When Global LT hosted its first Group Outing in Detroit in 2015, only three English learners joined their teacher at a local cooking school. Over time, though, Group Outings took off, growing to a dozen events per week across three continents and five languages! Ultimately, Group Outings made it so hundreds of learners each week could make friends, learn a new language, and practice their new skills in fun, interesting, and real-world contexts.
With Covid, Group Outings came to an abrupt halt, but the team at Global LT was determined to continue to deliver experiences that learners would love. We launched virtual events in May 2020. These are hour-long activities such as cooking or exercise classes, art studios, conversation or skill-building groups, virtual tours and more that meet on Zoom. Since their launch, these events have attracted almost a thousand learners, in eight languages, all around the world.
Group Outings and Virtual Events are exciting because they show us something about Global LT's future. Specifically, we have learned how effective language learning is when it is experiential and connected to a learner's interests and communities.
By experiential, we mean that the learner uses their new language in its environment: they learn kitchen and food language while cooking, they learn body parts and physical movement language while exercising, and they learn art and culture language while exploring a museum in their new country.
By connected, we mean that their learning is driven by their interests, is embedded in their communities (coworkers, family, those who share similar interests), and is part of their life.
Most importantly, learners and teachers love them! If your learners haven't attended any yet, we encourage you to recommend that they give them a try. Click here to check out our event catalog!
If you're interested in offering Virtual Experiences, please let us know! We're eager to hear your ideas. Join us in discovering the future of language instruction at Global LT, and explore, connect, and experience language acquisition in new ways.
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