A number of
studies have shown that students often learn concepts more quickly and
thoroughly when they collaborate and help each other. With that in mind,
Canada-based entrepreneur Mark Kim, working with a team of developers, created
an app that allows students to tap into a social network as a means of learning
English as a second language (ESL).
The new
app, dubbed English on the Go, enables instructors to post short lectures from
their smartphone or other mobile device. Students then access lectures from
their own phones and can archive selected ones into an electronic notebook. Kim
is in the process of recruiting instructors from around the world to offer
English lessons in their own language, although students can opt for lessons
delivered in English.
Users of
the app can follow each other to practice everyday English, ask questions, and
share their own knowledge and experience—such as how English terminology might
vary, depending on the country or region.
The app is
intended more for personal improvement than university-level academic
study—lectures and user contributions are organized into themes such as food,
shopping, and basketball—but it’s not hard to see how a social network
available anywhere might help ramp up a student’s language skills more quickly
than in-class presentations and practice sessions. The same might work for
complex subjects such as mathematics or chemistry.
The
copywriter for the English on the Go website might even benefit from using the
app for a few lessons. According to the site, the app “is never neatly and
professionally defined lectures produced in the studio, which is old-fashioned
but it is live, fast reaching and real English lessons delivered by instructors
from English speaking countries.”
