There’s a part of me that has a dream of a bucolic life in the middle of nowhere. I’d love the adventure of living in a hut in an African village or deep in the Amazon jungle. Both Mehmet and I love the idea of building a home ‘off the grid’ somewhere way north of here, with the challenge of living sustainably. We’d grow our own veggies and fruit trees and of course we’d have some sheep, goats and chickens!

It’s a bit of a paradox, then, how incredibly excited another part of me is when it comes to modern technology. For example, I can’t begin to explain how attached I am to my iPhone. It is so functional and helpful in my life (not to mention beautiful!). Homesteading and iPhones just don’t seem to mix. Philosophically, anyway.

Another way I’ve been enjoying modern technology is by teaching online.

This is Sun-Mi. About six weeks ago, I was meeting her at the library here in Toronto twice a week for English lessons.

Now, after a year in Toronto, she’s moved back to Seoul, South Korea. She is still studying for her IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam, so we are having lessons through Skype. That’s her brother Jake in the background. I taught him here too!

Skype is incredible. It’s so neat to be able to chat across the world with no delay. It’s free, and the convenience and efficiency of it all never ceases to amaze me.

We focus on speaking, and when she makes errors or needs some accurate vocabulary, I type it in the message box so she knows how to spell it. I keep track of all the new language I teach her, and drill her on it next time.

Part of the IELTS exam is being able to speak for 2 minutes on a topic that is provided by the examiner. In the box below the following picture, you can see I’ve cut and pasted a topic for her to talk about.

One of the concerns our international students have is that they will lose all their English skills once they return to their country – because they no longer have opportunities to practice it.

Speaking regularly online via Skype has several benefits for a student like Sun-Mi. First of all,  she saves a lot of time by not having to go to a language school for lessons. Secondly, she gets a LOT more speaking time by having one-on-one time with her teacher. And finally, she gets very specific feedback on her language, whereas if she were in a class, she’d get very limited attention.

And what about for me?

Well, sitting on my bed with a cup of coffee and my laptop? What can I say?

It’s win-win all around!

Maybe if Mehmet milks the goats, mows the grass and picks the berries… while I ’supervise’ from the back deck while sunbathing teaching online, we could live a modern life while still in the boondocks!