Sticky: Free Group Language Lessons @ eduFire

Hey all. We have something pretty cool to share with you. eduFire is giving away some free group language lessons over the next week. We’re testing out a brand-new platform and you’ll be one of the first people to experience it in all its glory! Plus, did I mention these will be free?!! :)

Q: I’m interested. What do I need to do?

A: Simply go to http://edufire.wikispaces.com/ and add your name to the class or classes that you are interested. You don’t need to sign up for an account there or anything, just click on “Edit This Page” and add your name in one of the student slots. You’ll be emailed a link to the virtual classroom and can go to that link at the time your class begins.

Q: What will these lessons be like?

A: It’s up to the teacher. Your teacher will be using video, voice, IM and other tools to teach you. It’ll be our first run through on the platform so there could be a few hiccups but we think you’ll really enjoy these classes. We have some great teachers who have already signed up including Marco, Susan and John.

Q: What do I need to prepare?

A: Unless your teacher contacts you to tell you otherwise you don’t need to do anything in advance of your lesson. However, you will want to have a working webcam and headset with microphone to communicate with your teacher. You can use this tool to test your settings if you’d like.

Q: I’m a teacher and would like to teach one of these group classes. How can I do this?

A: We’d love to have additional teachers teach classes on eduFire. If youre interested in doing this send me a message through the site or email me at jon at edufire dot com.

Thanks to all who participate in this test of the new eduFire platform!

Hi Jon,
I had a look at your wiki page, and unfortunately there is no scheduled French classes on the way… I will be available as from August 13th, so is there any possibility to add some French classes beginning around this date (for me) ? Many thanks
Regards

JMC

I am excited about group classes! Just signed up for Susan’s Spanish Class!

Hey Jean-Marie. I would love it if you want to add a French class. You don’t need a password to edit the wiki, just click on “edit this page” and enter in the time and description for your class in the same format as the others have.

Here is a current listing of the classes and availabilties:

08/02/08
12-2 PM PST = Teacher = Susan McGarvie = English Lesson
Student1 =
Student2 =
Student3 =

08/03/08

12-2 PM PST = Teacher= Susan McGarvie = Spanish Conversation Practice Lesson
Student1 = Benard K
Student2 = Tina S
Student3 =

4-6 PM PST =Teacher = John L. Williams German I Lesson
Student1 = Kurt Holcomb
Student2 =
Student3 =

08/04/08

08/05/08
1-2 PM PST = Teacher Marco C = Italian for Beginners
Student1 = Ryan Buckholtz
Student2 = Elena Bonat
Student3 = Ozzy Oxido

08/06/08
12-1 PM PST = Teacher Darío Fernández = Spanish conversation for advanced students
Student1 =
Student2 =
Student3 =

Congratulations Marco…you are the first teacher to “sell out” a class!!! :)

P.S. Here’s that link again:

http://edufire.wikispaces.com/

Hi Jon, I edited the wiki page with addition of my class for French beginners. I believe PST time is 9 hours behind me, so when I mention 11-12 am, for me it is 8-9 pm. Can you confirm please ?
Many thanks !
I noticed a great improvement in the quality of the video in edufire….that’s very helpful.

JMC

You’re totally correct JMC. :)

mille grazie Marco !

You’re always welcome. :)

Hello guys!

All welcome to attend my classes in Swedish and Bulgarian on August 15-16 at 11 AM EDT :-)

All are also welcome to attend my class in German on 08/03/08 from 4-6 PM PST

Don’t mind if I do! I signed up and can’t wait to try my hand at this new platform.

Hi Jon. I would like to have a class of Arabic in August. Everybody is welcome on 8th August. I will set the time later this week. Thank you!

Here’s the schedule for tomorrow. We at eduFire are very excited for this historic day! :) BTW, we have one more slot for John’s German class at 4 PM PST if any is interested. Also, if your name is Pat Rourke and you read this please drop me a line as I don’t have any contact info for you (and you don’t appear to be a registered member of eduFire) so I can’t send you the instructions for Susan’s class. Thanks to all of you who are participating in these tests!

08/03/08

12-2 PM PST = Teacher= Susan McGarvie = Spanish Conversation Practice Lesson
Student1 = Benard K
Student2 = Tina S
Student3 = Pat Rourke

4-6 PM PST =Teacher = John L. Williams German I Lesson
Student1 = Kurt Holcomb
Student2 =Isadora Moustata
Student3 =

Here is Pat, Jon :)

I went on the wiki yesterday and scheduled myself for a session today. Didn’t receive the instructions on how to join the session today, unfortunately. [Does this mean you guys have normal lives and take off weekends?] Anyway, I signed up for another session Thursday—hope to get the how-to where-to before then—small groups sound like a great idea.

Normal life? Never heard of one of those before! :)

What’s a normal life…I just finished a two hour session and I’m having a one hour spanish journalism session at 10.30 tonight…I really enjoy this so…normal life??? Nah…too boring!!!!
Pat, I’ll send you the instructions to you NOW!!!!

Sue

Hey Patrick. So sorry about that. I sat down yesterday to send you instructions and realized I didn’t have any contact info for you. I searched the site here and for some reason didn’t find your profile. Anyway, now I know how to get a hold of you so I’ll make sure you have instructions for next time!

Jon,
Just in case, I sent Patrick the instructions so he can join in on the next lesson. Since we had a session yesterday, I had all his contact info, wish I had thought of sending the instructions before the lesson, just never thought about it…

Sue

Thanks Sue. The link to the room will change with the new session. Everything else is the same though and I’ll send over instructions to everyone in advance.

If anyone’s interested John’s giving a great German lesson right now. We have room for a couple more people so if you wanna hop in and check it out here’s the link:

Free Group German Lesson with John

Hey guys. That was quick. We just filled up the class! :) We’ll be doing more so stay tuned for more opportunities for language learning on eduFire!

I’d love to join, I love German and I’d love to help out there too, but I have a lesson in a while and I don’t want to mess up coming and going from one lesson to the other.
Sorry John and Jon, can’t make it this time, but if there’s another lesson scheduled, I’ll be there, promise!!!!

Sue

Everyone,

Sign-up for the rest of the lessons on tap for next week!! The system is awesome. The combination of voice, chat, sharing files from your computer, sharing websites, video and even u tube is unbelievable.

When Jon and the team at edufire put this out there in the fall we are going to be hard to beat. :)

You did a great job last night John. :) You’re right about the software, it’s awesome.