Student Spotlight: Spencer Martin

The Student Spotlight is an ongoing series where we ask former students to share their experience with LanguageBird. In this installment, we’ll meet Spencer, a former Spanish language student.

1. Why did you choose to participate in a summer program?

I wanted to provide more structure to my summer vacation by enrolling in a program that could provide that as well as teach me something. Prior to this summer, I had taken 2 years of French at my local high school, so I thought it would be a great time to advance my learning outside of the classroom.

2. How did you decide which program was right for you?

Due to COVID-related closures, I needed a program I could complete online, but I still wanted to talk with an instructor. I was very happy to learn that LanguageBird used video conferencing for their lessons so that I could still interact face to face with my instructor. In addition, I wanted the credits from my French 3 course to transfer to my high school transcript. Another aspect of LanguageBird that stood out to me was the flexible scheduling, which allowed me to select the most convenient lesson times. Friends of mine who took a LanguageBird course in the past had great things to say about their instructors, and I thought the one-on-one format would greatly benefit my attention and engagement. I can happily say that I was correct.

3. What was a typical day in your summer program?

Twice weekly, I would open Microsoft Teams and my personal textbook before joining a one-hour virtual meeting with my instructor, in which we reviewed the previous homework, learned and practiced that day’s lesson, clarified any questions I had, and signed off with a few useful exercises to complete for homework. Between lessons, I spent time to further review the concepts studied in the last class and complete the homework exercises. Homework was never too much, and the variety of different exercises applied the concepts in very contextual situations instead of simple multiple-choice questions.

4. What was the most memorable moment of your summer?

My favorite part of my LanguageBird course was the final project, for which I prepared a 10-minute presentation on a topic of my choice. I really enjoyed the open-ended prompt that let me choose the subject. Overall, my favorite thing about LanguageBird was the one-on-one video conference format, which allowed me to receive clarification whenever I needed it, stay engaged much more successfully, and as a result, leave class with a greater understanding of the material.

5. What advice do you have for teens looking at summer programs?

For other teens considering enrolling in a summer program, I recommend choosing something you’re interested in which also matches the time you plan on allocating for the activity.

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