Why do you need a course?
- Because you need a clear step-by-step guidance, and that is exactly what you get when you enroll one of the courses.
- Because you need an easily accessible site where you can easily refer back to the videos from the previous lessons, as well as to the videos of upcoming sessions in order to prepare for the online sessions in advance. By joining one of my courses, you are granted unlimited access and downloading option to all the MP4s, MP3s and PDFs.
- All my courses are goal-oriented - each lesson is organized in such a way that you learn to understand/say something useful, inspired by everyday situations.
- At the end of each lecture, I add a song which usually has some grammar structure or vocabulary that was presented in the lesson.
- Combining learning by singing and drilling the most common phrases and grammar structures from real-life situations, makes a solid foundation for your consistent improvement.
- I must admit it took me 3 years of learning and experimenting to figure out how to transfer all the best practices from face-to-face teaching into online teaching. It wasn't only about the approach, but also about the most appropriate and simple tools, which can make an online lesson lively, personal and joyful experience.
- In the courses at the upper levels, 201 and 301, I help students take up a role of a teacher and use the language as actively as possible, practising speaking in the most meaningful and practical way.
- One of the main advantages of online teaching is that a student can access the audio/video materials whenever they have time and most of all learn at their own pace.
- One of the main misconceptions of online teaching is that the students will learn just because of my previous point - that everything is accessible. We are not machines, we need a social aspect to learning in order to be successful. That's why I chose Udemy as the best learning platform, because of its simplicity and possibility for me, as a teacher to gently nudge students to participate, involving them into forum tasks, connecting them with one another and making the most of the IM system there.
- Each video recording is not only about the language, but about how you can personalize it and use the language for your own needs and purposes.
Structure matters only when it produces speech
A course gives sequence, reusable materials and preparation before live sessions. Its value appears when each lesson leads to something the learner can understand or say in an everyday situation.
Songs recycle grammar through memory; drills make frequent patterns automatic; role reversal at higher levels forces students to explain and ask better questions. These elements serve different stages of active learning.
Why preparation and review need different tasks
Before a live meeting, prediction activates vocabulary and reveals gaps. Afterwards, retrieval without notes shows what survived. Repeating the identical activity at both moments may feel comfortable but gives less information.
At an upper level, teaching a small point to another learner is demanding in a useful way: you must organise examples, anticipate confusion and answer follow-up questions. That pressure turns passive recognition into flexible command.
Five learner actions inside a coherent course
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Pre videa zapisujem šta već znam o temi. | Пре видеа записујем шта већ знам о теми. | Before the video, I write down what I already know about the topic. |
| Audio-snimak ponavljam dok ne uhvatim prirodan ritam. | Аудио-снимак понављам док не ухватим природан ритам. | I repeat the audio recording until I catch the natural rhythm. |
| Posle vežbe objašnjavam pravilo svojim rečima. | После вежбе објашњавам правило својим речима. | After the exercise, I explain the rule in my own words. |
| Pesma mi pomaže da zapamtim red kratkih zamenica. | Песма ми помаже да запамтим ред кратких заменица. | A song helps me remember the order of short pronouns. |
| Na kraju nedelje snimam dvominutni govor bez čitanja. | На крају недеље снимам двоминутни говор без читања. | At the end of the week, I record a two-minute talk without reading. |
Turn access into visible progress
Choose one existing unit and define a result beginning with mogu da…. Complete the unit, then demonstrate the result without reopening the explanation.
- Translate korak po korak.
- Write vežba in Cyrillic.
- Complete: Ja mogu da ______. (govoriti)
- Name one benefit of songs.
- What shows active mastery?
The course becomes a working routine
- step by step
- вежба
- govorim
- They reinforce memory and patterns.
- speaking or explaining without copying
Unlimited access is useful; one independently produced Serbian sentence is evidence that access became learning.
Marina Petrović