TIRUCHY: Lockdown has revived the demand for spoken English classes as many, who had put on hold their plan to learn the language, used the time to improve their language proficiency. The demand has been higher especially among IT professionals. The online mode has helped them shrug off their fear and anxiety and come forward to learn the language.
With a lot of leisure time before them and the hassle-free online mode, it didn’t take more than their willingness to enrol for the classes. Some IT professionals, who spoke to The New Indian Express, said they started taking the spoken English classes as all the office meetings went online, and they had to hold conversations with people from across the country and sometimes from abroad.
"Working out of an office was different. If we need help or clarifications, it was just a turn away as the other person was somebody who either sat by our side or just a room away. But, for the online meetings, the participants are from across India and some times from overseas countries. So, it became necessary to improve our English in order to articulate our issues or ideas," they said.
S Saravanan, a techie working from home since the lockdown, said, "The meetings were not much when I was working out of my office in Chennai. Now that online meetings have become handy, sometimes even up to six hours a day are spent on them. Many who take part in the meetings do not speak Tamil. So, I had to improve my English."
Though Saravanan had earlier tried taking the classes in-person, he says he felt shy to speak in front of his peers. "But since the online classes are one-on-one, I could brush aside my reluctance and speak freely. Also, the instructors correct the mistakes as I speak and guide me well with individual attention," he added.
The techie said now he has got more fluent with the language and could speak in English better in work-related online meetings. People at Hey Granny, an English coaching institute where Saravanan took his classes, said the enrolment increased by 150 new students including working people during the lockdown period.
The institute has 15 trainers who work in corporate companies and offers classes in different schedules to facilitate the learners attend the classes when they are free. Apart from institutes, private tutors listed on online forums saw a spike in demand for the classes.
Hey Granny founder Frank Alister said, "Now, after getting employed, many realise the need to learn English. But, they can not afford to spend three hours in physical classes and they also have the travelling time to consider. Many people enrolled in our classes after the lockdown necessitated English learning."
A lister said a milk delivery man, who had studied only till class X, took the classes so that he could speak English at his child's private school meetings. "He did learn to speak better," he said.
Explaining the advantages of one-on-one online classes, Alister said, "They speak English by overcoming their fear and hesitation. This by itself solves most of the problems. Later, they work on grammar and towards fluency. They have no homework, they just speak for an hour everyday in English with us."
Another institute SM Spoken English Centre also reported more students attending the classes.
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Some IT professionals, who spoke to The New Indian Express, said they started taking the spoken English classes as all the office meetings went online, and they had to hold conversations with people from across the country and sometimes from abroad.