Just curious if there are any future plans of expanding this to other South American countries and even further to other languages? The model that you've created is a solid one and could literally work in any country for any language!
Many travelers invest in language books and phrase guides but this is such a vastly more rewarding experience - to learn to speak the language with the locals, making friends in a foreign land prior to getting there.
Have you encountered any difficulties in recruiting new tutors due to the limitations of computer ownership and connectivity? If so, how does speakshop handle the difficulties to continually increase the number of tutors within your ranks?
Dear Tyler,
Good questions and thanks for your nice comment.
Yes, we are expanding to other countries and languages. We have Guatemalan and Nicaraguan tutors now. We're working on Portuguese from Brazil. We have some leads on Chinese and Farsi. Another cool thing about the service is that people will be able to re-connect with their own cultural heritage. Imagine you live in the U.S. and your family is originally from Kenya. You probably won't be able to learn Swahili locally, but you could connect with a Kenyan tutor online and also learn about life there.
You are right that internet and computer access can be a challenge. Part of our work is to bridge the digital divide for tutors. The easiest way to to do this is to partner with a language school or NGO. But our ultimate goal is to enable tutors to get a computer and internet in their home. They can earn more being home because their schedules are more flexible, it reduces travel time and safety concerns, and it gives their kids access to technology. We've bought used laptops for tutors to help them do this - they can repay us a little each month. We also want to help tutors get on sites like kiva.org to get microloans to buy computers.
Thank you for your questions.
Best regards,
Clay
Clay -
Definitely scalable and has a very large addressable market of students in developed countries - individuals and corporations. I will look at using speakshop and recommend to friends.
One thought about computer and internet access, and help in tutors' homes when they can obtain a computer & connection:
what about partnering with Ashoka Fellows such as Rodrigo Baggio? (... "Committee to Democratize Information Technology, created a network of more than 200 self-managed computer schools in the urban slums of 17 Brazilian states. Baggio’s program has trained over a million at-risk children with computer and Internet skills, and has now spread from Brazil to Japan, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.") I understand he is also expanding to Asia.
Yes, that is a great partnership idea for tech support, and it could be a potential tutor pipeline. We're always looking for good partners like Rodrigo, and we just started offering Portuguese from Brazil.
We are also helping the tutors hook up with microfinance organizations and get on www.Kiva.org so they can purchase computers/Internet. Once they establish a clientele, they have a reliable, sustainable revenue stream to put towards the tech. Out of 10 tutors, 4 are now "graduated: or working toward graduating to working from home. One of our tutors just got a donation from a Speak Shop student to purchase a computer. It is really nice to see customers making this kind of impact on the social mission.
Cindy
Co-founder & Social Impact Officer
Speak Shop
Learn a Language for Good http://www.speakshop.com
Comments
Dear Clay,
Just curious if there are any future plans of expanding this to other South American countries and even further to other languages? The model that you've created is a solid one and could literally work in any country for any language!
Many travelers invest in language books and phrase guides but this is such a vastly more rewarding experience - to learn to speak the language with the locals, making friends in a foreign land prior to getting there.
Have you encountered any difficulties in recruiting new tutors due to the limitations of computer ownership and connectivity? If so, how does speakshop handle the difficulties to continually increase the number of tutors within your ranks?
Thank you in advance for your response!
Tyler Ahn
Changemakers Tean
Dear Tyler,
Good questions and thanks for your nice comment.
Yes, we are expanding to other countries and languages. We have Guatemalan and Nicaraguan tutors now. We're working on Portuguese from Brazil. We have some leads on Chinese and Farsi. Another cool thing about the service is that people will be able to re-connect with their own cultural heritage. Imagine you live in the U.S. and your family is originally from Kenya. You probably won't be able to learn Swahili locally, but you could connect with a Kenyan tutor online and also learn about life there.
You are right that internet and computer access can be a challenge. Part of our work is to bridge the digital divide for tutors. The easiest way to to do this is to partner with a language school or NGO. But our ultimate goal is to enable tutors to get a computer and internet in their home. They can earn more being home because their schedules are more flexible, it reduces travel time and safety concerns, and it gives their kids access to technology. We've bought used laptops for tutors to help them do this - they can repay us a little each month. We also want to help tutors get on sites like kiva.org to get microloans to buy computers.
Thank you for your questions.
Best regards,
Clay
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William B. (Nick) Niccolls
Seattle
Clay -
Definitely scalable and has a very large addressable market of students in developed countries - individuals and corporations. I will look at using speakshop and recommend to friends.
One thought about computer and internet access, and help in tutors' homes when they can obtain a computer & connection:
what about partnering with Ashoka Fellows such as Rodrigo Baggio? (... "Committee to Democratize Information Technology, created a network of more than 200 self-managed computer schools in the urban slums of 17 Brazilian states. Baggio’s program has trained over a million at-risk children with computer and Internet skills, and has now spread from Brazil to Japan, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.") I understand he is also expanding to Asia.
Keep up the great work!
Betsy Beaumon
Betsy,
Thank you for recommending us!
Yes, that is a great partnership idea for tech support, and it could be a potential tutor pipeline. We're always looking for good partners like Rodrigo, and we just started offering Portuguese from Brazil.
We are also helping the tutors hook up with microfinance organizations and get on www.Kiva.org so they can purchase computers/Internet. Once they establish a clientele, they have a reliable, sustainable revenue stream to put towards the tech. Out of 10 tutors, 4 are now "graduated: or working toward graduating to working from home. One of our tutors just got a donation from a Speak Shop student to purchase a computer. It is really nice to see customers making this kind of impact on the social mission.
Cindy
Co-founder & Social Impact Officer
Speak Shop
Learn a Language for Good
http://www.speakshop.com
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