429 Views
Founded 9 years ago by 2 engineers from Google, Cambly took the time to perfect its offer before launching on the European market and in particular in France. To stand out from their competitors like italki or Preply for example, their ambition is to offer you English lessons with native tutors at a regular pace in order to make real progress.
A woman takes an English lesson with a native English speaking tutor on the Cambly platform
Cambly is specially adapted to those who are looking for a simple and flexible solution to follow English lessons over the long term and to progress especially in speaking . The principle is to subscribe by choosing a number of lessons per week, and then choose your tutor from among the hundreds of profiles offered (to be selected according to your selection criteria).
Their tutors with varied accents and profiles
One of Cambly’s English courses only accept native English speaking tutors . It is a real asset to progress in speaking, and you can choose an English, American, Australian, Canadian tutor as you wish.
Apart from their nationality, the tutors’ files clearly show their qualifications and their profile, but also their evaluations and the volume of conversations on Cambly. A video in which the tutor introduces himself completes the form well to give you an idea of the person. Take the time to explore several profiles before choosing, the idea being to keep the same tutor so that he knows you and personalizes his course as you go.
Their lesson series to better build and track your progress
You can ask your tutor to work on the theme of your choice, but if you lack inspiration Cambly offers many series of about ten lessons in different areas : the basics of English, conversational English, English, preparation for an exam… This allows you to easily explore various themes in the areas that concern you.
In general, we particularly appreciate Cambly’s approach, which facilitates your learning process. The site is easy to use, and the course materials for each of these series allow you to see things more clearly and to follow your progress. It saves time and efficiency compared to other platforms of the same style on which the tutors do not have defined supports (in this case you have to think yourself about the subjects to be discussed with the teacher to advance on the path that really interests us).
Their smart positioning to make the course price more accessible
Sites like Cambly want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to take English lessons and have a real click. The objective is therefore to offer courses at the best price without sacrificing quality. To do this, Cambly brings together on its platform tutors who are not necessarily qualified teachers but who have teaching experience , either as a teacher, or in the context of their previous profession, or on a personal basis. Their dedicated recruitment team also ensures their motivation and their very positive attitude towards the students.
Thanks to this selection, the course materials provided by Cambly and the fact that the tutors are native English speakers, their courses are offered at a reasonable price while being effective .
The possibility of taking a course right away
You want to take advantage of your next free half-hour to improve your English… Just go to the site, look for an “online” tutor and contact them. It’s super adapted to current behaviors of last-minute decision-making!
On the Find a tutor page, you can thus see all the profiles, or those who are online, or your favorites, and each time having the possibility of refining your search with the other criteria. If the teacher you would like to have does not have a slot posted, you can contact them to ask when they will be available.
In addition to the support provided for the course, Cambly also displays 2 or 3 pages to prepare the course upstream. It’s a good idea but it’s very succinct. They allow you to acquire a little vocabulary or grammar and to think about the first questions that will be asked by the teacher and thus to enter the subject more quickly. We would like to have a larger list of words to learn new ones if we already know the basics that are offered.
To find a course or a teacher adapted to your level, you will define yourself as beginner, intermediate or advanced . For the series of lessons that are offered, we would have liked to have more precise levels so that the materials are better suited to our level.
The lesson materials are long compared to a 30-minute lesson. Do not hesitate to encourage your tutor to skip pages that would be of little use more quickly (vocabulary already known for example) or to continue the support during another course, with the same teacher if possible.
Languages available
Their site and platform are well suited to French speakers. On the other hand, the course materials are all in English, you will need at least some basics to understand the teacher’s explanations. If you need more translation , you have 2 possibilities:
– Choose a French speaking person. To do this, type French in the search engine on the “Find a tutor” page, you will see that a good number of profiles are offered.
– Use the translation tool integrated into the platform. Because the courses do not take place on Zoom but on their own platform. The advantage is that you can review the videos of your lessons if you want.
Cambly is particularly suitable for those who want to embark on a regular apprenticeship for several months. Indeed, you take out a monthly or annual subscription, choosing a weekly rate .