The default lesson length on italki is 60 minutes. Before joining this site, I was more familiar with face-to-face lessons in 45 and 90-minute increments. I was a bit hesitant to offer 90-minute lessons in an online format. However, I have recently added a 90-minute option to my lessons because of student demand.
Do you have a preference for the length of your language lessons? Is there a difference in your opinion if the lessons are paid or done with a language exchange partner?
What are your thoughts? Students? Teachers?
As a tutor, I think 45 minutes is P-E-R-F-E-C-T.
I see it in my learners from the 45 minute classes, they are getting more, learning more and leave the lesson with energy to do other things. And of course, by not being too tired, the student's brain can process the information and remember it better for future lessons. Something that is not going to happen with a 60 minute lesson when they're receiving so much more information that can't be processed properly.
As a teacher, I can have more lessons in a day with 45 minute classes. As it is, I have to set a limit to how many 60 minute lessons I can have in a day, to avoid burn out.
Unfortunately, Italki has the default system on 60 minutes and all students think they're getting a bargain by getting the longer lesson.
Probably that's what Italki thinks too, so I don't see this feature changing anytime soon.
Ahoj Noah,
Yes, I'm used to the "academic hour" of 45 minutes as well, even though my current job divides the lessons into full 60-minute blocks. I certainly agree that 45 minutes is more comfortable, as filling a full 60 minutes can start to stretch yourself a bit. I've only done a two-hour lesson once on italki, and in spite of having a good enthusiastic student, it was still exhausting.
It seems you still can't remove the 60-minute default setting on italki... I'd really like them to fix this, as a couple of my sessions don't work in a full-hour timeframe.
