I’ve been tutoring on LingQ for a few months and we mainly use Skype since it’s recommended by LingQ, but Skype will be retired May 5, 2025.
I’ve used Zoom for free to meet people for under 40 minutes. I have to send them the link to join externally and our chat can’t be saved. That’s one thing I’ve liked about Skype is the ongoing chat.
I use Google Meet for a language agency I work for, but I’ve never set up the meetings myself, so I don’t know if it costs anything to use. I don’t find the screen share very good and a lot of the time my clients can’t see me when they are sharing their screen with me to go over homework. Again, no continuous chat. We communicate through emails instead.
I just discovered there’s a Discord group for LingQ, and I’ve used it in the past to chat and video call with friends. I wouldn’t mind using it for tutoring as well if my client has an account since I can message as well as video call on there.
My Skype account recommends moving to Microsoft Teams, and I pay for Office 365 for my other job, so I think I have access to it, but I’m not familiar with it. I don’t know if there’s an option to chat with people as well as set up video calls.
So what do most people prefer to use for tutoring and what will LingQ recommend next?
I’ve been speaking to the same Japanese tutors for a while and know them all pretty well. I connected with most of them using LINE and will chat there. Some others will continue to use Zoom.
Google Meets is a free option.
If you can use Teams, it would be one of the best options. It provides the best meeting experience.
I’ll probably install and try TEAMS, but I just started using Signal with one of my students, and I like it. It’s easy to use!