AI vs in-person language lessons – which is better?

The Benefits of AI

ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI tools are great! We all use them, and are often truly amazed at what they can do – especially how they can help you to learn English. They can explain grammar points and vocabulary, give examples, create tasks and tests, and give feedback. And, they can do all these things very, very quickly.

We don’t want to discourage you from using AI, as it offers so much. Weinclude some suggestions of how to use AI to study in other blog posts, so look out for those! However, we as teachers also strongly believe that there are huge benefits of learning with us too!

The Benefits of studying in person

A teacher can actually see you

First, a teacher can actually see you and what you are doing! This means they can see your face and see:

• when you are concentrating
• when you are thinking
• when you are happy / relaxed
• when you might be feeling uncomfortable

They can then respond to you and what you need at that specific moment. This means they can change:

• the activity or the focus of the activity (for example, looking at vocabulary instead of grammar if you already know the grammar)
• the pace of the activity (for example, going faster if you find something easy, or slowing down if you need more time to complete it)
• who you are working with in a group class (for example, if you would benefit from hearing someone else’s perspective or learning from someone else’s experience)

Honest feedback and critique.

Second, a teacher can give you honest feedback and critique. AI is designed to please, and so may give you a false impression of your language skills, and may not challenge you. A teacher can – kindly – point out your weak points as well as your strong points. They can then support you to improve on those weak points.

Learning in a real classroom.

Third, a classroom can be a really great place to learn.

Of course, being here in person means you can experience life in England, which helps put your language learning into context. You can meet new people and practise your language amongst others. Being physically present here also means that you have a multi-sensory experience. You can see, hear, smell and feel what life in Shrewsbury is really like – even the background noises and smells! Engaging all the senses can mean you learn a lot more.

Being in a classroom can also help you really focus on learning the language. Using AI on a phone or computer can mean there are distractions, like pop-ups and notifications, which interrupt your studies. And it is always tempting just to have a quick look at social media or the news while you’ve got a phone in your hand or the laptop open …!

In fact, a lot of students who come here actually enjoy having a break from technology and ‘going old school’ using pen, paper and books to study while they are here. You can also work with a teacher on learning or improving skills like handwriting, and study skills like taking and organising notes too.

In conclusion, we would definitely recommend using AI as a tool, but also coming to see us too!

You’d be very welcome in Shrewsbury

By Angela, 

Deputy Director of Studies