What are the advantages of face-to-face classes?
Updated: Apr 27, 2023
After the social distancing that was enforced during the Covid pandemic, most students want to get back into class again
There are many advantages to being in a classroom, and interacting with your teacher and classmates. There are many advantages to being in a classroom and interacting with your teacher and classmates, even with social distancing and the use of masks in the classroom. These include:
Being able to have natural conversations with others in your English class.
Being able to listen to questions from other students (questions which you may not have thought to ask, but will help you to understand the grammar point or topic).
Being able to generate more group interest in a discussion.
Being able to play games and join in activities.
Giving the teacher more opportunity to identify the areas you are struggling with.
Giving the teacher the opportunity to explain concepts using a range of different methods, such as miming.
Three of the main advantages relate directly to the learning environment:
Face-to-face lessons are not disrupted by network problems.
The classroom environment is designed to help you focus on learning, and so it requires less discipline and self-motivation for you to stay focused.
You are immersed in an English-speaking environment, and can go on outings and explore the city in which you are studying.
In an article on why traditional classroom learning is better than online courses, Sethughes1 gives three reasons that language students in particular need to go back to interactive classrooms:
The need to develop interpersonal skills, including communication skills.
The development of memory and memorization skills is promoted through the types of assessments used in traditional, interactive classrooms.
Motivation is gained through personal interaction such as classroom debates and discussions which provide you with constructive feedback from your teacher and competition from your classmates.
The content is presented in a clear way, and I appreciate how the writer has included useful details without making the article difficult or boring to read.
big Mumbai game
I found the CEFR explanation really clear! It breaks down listening, reading, speaking, and writing nicely. By the way, check out voicer choicer for fun speaking drills. It's easy to use and great for beginners.
I really miss the classroom atmosphere for all the reasons you listed, especially the spontaneous questions from classmates that you'd never think to ask on your own. The point about teachers being able to read the room and adjust their explanations on the fly is huge — online it's just so much harder to pick up on those non-verbal cues. Speaking of staying mentally sharp, I've been warming up with a quick trivia game called krillion before my morning classes, and it's weirdly helped me get into a more focused, curious mindset for learning. Nothing beats that in-person energy though.
Face-to-face classes really do make a huge difference—nothing beats those natural conversations and hearing questions from classmates you wouldn’t have thought of yourself!
This is such a timely topic! I really missed the spontaneous conversations and hearing classmates’ questions during lockdown—things you just can’t replicate online.