Olesia Vlasova

If you are an experienced foreign language teacher, a famous blogger, or an expert in linguistics, you might one day want to share your knowledge and experience with a broader audience — and maybe even monetise it. Creating an online foreign language course can be a great way to promote your expertise while earning money.

Or perhaps you’re considering developing a corporate course to help your employees improve their language proficiency in specific areas? Adapting the course to business needs — such as formal writing, client communication, or cross-cultural negotiation — can be a significant asset for your team’s growth.

Anyway, where should you start? How to create a language course, and where should you publish it? With so many options available, it can feel overwhelming.
Don’t worry. We’ll guide you through everything step by step. Let’s dive in!

Creating a comprehensive online language course can be too ambitious undertaking. It’s unrealistic to cover all levels and aspects of a language, so determining your course’s specific focus and educational goal is crucial. What will your course teach, and what value will it provide to students?

Start by identifying essential traits like age, gender, and interests to define your audience. Then, consider the problems your audience might face that your language course can address. A successful educational course should effectively address these issues. Here are some ideas:

Take your time, and feel free to formulate a clear, specific goal for your language course that will meet the needs of your audience. This is very important.

Once you’ve defined your course focus, why students should take it, and its format, it’s time to concentrate on another crucial element — the program.

Here are a few points that might assist you:

Online courses, regardless of whether they are language-related, come in three formats:

• Synchronous: webinars with an expert.
• Asynchronous: pre-recorded video lectures.
• Blended: live lessons combined with recorded content.

Each format has its pros and cons. For instance, synchronous learning resembles traditional classroom instruction, enabling students to interact with the teacher and receive immediate answers via videoconferences, webinars, or chats.

Self-paced asynchronous courses allow students to learn on their schedules without the need for real-time participation.

In blended learning, learners access digital activities that fit into their schedules while working with teachers and other students to improve their speaking skills, receive feedback, and gain guidance.

By the way, the target audience analysis can help here. It will show whether potential students prefer scheduled classes or flexible study times and whether they want to learn in groups or individually.

The main formats for an online language course include:

Choose a format based on your course’s scope: broader topics need detailed lessons, so video and audio formats work best. While many language courses use only audio, adding visuals can make learning more engaging. Also, include practical tasks and interactive elements to give students more hands-on experience.

Whatever combination of formats you choose, please remember to evaluate your resources. Recorded courses are considered higher quality but require more time and money. With some skills, you can achieve good results using a smartphone. Also, consider whether you’re more comfortable performing live or if pre-recording is easier. And don’t forget about the financial side — producing a video can be costly.

Well, the hard part’s over. Now we’re down to the easy part… Just kidding. Creating content for a course is a challenging task.

Here are a couple of hints. Your lessons should feature engaging videos, grammar exercises, listening activities, reading comprehension questions, and vocabulary for each topic. Include writing practice, like email responses and business letters, and interactive elements, like self-check exercises, virtual vocabulary cards, and audio clips that students can replay.

Of course, writing lesson plans and filling them with engaging content can be complicated, even if you’ve settled on a format and have a clear structure. This is especially true if you’ve chosen a video format and lack experience in scripting or filming.

If that’s the case, consider bringing in an assistant. A professional editor and videographer can help you craft compelling content and feel more confident on camera. For instance, Seturon’s production team creates high-quality scripts and visually appealing materials for your online course. This ensures your content is structured and engaging, helping your course stand out and attract more learners.

In the final stage, it’s essential to address a few questions:

Use live streaming services like YouTube for synchronous classes, while webinars need specialised platforms.

Course-building platforms help you create structured training, incorporating text, images, and videos, schedule live sessions, and monetise your courses. Most include a learning management system (LMS) to publish courses, track student progress, and allow students to access materials, complete assignments, view grades, and get support.

The LMS allows students to upload their results directly to the platform, while instructors can review, grade, and offer detailed feedback.

LMS platforms can send automated notifications and reminders, keeping students informed about schedule changes, homework deadlines, and their progress.