details about his/her education, experience, interests and availability. Teachers often even list subjects that they specialize in and what age groups they work with.
Lessons start at $6 per hour.
Spanish via Skype
Spanish via Skype offers one-on-one courses with native speakers.
Teachers come from Spain, so Spanish via Skype is best for students looking to learn Castilian Spanish. Spanish via Skype offers specific topics like Spanish for business, medical Spanish, survival Spanish and more, making it a good option for anyone looking to learn Spanish for specific purposes.
Prices start at about $15 per hour.
Homeschool Spanish Academy
Homeschool Spanish Academy is designed to help Spanish students of all ages learn Spanish. It offers classes for both children and adults.
Classes are one-on-one and include learning materials. Homeschool Spanish Academy offers experienced teachers who are proficient in English.
Prices start at about $10 per class.
SpanishSkype
SpanishSkype offers one-on-one lessons with native Spanish speakers from Spain and Latin America.
Courses cover reading, writing, speaking and listening for an all-around Spanish education. Plus, learning materials are included. Before your Skype session, you’ll receive an email with learning materials that will be covered, including some homework to do before your session (you don’t have to do it, but it’s a good idea).
Prices start at $10 per 55-minute course.
You might not find the elusive unicorn in your lifetime, but with these resources, you can definitely find an incredible Spanish teacher on Skype who can help make your Spanish skills sparkle and shine.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
