Let me Take a Moment to Talk About Amphy
What is Amphy? You may ask, well I’ll tell you it’s definitely not just a nickname for a Pokemon, but also is a name for a fairly new online learning platform!
(direct hyperlink at your convenience here -> https://www.amphy.com/
^ No, I’m not talking about this wonderful creature. (^_^)
AMPHY was created this year (2021!) with locations and contact info provided for the USA & Canada (Canada based location), Asia (Hong Kong based), Australia, and also for EMEA! (Europe, Middle East, and Africa). Check it out for yourself here! https://www.amphy.com/contact/
Provided above is a snapshot of some of all of the subjects you can cover on AMPHY and I’m going to show snippets of what the site looks like before you make your own account to be a student. The sign-up process is extremely easy and only takes a few minutes and a couple of clicks! You can make an account with your Gmail (Google), Facebook, or make one with your own email and password if the first two options don’t appeal to you! They don’t spam your email so, rest assured that there are no risks to joining! I’ll also throw in as a disclaimer that I’m in no way SPONSORED or AFFILIATED with anyone that works at AMPHY. I’m just a user of the platform spreading awareness because I think it’s very cool. I’m not extremely active as I’ve used to be on Tumblr in any of my communities due to a lot of personal life circumstances and have often been hanging around on Youtube, Twitter, and Reddit when I have the time if I’m not on Facebook keeping up with my relatives to support one another during some hardships. Facebook was what informed me about AMPHY thanks to ads and for those who don’t use Facebook, maybe this post can be helpful!
Learning new languages can be an extremely rigorous undertaking and it can be hard to learn especially if the new language of choice isn’t commonly used in your area. Being a US native and in my area, very seldom will you encounter speakers for more than just English and Spanish. Japanese was something I’ve been passionate about studying from a young age because of my exposure to music and pop culture media from there. I think a lot of us can relate even if it’s not about Japanese itself, but I’ll talk about Japanese because that’s what I know more about besides English. Also, given the nature of the world and the ongoing pandemic, I wouldn’t be surprised if more people may find themselves still stuck at home like I am. Staying at home ensures that my loved ones and I are safe from germs, but it’s definitely made it harder to have social interactions, and all the college courses I’m in now are also being taken online.
“これはなんですか? ”- “What is this?” Alternatively, it may be written as “これは何ですか” where the only difference between the two Japanese sentences is that the kanji for “what” which is read as “なん” (nan) or “なに” (nani) is included in the second sentence. Japanese is a language that can be really intimidating for English speakers or for those who speak languages like Spanish/French where there’s only one system of writing and not multiple systems where one of the systems includes hundreds of different characters that can mean different things depending on the context.
I love how beautiful some of the Kanji characters are! I just can’t write them well. To be fair though my regular handwriting is terrible and Kanji is something I would recommend getting familiar with after you’ve learned Japanese Hiragana and Katakana. It’s less daunting when you break up the learning process into chunks. As of writing, AMPHY, unfortunately, doesn’t offer calligraphy classes, but they do offer Japanese courses!
I’ll also note that I’ve had the extreme blessing and luck to be able to study Japanese through a program online before I graduated HS but rest assured that the teacher of the Japanese Courses on AMPHY is also the real deal. If you take a Japanese course, the only teacher they have right now is Julia.A. However, new courses are always being added to AMPHY so who knows, there may be even more teachers in the future. Julia runs the Instagram account learn.japanese (https://www.instagram.com/learn.japanese/?igshid=1ohya3004qw9j) and you can check it out!
Her AMPHY page is here and a snapshot is shown above ^ -https://www.amphy.com/teachers/julia-a/6013e99a-88d9-4a04-894b-fa1bd2b5a000
If you noticed the screenshot before last you can tell there is a variety of price ranges and courses offered for Japanese! The most expensive course at the moment is only $38 for an hour with worksheets provided! There’s some courses under $20 ranging from half an hour, 45 minutes, to 60 minutes. If you want to test out a free course before putting any money down, you can often find one or two courses a subject most of the time that will allow you to get a feel for it. Julia has a free group course for those who want to get a feel for her other classes if they’re already confident with their hiragana reading ability!
Even if you don’t want to learn Japanese I really recommend checking out all the other subjects the site has to offer. It doesn’t have to be languages either. There’s even classes for fitness like Yoga and HIIT! You can also join courses for cooking/baking, math, gardening, drawing,etc.
Bake your sourdough and score it like a pro! Live your #cottagecore dreams! If baking bread isn’t your thing that’s cool too!
Take a class about edible gardening if you want to stay out of the kitchen and grow your own food! If you want to learn how to sketch, then you can get live-input and drawing tips!
I really enjoy the way the platform is set up and I would compare it to sites like Coursera or Skillshare. If you're familiar with them, then why not add AMPHY to your repertoire? Personally, I've only gotten into live online learning with AMPHY but hey variety is the spice of life. Live to become your best and most knowledgeable self!
I'm for sure going to be keeping an eye out for new math courses on AMPHY when I can because I know I'll definitely go looking for some input on how I do things in pre-calculus.
Staying motivated and reaching out to others for learning can be hard but AMPHY helps make finding ways to learn with others easier. If life coaching or professional growth are things you need help with then there are courses for that too!
The platform while new is going to grow and if you're looking to teach others then AMPHY may be the spot for you too! The process of becoming an AMPHY teacher is a different matter than making a regular student account but I bet it would be a great way to have a side hustle going if you have a skill you can show to others! Review your teachers if you take a course with them so others know how much you enjoyed it! There are some courses that don’t have any reviews but I believe that’s just due to the site being new and the audience isn’t as widely known about yet, so I can understand some may be hesitant in jumping in on this bandwagon.
Thank you for listening to me talk about amphy.com! Check it out if it sounds right for you!
(before I forget, if you do happen to use Facebook I also know that they have their own page and also a private group for those interested so check them out there too if you want to learn more from the company/brand themselves! Just search AMPHY and I’m sure you’ll come across it.
The world is your oyster, learn all the things!
