Personal Experience With Rosetta Stone

July 16, 2010

In this post I have decided to share some of my experiences as a new employee for Rosetta Stone because my training was all online and soon I will be working as an English Studio Coach in real-time. In my Technology Class I’ve learned a lot from class readings and discussions, but experiencing some of what I’ve read has allowed me to internalize the information. I just finished three weeks of training and after a couple practice teaching sessions I will teach my first studio session on July 25th.

Last night I took a 50-minute online synchronous Arabic lesson through the Rosetta Stone Studio program. Completing a unit in Rosetta Stone Course in a language of my choice and following it with a live studio session is a training requirement for me as a new Studio Coach. Rosetta Stone avoids using the word “teacher” because the company wants coaches to facilitate learning and not direct learning; i.e., the focus is on autonomous learning. The emphasis on student autonomy and my training in general reminded me of some of the course readings and discussions regarding the structure, design and role of the instructor in distance education. As a Rosetta Stone trainee I learned from a distance, but the process was incredibly smooth because the weekly unit structure was very tight and organized. Through Rosetta Stone University I completed mini lessons that varied in length from 5-25 minutes. This was perfect since I could pick and chose which lessons to complete depending on how much time I had available. Most of the lessons were in Power Point format, but with an audio component. Overall, I was very impressed with the flow of the lessons. Often with Power Point presentations I think instructors include too much information on individual slides and/or just read the information off of the slides which is boring and a waste of time. Rosetta Stone found a great mix so not only did I learn what I needed to in order to be a Studio Coach, but I also picked up some great design ideas that I can use as I develop my upcoming history class.

The Studio session last night was a great lesson for me not just because I got to practice my Arabic with a native speaker, but also because I witnessed the strengths and weaknesses of synchronous technology. Although my Internet connection was good, my instructor’s was not and thus five times during the lesson she “disappeared”. This was quite disruptive and disappointing since it meant a loss of instructional time. She also had a difficult time pacing the lesson because of this and thus she wasn’t able to cover all of the material. Although she did her best to remain positive, I sensed her frustration. However, despite the dropped connections the advantages of the technology outweighed the disruptions. After all, how many opportunities does one get to see and learn from a native Arabic speaker? The only other way I could do this would be to enroll in a college class somewhere and given my current schedule there’s no way this could happen. I also benefitted because my lesson was one-on-one (Studio sessions can have up to four learners) which meant that I got her undivided attention. My instructor also did a great job motivating me even though I know my pronunciation was horrible. She encouraged me not to give up and didn’t just give me the answers when I couldn’t remember. Instead she used hints and repetition to guide and help me. She was very proactive and the technology, despite its periodic failure, reminded me of a f2f class. The instructor could use these effective teaching strategies because the lesson was synchronous.

Although I think there are some minor flaws in the lessons I’ve taken, Rosetta Stone has successfully created a program for adult learners that is structured, flexible and creative. There are three parts to their language learning programs. Rosetta Course consists of the online units, which are divided into lessons. Each unit (there are 4-5 units depending on the language) consists of 4 Core Lessons, which are broken up further into mini lessons, such as vocabulary, reading, pronunciation and writing. A learner can progress through the units at her own pace and can repeat lessons as many times as she chooses. While working through a unit, a learner “unlocks” access to Rosetta World, which houses online language learning games. There are multiple games to choose from depending on one’s level of achievement. One can choose between solo games; duo games, in which a student is matched with another learner who is learning the same language and is at the same level; or simbio games in which the student plays against a native speaker. Part of my job will be to log on and play simbio games with students learning English. The third part of the Rosetta Stone program are the Studio sessions, which are always taught in real-time with an coach who is a native speaker. Learners can sign up for Studio sessions after completing a unit and they can repeat studio sessions too.

Pedagogically, Rosetta Stone follows an immersion only approach and thus all studio sessions are conducted ONLY in the language being learned. Coaches and students are not “allowed” to speak any other language, which of course is quite challenging. It actually won’t be that hard for me to do this as a Coach since I only know English, but last night there were many times when I wanted to ask a question in English.

The experience of going through a studio session was invaluable as a future Coach because I now have an appreciation for how my students are going to feel when they don’t understand. I’m just a new part time employee for Rosetta Stone, but perhaps in the future, after I earn my MDE, I will have an opportunity to work for them in another position.

Thanks for reading!
Eva