With our English Central analysis, we are reintroducing a once-popular online English learning platform. Although this app may have set aside its popularity, it still catches the attention of those wanting to learn English online. Therefore, by examining the English Central website in detail, we look at what benefits it can provide in terms of learning English through conversation.
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English Central is one of the oldest applications serving as an online English platform. Established in Japan in 2008, it would not be wrong to say that this app was one of the first online English courses to enter our lives. Especially if we consider how popular platforms increased in the late 2010s and quickly gained popularity after the pandemic, English Central has been a fast runner but quickly grew tired. Nevertheless, it still continues to attract the attention of those actively aiming to speak fluent English.
Even though English Central appears as free at first, it is a paid app. But how?
This is a controversial question among the English Central followers. English Central website reflects that one can access freely. However, we should warn you first. English Central gives you limited access to videos. To access English Central course content, teachers and live sessions, you should pay for it. In this sense, English Central is a paid app.
Although the English Central application greets us with an outdated website, it should ultimately gain importance through the quality and instructiveness of its lessons. The site that this application presents us with is not only outdated but also has a confusing design. We can explain the reason for this as follows:
English Central has developed a system that encourages you to practice English by offering short videos. It is possible to watch these videos without creating any membership or making a purchase. However, you are only allowed a limited time of one minute. Watching these videos focuses on both listening and vocabulary learning. Yet, improving your skills in these areas by watching such short videos may not be a realistic goal. However, we can see this freemium aspect of English Central as a trial run for membership.
However, you are probably more interested in the paid side of the English Central online English course application. If you aim to learn English through speaking, you need to immerse yourself in a more comprehensive process. Therefore, we need to examine the training you would receive with a paid membership to English Central, especially the lessons.
The English Central application stands out with its online live English classes. Students who enroll in this app want to make their English more fluent using an online English course format. So, we can say that live classes are the foundation of this application.
However, as I mentioned in the previous section, another element that the application offers you is videos. To access these live classes, you need to purchase a membership. After buying this English Central membership, you also get unlimited access to various videos. However, these are not videos created by English Central. There are as many of these videos on the internet as you would describe with the phrase 'a dime a dozen'—abundant, widespread, diverse, and accessible.
The reason I mention these videos again is that they serve as topics for the English Central live classes. So, the application works in this way:
Reinforce these learned words with the instructor in the live English class.
In this recipe, we see that these videos are more than just a membership trial run. In fact, we might say they take up more space and time than the live classes. What we call a lesson plan in this application is actually built on learning with videos. We hope that you encounter videos that match your interests and address your goals.
We mentioned that English Central one-on-one lessons are based on videos and individual practices. Now, we can take a closer look at the private English lessons. The English Central app provides 25-minute one-on-one live English lessons. These lessons aim for you to learn English by conversing with an instructor. If there is an instructor you like in the app, you also have the opportunity to book up to 3 lessons at a time with this person. Additionally, English Central also offers the opportunity for group classes. There are no extra materials to follow in these classes. The videos you watched earlier provide you with a foundation and topic for discussion.
The main purpose of the English Central review article is to show whether this app is the right decision for those who want to take online English lessons. In its simplest terms, we can question whether English Central is useful or not.
While questioning whether English Central is good and teaches English well, another question comes to mind. What should a good online English application be like? At this point, as everyone's level and reasons for learning English vary, the goodness of online English lessons can be defined differently. However, we can generally say that everyone might want to speak English at an advanced level. In addition to everyday dialogues, they want to assert their presence and speak up fearlessly in the world of work and academia. For this, one might commit to online language applications like English Central.
If we agree with this goal, we should look for the following features in English learning applications:
Of course, it is possible to easily add to the criteria we listed above. However, what we need to pay attention to is that there should be a certain level of professionalism in the online English course. Whatever educational sciences require, English Central must fulfill this so that the application can be beneficial to you. So, how closely does English Central really follow this?
By looking at the teachers on English Central, it is possible to make inferences about the overall success of the application. Although the application tries to teach English through videos, the element that will truly provide efficiency is these instructors. As you know, English is learned by speaking. These instructors are the sole individuals responsible for getting you to speak and providing the correct feedback.
However, generally, instructors at English Central do not have a certain level of experience or certification. Let’s briefly explain what we mean by certification. Knowing English is not enough to teach it, because teaching is a profession that requires expertise. There are programs and certifications that provide and prove expertise in teaching English. The certifications we are looking for are generally defined as teaching English as a foreign language. The most famous of these certifications include TEFL, CELTA, and ESL. If an instructor has one of these certificates, it means they have been trained and successfully passed an examination to teach English lessons. This person is competent in teaching English.
Online English platforms should also hire instructors with these certificate and experience requirements. However, some applications may only look at the ability to speak English and skip the certification requirement. You can find this out by examining the hiring conditions, or by deducing it from the biographies of instructors on the platform.
However, the biographies of the instructors on the English Central app unfortunately do not reflect minimum professionalism. At this point, English Central may not be sufficiently beneficial for you.
We have come to the final part of our article themed around reviewing English Central. This application draws attention with its free but access-limited videos. The fact that the education is shaped through these videos after purchasing the application is a situation unique to English Central. Upon closer examination, we saw that this application is not very professional. The instructors included in the application are proof of this. Because the application can hire instructors without requiring a certification that indicates expertise. When this and other elements come together, English Central ceases to be a beneficial application. However, those looking for a platform that focuses on speaking lessons like English Central can make a choice by looking at our list of the best applications for 2024. You can start by reviewing Flalingo, the platform that ranks first on our list.
