Learning Croatian Language – Your Best New Year’s Decision

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Are Individual Online Lessons More Effective Than Lessons in a Group?

We were curious to get some answers to these questions, so we spoke to Prof. Mihaela Naletilić, a Croatian language teacher and owner of CRO to go – a Croatian language center specialized in online Croatian learning.

Although located in Croatia, using their online teaching method, they successfully work with students all over the world. CRO to go offers individual and, more recently, group online courses, successfully teaching Croatian to a great number of students globally.

CRO to go is especially proud of its CROkids program – online Croatian lessons for children aged 6 to 15, either individually, in pairs, or in small learning groups of three students. The CRO to go program for adult students consists of levels: CROstart, intermediate level CROplus, and CROtalk – a conversational level. Recently, CRO to go introduced online group lessons for up to six students.

We asked Prof. Naletilić about her opinion on what is a better way to learn Croatian – by taking an individual course or learning in a group, and what are the biggest challenges and obstacles in both ways of learning?

“Croatian is a language that takes a lot of effort to learn. So far, I haven’t met a student who is not struggling in the process of learning Croatian, but the goal is definitely worth the struggle!” says Prof. Naletilić. “I believe that the question of whether to learn Croatian in a group or individually is a question that each student must answer for themselves. It is simply a matter of your character, way of learning, and your learning experiences so far.”

Many students insist on having individual lessons, one-on-one with the teacher. They believe that this way, they will “get more” out of the teacher and that the teacher will be focused only on them. Partly, that is true, and individual learners can advance in the language very quickly. However, if you are working with a good teacher, working in a group shouldn’t make any student feel neglected or left out.

A good teacher knows and feels the balance of the group, making sure that each student receives enough attention. Balance is a key word for successful language learning in a group.

What is essential for an effective language course in a group?

Next to a good learning program, the most important thing is how to form a group, making sure that all the students are on the same or similar level of knowledge. Otherwise, you will get a bunch of frustrated learners. “Better” ones feel that they are wasting their time, and “weaker” ones feel frustrated because they are falling behind.

Just recently, I stepped out of my Italian learning group because the teacher did not recognize how to combine the different levels of knowledge in a group. And I still remember my Chemistry lessons in high school. I was very interested in Chemistry and loved the lessons, at least for the first few times – but then the teacher started to pay attention only to those kids who were talented for the subject – and soon I was left behind with other “non-talented” kids and, at the end of my high school, ended up hating the subject.

What about the kids? What approach is better for them?

We have a lot of brothers and sisters who start learning Croatian together in our CROkids ONLINE courses. Many of them stick together on the lessons, and it is really nice to see how they communicate in Croatian and help each other out. Let’s not forget that most children are more used to learning in a group, being active participants in formal education, which is based on group learning. But sometimes, after a while, parents themselves suggest, “Let’s split them apart and make individual lessons.” In the beginning of the course, we always tell the parents, “OK, let’s try and see how lessons in pairs work. If they don’t work out, we will simply switch to individual lessons.”

To conclude, what is your experience in working with a group – what are the biggest challenges for the teacher?

A good teacher must see a lot of things and also must overlook a lot of things during a lesson. And must know how to choose what he/she will see and what will be left overlooked. Working with individuals, the most important thing is to “read a student” – to catch on his or her style of learning and to overlook if the student sometimes gets annoyed, frustrated, or even angry with you because they are not making as much success in learning as they hoped.

Working in a group, a good teacher must be aware of the individual knowledge of each student and how to make a balance between students, sometimes overlooking personal conflicts or misunderstandings between the students.

CRO to go offers ONLINE Croatian language courses – individually and in small groups.

CRO to go courses are divided into levels: CROkids – for children from age 6 to 15, CROstart – for beginners in Croatian, CROplus – medium level for students who already have some knowledge of Croatian, and CROtalk – conversational lessons.

For more information on learning Croatian online, visit www.crotogo.hr, contact CRO to go on email at [email protected], or follow them on Facebook: CRO to go (education).

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