The Linguist

30 The Linguist Vol/60 No/4 2021 thelinguist.uberflip.com INSTITUTE MATTERS CIOL Council member Romana Sustar shares her top tips for adapting to online teaching with CEO John Worne Hi Romana, how are you? Very busy but ok! Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be teaching languages… I come from Central Europe – that's where I grew up. After I completed my education and got my Master's, I left and have lived so far in 12 different countries. That's one of the reasons why I speak seven languages. I've always loved languages, but like every language student, I started teaching because I needed a job and money to pay my summer language school. At the university, the professors encouraged us to go abroad and learn with native speakers. Have you had any particularly memorable incidents teaching? Lots, but the most memorable – and remember I'm not an interpreter – was when I found myself interpreting for Silvio Berlusconi on his tour to visit Austrian regional politicians. What was he like? Very charismatic, energetic and short! I was much taller than him. However, teaching languages is my passion, and language teaching is a great way to integrate myself into new countries and cultures; it's a great integration technique. You've taught many types of student but which type have you most enjoyed? In general, I really like everybody, because everybody is unique. But the type of students that are the most interesting are those who have a goal or a vision or a dream. Someone who says: "I need to learn language because…" And this can be anything; it can sometimes be professional but most of the time it is something human – love or pursuing a dream or finding some connection to a family history or researching something to find really crucial information to improve our world. Sometimes teaching a language has this metaphysical level which you can't explain, where you have to transmit the feeling, not just the grammar and vocabulary. I know exactly what you mean, Romana. So did you do any online teaching before Covid-19? Yes, I started in 2013. It was quite common here in the UK, especially in the London area. I'd started looking for work in language schools as part of my integration process, but they said 'no' as they had online programmes. It was a totally new world for me. So you have quite a lot of experience over many years, which online platforms would you recommend? I like a lot of platforms but I would suggest the most mainstream ones because a lot of customers are not tech savvy. It's already difficult to learn something and adding technical complications is just too much. I don't 100% recommend Microsoft Teams because it's too complicated for some people. But I definitely recommend Zoom, because everybody knows it – the whole world uses it so the fear is gone. I also like BlueJeans because it's innovative but easy to use. It, too, offers services such as video meetings, huddle rooms and event support, but it also has social broadcasting features, allowing users to cast content on social media. I really like the Gartner Magic Quadrant – a research methodology that competitively positions four types of technology provider in fast-growing markets: leaders, visionaries, niche players and challengers (see chart, left). So what about business development and building your own brand? When you start from zero, nobody knows you. So what you really need, in my opinion, is a website which you are in charge of – not some third-party platform which controls your data. Then you need LinkedIn and maybe Facebook as well. And you need these three things connected because wherever you get recommendations you need to share them. It improves your credibility. Just do it: just teach MAGIC QUADRANT The chart shows how various online learning platforms perform against four distinct characteristics (September 2020). Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for the future ABILITY TO EXECUTE COMPLETENESS OF VISION © GARTNER, INC

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