Learned By Me Blog @learnedbyme-blog - Tumblr Blog

About Us!

We are running some promotions over the next few months with some awesome new partners and they asked that we put up a page telling a bit more of the Learned By Me story. We were happy to oblige!

What do you do?

At Learned By Me, we connect top native-speaking language professors from the developing world with students for one-on-one tutoring sessions over Skype from $15 (£9) per 45 minutes. All our teachers also work at a top university or immersion school and every lesson is customized to students' goals and interests. We launched in 2013 with Spanish lessons with professors from South America and have seen rapid growth.

Recently, we have launched Mandarin lessons in beta with top professors from China as well.

Why did you launch this service?

Our founding team members learned to speak French and Spanish fluently studying with local professors in the developing world. We knew that using modern technology and the internet, we could bring this highly effective, culturally immersive learning experience to people all over the world. We also saw that in-person tutoring in the U.S. and Europe is extremely expensive ($50+ / hr in most cities on average), so we knew we could deliver a potentially higher quality service at a much lower price

What are tutoring sessions like?

Lessons are completely customized to each student's goals and interests. We use everything the internet has to offer, so all lessons have a major face-to-face speaking component (over Skype) and they can also include worksheets, flashcards and youtube videos among other resources. Here are some photos of a lesson:

What levels of speakers do you work with? We work with all levels of speakers from beginners who have never spoken a word of the language before to advanced speakers trying to stay sharp. The ages of our customers also range from about 4-70.

We also work with many students who are currently taking Spanish in school to help them get the best mark possible. In these situations, the student will often email the resources they are working on to our teachers so we are totally in line with what they are studying.

Many of our teachers have specializations to teach medical Spanish or business Spanish, so we also help a number of advanced speaking students trying to brush up in a specific area. We have an incredible network of highly skilled teachers; if you have a specific learning need or interest, send us an email! We probably have a teacher who is a good fit.

Why do I need to put in my credit card information if I already have a promocode or credit? We require each learner to put in a credit card when he or she signs up for his or her first lesson, even if the learner has a promo code or credit, as a way for us to avoid potential fraudulent behavior. Don't worry - if you put your credit card information in and you have a promo code or credit that covers the full cost of the lesson(s) you sign up for, then you won't be charged!

Now that you're done reading, feel free to head over to our website, www.learnedbyme.com !

More questions: You can email us at support at learnedbyme dot com or call our team anytime at (626) 532-7678 (U.S.) or +44 (0)7707858484 (U.K.)

The 4 Best Summer Trips in South America for Families

Have the polar vortex and interminable winters in the northern hemisphere got you down? Start dreaming of your summer plans! Although much of South America will be experiencing winter weather during US and European summer vacation time, South America can still be a great summer destination for adventurous, intrepid families. If family members are learning and practicing Spanish, a trip to South America is a great way to get past the "I can understand lots of Spanish, but it's hard for me to speak it" phase. The South American-based Learned By Me team was bit by the travel bug a long time ago- here are some of our favorite locations for family travels.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

The capital of Argentina is a bustling, cosmopolitan city with lots for families to see and enjoy, including museums, impressive architecture, street art, and of course tango performances. History and Broadway musical lovers might have a hard time not breaking out into song, namely "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" from the musical Evita. Finally, the Italian influence in Argentine food means that picky eaters should have plenty of options, and parents can indulge in reasonably-priced, high-quality wines.

Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Whether the family stays on one of the islands to arrange day trips or books a multiple day boat trip, the Galápagos will be sure to enchant family members of all ages with its pristine beaches, numerous animals, and relaxed "island time". Children will be enthralled with the visible sea lions, tortoises, iguanas, penguins (!), and numerous birds, and adults will enjoy the islands' scientific and historical significance.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Sure, Chile's beautiful southern Patagonia might be a bit cold during July and August, but the northern part of the country boasts a beautiful desert- one of the driest in the world- with salt flats and breathtaking views. Families can alternate between hiking in dunes, riding bikes, looking out for wildlife, and exploring national parks. Bring warmer clothes- because of the altitude, it can get cold in July and August!

Florianapolis, Brazil

While Rio and Sao Paulo might not be the most family friendly of destinations, Florianapolis has been named many times as one of the best places to live in Brazil. There are plenty of family-friendly activities to do on the island- surfing, hiking, sand boarding, and just beach lounging, including eating sea food. Spanish isn't as useful in Brazil, but if you don't speak any Portuguese, it's better than nothing!

Some New Friends

At Learned By Me, we are always looking for outstanding companies and individuals to partner with. We're excited to announce that we've started a new affiliate program, and we have a number of great new partners already! Here are just two of our new affiliates.

In Quito, Ecuador, we're working with Mike Bruner of Middle of the World. Mike is an expat from the US who works to help others get to know Ecuador. He helps tourists to arrange trips of various lengths throughout the country to see all of Ecuador's natural beauty, and also advises foreigners who are considering relocating in Ecuador. We enjoy working with Mike because he talks honestly about life in Ecuador, speaking candidly about the ups and downs of daily life, and because he recognizes that knowing and speaking some Spanish can really help foreigners to feel comfortable and settle into their new country.

In the US, we've partnered with Gena Mayo of the blog I Choose Joy! Gena is a mother to eight children and she writes about her experiences homeschooling her children. Children can pick up new languages especially quickly, and at Learned By Me we've seen many younger students progress quickly in their studies! We like Gena's straightforward discussions about teaching and homeschooling her children, and we're excited to be partnering with her.

If you're interested in partnering with Learned By Me, let us know! We always enjoy getting to know and working with those in related fields. Shoot us an email.

#partnership #learned by me #spanish #bloggers

How to Discuss Ellen's Jokes at the 2014 Oscars…in Spanish

1) Early on, Ellen called Liza Minnelli a man. Or in Spanish, Ellen le llama a Liza Minnelli un hombre. But Liza didn't seem too happy about the joke: Liza no parecía muy feliz después del chiste.

2) Ellen also made fun of Jennifer Lawrence for falling at the Oscars…again. Ellen también se burlaba de Jennifer Lawrence, por haberse caído en los Oscar…otra vez.

3) In addition, Ellen claimed that the nominees in the audience had "been in 1400 films and a total of six years of college."Además, Ellen afirmó que los nominados para el premio "habían actuado en 1400 películas y asistido a seis años de la universidad en total."

She joked about Amy Adams' lack of a college degree in particular. Bromeaba específicamente acerca de Amy Adams y su falta de un título universitario.

4) Later in the ceremony, Ellen joked about ordering a few pizzas….and then she actually did!

Más tarde durante la ceremonia, Ellen bromeaba acerca de la idea de pedir unas pizzas…¡y en realidad las pidió!

Overall, Ellen cancelled out her insults by ordering pizza for people and by making people laugh: what more can we ask of an Oscars host?

Por lo general, Ellen neutralizó los efectos de sus insultos cuando pidió unas pizzas y cuando hizo que muchos se reían: ¿que más le podemos pedir a una presentadora de los Oscar?

#2014 Oscars #oscars #ellen #spanish #Learn Spanish

How to Survive the Hunger Games Speaking Only Spanish

First, let everyone know you mean business:

(No tengo miedo.)

Then, put your opponents off guard by wishing them luck.

(Que las probabilidades estén siempre a tu favor.)

Once the fighting starts, climbing a tree might be your best bet. Just ask someone to point you toward the nearest forest by asking,¿Dónde está el bosque más cercano? That is, if you can stop someone long enough to ask…

But maybe you're in a more tropical arena.

In that case, you're better off heading for those mountains in the distance. So say, Me voy para las montañas- sería demasiado peligroso quedarme aquí. (I'm going to the mountains—it would be too dangerous for me to stay here.)

Other things to keep in mind:

- If someone runs at you with a knife, don't say things like, Por favor, no me mates. (Please, don't kill me.) Instead, run in the opposite direction.

- Keep an eye out for the handy silver parachutes that deliver food, tools, and medicine. To give someone else the same advice, say, Los paracaídas de color plata son muy útiles. Nos traen comida, herramientas, y medicinas. (The silver parachutes are very useful. They bring us food, tools, and medicine.)

- And finally, you might want to start practicing your archery before the games begin, so you can compete with contestant like Katniss.

In other words, Debes practicar con tu arco y flechas antes de que empiecen los juegos.

Montgomery High School PTO Fundraiser

Since we started, our goal at Learned By Me has always been to make education better. School support organizations such as Parent-Teacher Organizations provide an important role ensuring that improvements happen for students within the school and that gaps are addressed or at least discussed. With that in mind, we are thrilled to be partnering with some of these organizations to help them fundraise.

Starting this week and running all month, when you purchase a Learned By Me Spanish tutoring pack or session at our Montgomery High School PTO Fundraising page, we’ll donate all our profits (1/3 of the cost of the lesson) from that purchase to the Montgomery High School PTO.

As a company that is focused more on growing and spreading awareness than profit, donating our profits to such a worthy cause makes a lot of sense for us. So head over to the page to purchase lessons this month and if you’re from another school or PTO, email us because we would love to find a way to help support your organization as well.

The Greatest March Madness Moments of All-time…in Spanish

The NCAA college basketball and March Madness is just around the corner. Here are the most exciting moments ever and what they would have sounded like in Spanish.

1. UCLA vs. Tulsa (1994)

El último intento para los bruins de UCLA si quieren entrar en los "sweet 16." El año pasado, fueron eliminados en la primera ronda por Tulsa. No quieren perder este partido. Edney va la distancia y…¡eso!

One last try for the bruins of UCLA to get into the sweet 16. knocked out last year in the first round by Tulsa. They don't want to lose this one. Edney going the distance...Yes!

2. Duke vs. Kentucky (1992)

El pase a Laetner. Lo pone arriba. ¡Así!

There's the pass to laetner. Puts it up. Yess!

3. Valpraiso vs. Ole Miss (1998)

De Jenkins a Drew para ganar. ¡Bueno! ¡Lo hizo! Ooohh. Bryce Drew lo hizo. ¡Valpo ha ganado el partido! Un milagro.

It’s to Jenkins to Drew for the win. Good! He did it! Ooooh. Bryce drew did it. Valpo has won the game! A miracle.

4. NC States vs. Houston

Solo quedan siete segundos. Puedes ver el tiempo. Whittenburg…oh, ¡que distancia!…¡y entra! ¡Lo han ganado! Lo ganaron.

It's down to seven seconds. You can see the time. Whittenburg...oh, that's a long ways...it's in. They've won it! They won it.

5. Syracuse vs. Indiana

Smart toma el tiro y los Hoosiers toman la delantera con tres segundos más. Nadie paró el reloj, ¡nadie paró el reloj!

Smart takes the shot and the hoosiers with three seconds go ahead. Nobody stopped the clock, nobody stopped the clock.

The Hogwarts Student's Guide to Insulting People…in Spanish

If this is you,

...then say: "Me siento tan enojado, ¡todo el tiempo!" Now you're ready to direct your anger at someone or something. 1) When your friend jumps on a broomstick after expressly being instructed not to, you can say:

Or, "¡Qué idiota!"

2) To avoid a conversation while you're busy studying, be blunt:

"No te quiero ofender, pero en realidad no me importa lo que dices."

3) The Marauders' Map once requested that Professor Snape "keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."

To request the same thing of someone else, say, "¡No te metas tu enorme nariz en los asuntos ajenos!" 4) And if someone does something really awful—like get excited about the planned execution of your friend's hippogriff—then it's not uncalled for to say (in Hermione's words):

"¡Cucaracha vil, odiosa, y detestable!"

["You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"] But maybe don't punch that person in the face!

How to teach a language to a young child (a reddit story)

We are big believers in the positive effects of learning a language and try to do our part to help even if we are not always the one doing the teaching.

We saw this post on Reddit a few days ago entitled: "Teaching a language to a child?" where the poster explained that he'd really like to teach Spanish to his 7 year old sister but didn't know where to start:

These are exactly the type of challenges our teachers take on every lesson. They customize the process of learning to the format that will most engage our learners and thus be most effective. So, we asked our teacher, Irma for her take.

Her reply (posted on the Reddit thread) is below:

Big thanks to Irma for suggesting her ideas! We are committed to helping people learn more effectively so don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions about the best way to learn, whether you are taking lessons with us or not.

Why We Underprice

Our company, Learned By Me, connects native-speaking Spanish professors and immersion school teachers from South America with students primarily in the U.S. and U.K. for one-on-one Skype lessons for only $15 for a 45 minute lesson. We are able to keep our prices so low because our teachers are from parts of the world with lower wage expectations, but we still frequently get the question of why we choose to price our product so low. After all, one-on-on language tutoring in most cities costs, on average, over $50/hour, and the teachers giving those lessons are generally less qualified than our teachers.

The argument against such low pricing is this: we are leaving money on the table, while also doing a disservice to ourselves, by giving people the impression that we are lower quality as a result of our low price tag. And beyond that, if we charged higher prices, then we could put more money towards marketing and customer education.

We actually think there is something to the idea that our low price may be creating some negative signaling, in the sense that there are people who don’t see it as an option initially because they assume our low price is an indication that we either have low quality, or that there is some catch. We often get emails from customer saying ‘what’s the catch’ or ‘I’ve learned my lesson about purchasing “great deals” on the internet.’

But then we think about what we are trying to build and how good consumer companies grow. When we started we wrote on our blog: “Learned By Me has one goal: to make learning better. By better, we mean more fun, more effective, more engaging, and less expensive.” Having our lessons priced lower at our current price of $15, vs. say $30 or $50 per class, likely makes them a better experience, or at least a much better value experience, for the end user.

From a business perspective, we think there is something to this strategy as well. First of all, by keeping our prices low, we are able to appeal to a much wider swatch of the population than if we were charging two or three times that per hour.

Secondly, when we look at the e-commerce or marketplace companies that have grown successfully, it is frequently because their users loved them and organically spread the word about the product or service. If we charged more money, maybe we could spend more money on customer acquisition (assuming that customers’ average number of lessons was going to be the same), but relying on paid customer acquisition for long-term growth is a very difficult strategy because paying for users doesn’t scale linearly. Often the cost of acquiring users goes up while the value of those users goes down. **

However, word of mouth growth, which is reserved mostly for those products people love, or those that have some type of particularly viral mechanic, is free (or low cost if you have a referral program). Companies that have been able to grow this way (e.g. Dropbox) seem to have done a much better job of maintaining margins at scale compared to those primarily involved in the paid acquisition game (see daily deals). o that’s our thought process: we are betting that by keeping prices low (delivering more value to customers), we are creating a larger group of happier advocates that will result in longer-term growth.

* In-person tutoring prices and qualifications are based on searching Wyzant for Spanish tutors in San Francisco, CA

** Venture capitalist Bill Gurley explains this phenomena well here: http://abovethecrowd.com/2012/09/04/the-dangerous-seduction-of-the-lifetime-value-ltv-formula/

How do I get the most out of my vacation?

For many people, traveling out of the country involves spending a hefty financial spend and a very important question is “How do I get the most out of my vacation?” And “Is it worth it?”

For the past two years I have been living near a major tourist destination in Ecuador (not the Galapagos, I wish), meeting and occasionally hosting backpackers, casual travelers, and luxury vacationers. With all three demographics I see a similar desire to meet new people, have new experiences, and go outside of themselves in some form.

The most common regret I hear is “I wish my Spanish was better,” or “I wish I would have brushed up on my Spanish before I left.” My advice to people traveling to Spanish-speaking tourist destinations (including Miami and Queens) is “Universal fluency in English is still a ways away, and you should learn a little Spanish, or brush up on your Spanish.”

“Does it matter that you do not know any Spanish to begin with?”

No, not really. When you travel, the most important thing is that you are excited to be an active participant in your vacation. You want to be excited to speak with new people and engage with the culture and the experience wherever you are. This is very hard to do if you do not invest in it before hand. If you do not practice Spanish (or another language, beforehand), you will be more hesitant and less excited in the experiences you participate in.

Even if your Spanish ability is very low, taking a month of lessons ahead of time will provide you the confidence and the feeling of excitement to improve your skill and talk to people. You will be more confident and excited to speak with other vacationers and concerned locals and thus more likely to learn about local hot spots and best practices. A little effort goes a long way! Locals and other travelers are more likely to make a special effort towards you after you have reached out to them and practicing your language skills is a great way to learn about a local restaurant or a cool hike that never made it into your guidebook.

Have you seen the learning curve for learning a language?

It looks a lot like this with a little bit of variance as people learn at slightly different paces. The point is that a little goes a long way (before near fluency is achieved) and investing time early gets you a huge part of the way towards proficiency.

“Should I try to achieve fluency or something like that before I leave?”

Not necessarily, you are going to be in your destination country very soon where you will be able to learn for free and have more exposure to the language. However, you should make sure you are well positioned to improve your language ability when your trip begins. For some people, this means learning the basic foundation of the language and for others, this means getting the rust off after years of not speaking. Starting to prepare 1-2 months ahead of time should do this. Again there is no written in stone amount of time, but the more exposure you give yourself the better.

Soooooo…

Set yourself up for success. If you are a complete beginner, put the time in to learn the basic structure of the language, how verbs are conjugated (if they are), and a number of helpful sayings and commonly used words. If you could speak the language, but it has been a while… spend time reviewing the basics, work on your verb conjugations, and try to get some conversational experience to get you ready to hit the ground running.

You have spent a lot of time and money on your trip - why not get the most out of it?

This was a guest post from Pedro George, an American living in Ecuador.

Hiring problem solvers: Case interviews aren’t the answer

When I was interviewing for an internship my freshman year of college, the interviewer (the general manager of a small company) asked me what my strength was, I said I was a “problem solver.” He smirked and assured me that they had a couple of Harvard MBAs that would be responsible for that facet of the business.

Now, 10 years later, I am confident the manager was mistaken and was likely putting his company at a disadvantage by not considering problem solving as a key ability for every one of his hires. At Learned Be Me, when we hire, problem-solving is the number two attribute we look for in any candidate after attitude.

Learned By Me is an early stage startup and we find that having team members who can go beyond their area of expertise to fill other roles and gaps, and help us innovate and adapt best practices ultimately leads to our competitive advantage. Recent examples of this include our tutor relations manager also working on business development partnerships and our marketing team finding a high performing non-traditional marketing channel. As a startup trying to achieve hyper growth in the increasingly crowded field of online tutoring, versatility and the ability to problem solve are a necessity.

How do you hire for problem solving ability? It’s hard. One approach often taken by management consulting firms is case interviews. The problem with this approach is that case interviews only reveal an individual’s ability to problem solve in one type of situation and it is a fairly contrived one. At Learned By Me, we care about a potential employee’s ability to identify and address real world opportunities and use available resources to solve a problem. We test for these skills by having all hires do a real world project for us before their final interview session.

This hiring process is one that we are still trying to improve on, but so far, we have found that making potential hires jump through a few more hoops to prove their abilities has been well worth it. Figuring out such structural ways of making sure we have an incredible team is probably the best thing we can do achieve long-term success.

The Best Books That Bring Latin America To You

Traveling around Latin America is one of the best ways that you can actively practice your Spanish and soak in the amazing local culture. That being said, not everyone can pack up and begin their own Motorcycle Diaries trip through Latin America right away, so we’ve compiled a list of books that travelers interested in the region can read to prepare for an upcoming trip, or read as a way to escape without having to pay for a plane ticket.

1. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent- Eduardo Galeano. A political, economic, and social history of exploitation in Latin America. A must-read to understand leftist leaders in the region.

2. My Invented Country: A Memoir- Isabel Allende. For the traveller passing through Chile, a book filled with Chilean nostalgia by assassinated president Salvador Allende’s niece.

3. In the Time of Butterflies- Julia Alvarez. A mix of fiction and history during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

4. When I Fell From the Sky- Juliane Koepcke. The miraculous story of 17 year old Juliane who survives a plane crash in the Peruvian jungle and crawls through the Amazon for eleven days before finding help. Not to be read on a plane flying through Peru.

5. The Panama Hat Trail- Tom Miller. The first-hand account of the making of Panama hats in Ecuador (the hat’s birthplace, despite the name!) with doses of culture, history, and geography.

6. The Savage Detectives- Roberto Bolaño. One of Chile’s most renowned modern authors, Bolaño tells a tale of Latin American literati.

7. Fictions- Jorge Luis Borges. Short stories by one of Argentina’s most influential authors, this collection is an excellent introduction to Borges’ genius.

8. This Is How You Lose Her- Junot Díaz. Díaz burst onto the literary scene in 2007 with his popular novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”. This collection of short stories features the same protagonist narrator Yunior who shares stories of loss, love, and hardship among his Dominican American friends.

Other popular choices: 100 Years of Solitude, The House of Spirits (actually, anything by “magical realism” authors Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende), any poetry by Pablo Neruda.

What books would you add to this list?

ALPACA-PALOOZA 2013

The holiday season will soon be upon us and Learned By Me is kicking things off with Alpaca-palooza– the greatest giveaway this side of Oprah’s Favorite Things!

So, what is Alpaca-palooza?

Aplaca-palooza is a giveaway for new students. When you sign up in the next week to take two Spanish tutoring sessions with us, we’ll mail you an alpaca sweater absolutely free. So for $30 total, you will get two one-on-one 45 minute Spanish tutoring sessions with a top teacher via Skype, and a free sweater that will keep you warm and in style all winter!

In case you aren’t familiar with alpaca sweaters, they have the pizzaz of a Bill Cosby sweater, the comfort of a Snuggy, and are frequently sold at stores such as J. Crew for hundreds of dollars. They are also local to Otavalo, a small city in the Ecuadorian Andes with a famous textile market that is driving distance from many of our tutors homes.

Now feast your eyes on some beautiful alpaca sweaters and Otavalo photos and read the details to sign up below!

-----------

Details:

Mention your size in the “Add more details” section at checkout

The student must complete the two tutoring sessions to receive the sweater

New customers only

Only U.S. based users are eligible

Promotion ends in one week or when our supply of sweaters runs out, so act quickly!

This promotion cannot be combined with other promotions

Photo credits: Becca Rose, Wikipedia

Bad Skype Calls Suck and How We Make Sure They Don't Happen

When we were thinking about starting Learned By Me, one of the first questions we needed to answer was: “Will Skype or whatever online video chat software we use perform reliably enough from the developing world to build our service around the experience?” After all, the internet in many countries in the developing world can be slower and less reliable and nothing is more frustrating than trying to do a Skype call with someone and getting repeatedly knocked off.

Luckily, through research and rapid testing, we were able to find out what the necessary Internet speed and reliability conditions are to avoid any problems. We are rigorous in making sure our tutors all have such connections and thus have had virtually no issues with the reliability of video calls.

This comedy clip from the TV show Key and Peele though reminded me of how frustrating a bad video chat can be and how important it is for us to make sure they never happen. Enjoy :-)!

You might be a growth hacker if...

At Learned By Me, we are spending a lot of time starring at data and testing different growth channels and we are finding it has started to permeate to other parts of our lives. Now, with a nod to Jeff Foxworthy, “You might be a growth hacker if…”

1) You a/b test your online dating profile

Hacker Tip: Create two profiles with names one space apart and then you can test things like photos, messages, etc.

2) You use the same tactics you use to game Hacker News and Reddit on emails with your friends

Hacker Tip: If you are trying to organize something with a group, before you send the email, get one of the well-liked friends to agree to write: “Yes, I am in! Sounds awesome!” and other positive responses will often snowball

3) You start trying to automate and outsource non-core functions of your life

Hacker Tip: Start using Google Shopping Express and you’ll cut down on your errands

4) You start timing your food purchases to maximize value

Hacker Tip: If you’re in San Francisco, go to The Bagel Bakery on Townsend and get 6 bagels for $2 if you go between 2:30 and 4:00

5) You make sure to announce your order at a restaurant before the waiter comes to get the most “utility” out of your order

Hacker Tip: Economic studies (as explained in Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational) show that the person who orders first at meals is on average the happiest with their order because the subsequent orders are effected by people's desire to order something different

#growth hacking #san fran #tec #startup #language learn #spanish #education #tutoring

Cheaper and More Effective: How We Want to Help Schools

Last week, The New York Times published an Op-Ed entitled “Fed Up With Fund-Raising for My Kids’ School” by Alane Salierno Mason where she explains the massive fundraising efforts she and other parents have to make in order to make sure their kids get a complete, first-rate education. This includes raising money to finance art in the schools, foreign language instruction for middle school students, professional developments programs for teachers and basic literacy programs.

In the piece, Ms. Mason explains the extent of school budget cuts:

“But the cuts have gone beyond fat, beyond muscle, and are cutting into bone — the bones that support the city’s future. I’m out of fund-raising ideas. The city’s leaders should do what it takes — whatever it takes — to provide enough money for well-rounded educations in every public school.”

Given our position as a Spanish tutoring service, we are keenly aware of many of the gaps in school budgets and as a result, the services offered these days. We even sometimes benefit, as parents will utilize us as a way to fill in those gaps. For example, a student’s middle school stops providing Spanish instruction and one of our tutors gets hired to keep the student learning until they reach high school.

However, we want to part of the solution on a school wide basis. As a new startup, we have huge advantages in being able to create educational experiences from the ground up without the legacy obligations of incumbent standards, staff, and the traditions of classroom learning. The first manifestation of this type of solution is our current product where we have leveraged new technology (reliable free one-on-one video chat over the internet) and a previously unavailable base of customers (Spanish teachers in the developing world) to offer one-on-one Spanish tutoring at 1/5 of the cost of traditional Spanish tutors. But we are also working and testing solutions that are more easily implementable in the schools. For example, one of our tutors works with a small group of students for only a few dollars per student per class effectively replacing the elementary school Spanish teacher in schools that can’t afford them. To us, improving education within schools by offering lower cost solutions seems like a pragmatic solution.

We’ll announce more as these solutions get more refined and ready for open public use, but if you are a parent or school district looking for solutions about how to offer or obtain top quality language instruction, send us an email with your situation. We would be excited to try to help!

#education #education ref #startup #technology #new york times

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