Khawar Malik
welcome to the somos community spotlight! 🔦
hey 👋🏽 welcome to the second post in our community spotlight series!
every quarter, we'll be profiling an online language teacher from our community of teachers 😎
this time out, we’re excited and grateful to welcome Stefan Zdravković! let’s find out more…!
fast facts 🎉
⭐️ Stefan lives in serbia 🇷🇸 and teaches french 🇫🇷!
⭐️ he teaches at the university of niš & across several different platforms 👨🏫
⭐️ Stefan has a masters in french as a foreign language and literature 📜
⭐️ he is a phd student of french linguistics (more on that below!) 🎓
⭐️ Stefan met his wife teaching french! 💍
deep and far-reaching experience 🌍
Stefan is approaching a decade as a language teacher! he began his journey with an internship in kiskunhalas, hungary. "i gave french and english lessons to students in primary and in high school. that was a rewarding experience not only on a professional but also on a personal level".
what about now? Stefan has really expanded his business since then! he not only teaches at the university of niš, serbia but on several online language learning platforms too.
the move towards more online work has been a positive one for Stefan. he loves interacting with students from around the world and discovering new cultures.
"so far I have had students from all the continents, mostly from europe (switzerland, germany, france, italy, uk, russia, poland, serbia, bosnia and herzegovina…) and from the americas (usa, mexico, costa rica, peru, columbia...)".
encouraging self-correction when learning french ✅
Stefan's students have a mix of motivations when it comes to learning french!
"most of my students learn french to pass exams (DELF/DALF, TCF, TEF, school/college…) or they take business french lessons. of course, there are also students who want to learn just for the sake of love for this language".
whatever his student's goal, Stefan takes a very collaborative approach to his teaching. along with focussing on what's gone well, he encourages them to identify their own errors.
"self-correction is a very important part of learning. when they write an essay I underline the part of the sentence which should be corrected and I ask them if they see their error, and what is the right answer. I use the same techniques with speaking: I make notes while they speak, and later we analyze the errors".
Stefan's background in linguistics is a great help when breaking things down for his students.
where possible, he gives them helpful background around the etymology of words.
he also leans on his knowledge of romance languages, english, german and his native serbian to compare and contrast grammar rules. "this can help them recognize and understand better some structures in french (and sometimes some grammar structures in their own language)"
what Stefan's students have to say...
but what do Stefan's students think? over to Jerson with some awesome feedback!
Stefan is an amazing tutor who is knowledgeable about many languages. I recommend you to take his class(es), his methods are practical and fun. He gives me additional content to help me recognize the roots of words and is focused on making sure pronunciation and knowledge are being captured and understood by the students. If you are looking to be proficient in French, I highly recommend you book a class with him! Jerson, student
le ver vert va vers le verre vert... a french tongue twister for you to learn! 😜
one thing that is especially fascinating about Stefan's approach is that he brings the topic of his phd thesis (french & serbian expressions and proverbs with the names of birds) into his work!
his instagram page runs an "expression of the week" series that we'd encourage you to check out! in the meantime, Stefan shared his favourite french tongue twister with us... see how you do with it!!
much like with this tongue twister, Stefan encourages patience above all else when learning french, especially when it comes to pronunciation and grammar.
"all those exceptions are the grace of this language :)"
interested in learning french with stefan?
if you'd like to find out more, feel free to get in touch with stefan:
what is somos? 🤔
somos is a creator platform that helps language teachers build an online storefront in a matter of minutes! 🚀
host your community, 1:1 classes, digital products, group language clubs, and even external links - all in one place for one affordable fee.
we don't charge commission so you can launch & grow your business without giving away your earnings. 💚
why should i switch to somos? 🧐
our mantra at somos is to help you teach, earn & live well. this means:
- helping you keep your earnings: as a teacher-first platform, we don’t charge commission. your only charges are: payment processing fees to stripe + a 1% donation to our impact fund. somos charges 0% on transactions.
- giving you the tools to teach creatively:
- online marketplaces have pushed 1:1 classes as the primary way of teaching.
- we want you to have the ability to offer private coaching but as part of a rounded product suite that allows you to not only diversify your income streams but engage students creatively in a range of ways!
- treating you like co-owners, not customers: somos offers language teachers co-ownership opportunities and has a community ownership programme for grassroots organisations along with a unique entry-level hiring programme in place for refugees living in limbo.
why shouldn’t i switch to somos? 🙀
if you prefer to focus solely on teaching without worrying about marketing, a marketplace model like italki, preply or verbling might suit you better.
- these platforms often promote teachers based on algorithms, which can mean less control over how you're discovered but also less effort required on your part to attract students.
- somos is not a traditional marketplace - we don't directly find students for you but do support your growth by providing strategies to effectively share your somos profile across various social media platforms.
if you're just starting out, a commission only model might work better than a pay monthly - but do get in touch when you find your feet!
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