Lifelong Learning Platforms: Coursera, edX, Khan Academy

The problem is usually not motivation, it is that the course was recommended without a decision about what it is for. Three different purposes get mixed up: proving something to an employer, learning a skill for a job she already has a route into, and keeping her own confidence and language going. Only the first needs a certificate, and only the first is worth paying for.

Ask which one it is before recommending anything. If she needs a credential that a local employer recognises, an international online certificate is often not it, and a short course from a local provider or a recognised vocational route is. If she needs the skill, the free audit track is enough and there is no reason to buy.

On cost: both platforms let you audit most courses without paying, and Coursera runs a financial aid scheme you can apply to for individual courses. Neither of those is obvious from the front page, and a mentee who sees a price and closes the tab has not made a decision about learning, she has made one about money.

Language is the other thing. Most of the good courses are in English, and for several of my mentees the course is a language exercise wrapped around a subject, which doubles the work.

That is worth saying out loud to the mentee rather than letting her conclude she is slow. A course in a second language takes longer, and it takes longer at the start, which is exactly when people decide whether they can do it.

Two practical adjustments. Turn on subtitles and use the transcript, since both platforms provide them, and reading alongside listening is a large help in a second language. And check whether the same subject exists in her stronger language, including on Khan Academy, which is translated more widely than the university platforms and which costs nothing.

One thing that changes completion more than any of this: put the course in the mentoring, do not send it away with her. Agree which week she does which part, look at one piece of it together in a session, and ask about it next time. A course nobody asks about is a course that stops in week two.