0:07

webinar. Hello language course creators.

0:10

We are honored to have you listening

0:13

and looking in today. As we hear from a panel

0:15

of top language course creators

0:17

from around the world, literally this

0:19

time we know you're all well on

0:21

your way to successful virtual classes and

0:23

want to help you improve ratings and reviews.

0:26

With different making tips and tricks today.

0:28

What we'll talk about how to convince

0:31

parents of the value of online language,

0:33

learning how to leverage online

0:35

teaching for development and fun, how

0:38

to onboard and manage a large

0:40

group of teachers and how to differentiate

0:42

and create your own little niche.

0:45

We can't wait to see the new Heights. Your program

0:48

can reach with the help of today's expert

0:50

advice here's to improving your business

0:52

and impacting the lie. Of

0:55

language course creators. Now

0:57

we are all here because of one person and one

0:59

company, and that has cooked too. And that's the founder.

1:03

And CEO of quick too. That's Dotan Tamir.

1:05

He's with us and built-on welcome

1:07

everybody, please, to our group.

1:10

Thank you so much, Josh. Uh, hi,

1:12

I'm the town I'm from click to click

1:14

to is an end to end solution for enrichment

1:16

providers are looking to thrive in

1:18

the online space, but we're

1:21

not only a software platform. We

1:23

actually understand what turns on online

1:25

courses. Into an amazing

1:28

experience and, uh, and journey

1:30

for kids. Um, I got

1:32

some stuff to show you, uh, but you'll have to

1:34

stick with us all the way to the end for a glimpse

1:36

of all that. Good. That's not going

1:38

to be hard because this discussion

1:41

today is very relevant to

1:43

where the industry is right now. Online

1:45

is here to stay and we

1:47

all have to accelerate at it.

1:50

Um, there's lots of do a lot

1:52

to do, and we've got some challenging questions for

1:54

our wonderful panelists. Thanks.

1:57

All the, thanks to all the panelists. This is going to be

1:59

exciting. So Josh let's start. Let's

2:02

do it.

2:03

So a few news and notes before we get

2:05

started again, welcome everybody to our

2:07

special event, featuring our guests from around

2:09

the world and the language industry. We've

2:11

got a serious group of people in the audience today

2:13

as well, which is great. So

2:15

we've got founders and CEOs, owners, and

2:18

key executives of some of the nation's top language

2:20

course providers. Let us know

2:22

who you are, please. Where are you from and what

2:24

you do in the chat. We've got Joyce on our team.

2:26

She's fantastic. She keeps the trains

2:29

on the tracks. So now

2:32

is the time that everybody's been waiting for, we

2:34

are going to meet our panelists. So

2:36

we have one thing that we do specifically

2:39

in our format is that we kind of do the

2:41

introduction for each one of our panelists.

2:44

Before, uh, they start talking,

2:47

uh, we find that it keeps everything a little bit tighter.

2:49

Um, and then we've also assigned them

2:51

each one question. So

2:54

we are going to start with Rebecca Schwenger

2:57

right. Rebecca CEO and founder of language

2:59

sprout in award-winning language,

3:01

school may for kids. She is joining

3:04

us from beautiful Minneapolis,

3:06

Minnesota, Rebecca, your question,

3:09

how do you onboard and manage a large

3:11

group of teachers? while keeping

3:13

super high standards.

3:15

Well, that is actually kind of a three-part

3:17

question, isn't it? So we

3:19

have a couple of different things in there. The first

3:21

one is how do we onboard

3:23

them? And so we

3:26

do that with having a well-developed robust

3:28

and documented curriculum Um,

3:31

we really like to make sure the same

3:33

way that we're teaching kids the same way we put the time

3:35

and the effort into making a curriculum for kids.

3:38

We want to make that same quality curriculum for

3:40

our teachers, because

3:42

we want them to feel like they have something

3:45

to teach. Correct. And

3:47

teachers really are our most

3:49

important assets. They are individuals

3:52

who need flexible and adaptable systems.

3:55

So that is like the first part of that. And

3:57

then the second part really is

3:59

how do we attract those teachers? How do

4:01

we keep those teachers? Um,

4:03

and how do we manage them? Long-term and

4:05

I really think there is. a

4:07

Secret sauce to this. the obvious answer is

4:10

we have great systems in place. We have

4:12

an online training program. We have, um,

4:15

office hours and training hours for our teachers.

4:17

But the secret sauce to me is the creation of

4:20

a community within our teaching

4:22

staff, that our teachers

4:25

feel part of our mission statement, which

4:27

is not just to come in and teach a class

4:29

and interact with kids. But they're part

4:32

of. A desire to change

4:34

the way language is taught their part. They

4:36

want to be part of the community that

4:39

empowers and inspires students.

4:42

Um, and so we, do a lot of community

4:44

building, um, so that they feel

4:46

They can contribute

4:49

to what we're teaching. This leads to a

4:51

lot of peer support, a lot of collaboration,

4:54

a lot of ingenuity, um, because

4:56

we really always want to be developing

4:58

our program to be the best program it can be.

5:00

And so really the

5:03

big part is having a, having an extra curriculum

5:05

for students, having an excellent curriculum

5:08

for our teachers and really inspiring

5:10

them to be part of students'

5:12

lives, to be their greater community lives.

5:15

It makes sense.

5:16

Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. It's um,

5:18

I think what differentiate,

5:21

one thing that differentiates the whole

5:24

group of organizations that are in this

5:26

webinar and. And many of

5:28

the other players is that you

5:30

all are focusing on an experience

5:32

that's led by an instructor, live

5:35

with small groups. Um,

5:38

while you know, there's a, there are a lot of

5:40

ways to learn language and maybe we've

5:42

mentioned a few later on like apps

5:44

and games and then YouTube, um,

5:47

But I think what's unique here is

5:50

that there's actually an instructor.

5:53

It might be, um,

5:56

uh, something that is given to so many people,

5:58

of course, in education, you learn, there's an

6:00

instructor, but I think today there are so many

6:02

other things. So do

6:04

you, did anybody else here?

6:06

Um, what's the share like the, the,

6:09

uh, challenge, uh, recruiting.

6:13

The teachers are trained them and monitoring

6:15

them or keeping these high standards

6:17

when they are actually teachers working

6:20

for you from their home, delivering

6:23

your content. I

6:25

think a lot of that

6:26

is about communication, right.

6:28

And making sure that you have the support staff in place

6:31

to support them

6:35

challenging.

6:36

No, and not just me. No. We want

6:38

to make sure that, you know, they have teams

6:41

in which they work within that team. If

6:44

they have a question that they feel as though they're

6:46

a part of a group, um, and they

6:48

can find support, not just from, you

6:50

know, their own research or their own,

6:53

um, learning within our training program, but

6:55

they can find it within their, within the

6:57

other teachers, especially when we're virtual and we feel very

7:00

alone having those opportunities to build

7:02

that community where your teachers are.

7:05

You know, colleagues to one another, which doesn't

7:08

always feel that way when you do remote work,

7:10

but it totally possible

7:12

the same way we build communities within our students. We

7:14

build them within our team.

7:17

So you're, you're building community and

7:19

probably a very strong community

7:21

is going to help parents understand and,

7:24

and see the value. So I'm going

7:26

to, going to take us to another panelist

7:28

here. Mercedes Modesto, Mercedes

7:31

is CEO and founder of edge. You can do

7:33

a Medica, a Spanish language program

7:36

that was started in 2004.

7:39

And Mercedes your questions. How

7:42

do we convince parents of the value

7:44

of online learning when

7:47

it comes to languages? Oh,

7:49

of

7:49

course. Uh, let me tell

7:51

you one thing, the parents

7:53

will see the value by themselves,

7:56

and this is a big difference. when

7:59

you teach, uh, face

8:01

to face classes, What

8:04

is the difference? There are many differences, but

8:06

one is that the

8:08

parents, I mean, when you teach

8:10

small children will be there.

8:13

The parents will be in your class. The

8:15

parents will listen to your class.

8:18

Uh, Will see how

8:20

you manage no matter if they could be side-by-side

8:23

with the students or not, that could be around the house,

8:25

but they will pay attention. They

8:28

will see how you manage

8:30

any frustration of

8:32

the students. They will see if they

8:34

are motivated or not, and

8:38

they will listen to everything and they will

8:40

And this is an opportunity. I mean, it's a challenge,

8:43

but it's also an opportunity because

8:46

they will see and they will

8:48

compete itself by just

8:52

listening to the. class and

8:54

this is very interesting. This doesn't

8:56

happen in school. Um,

8:59

so this is something that we as teacher

9:01

need to take advantage of, is

9:04

that Mercedes, is that

9:06

a challenge? Um,

9:08

uh, it's an opportunity of course, because parents

9:10

are listening. Can it also be a challenge and

9:12

maybe this isn't just when it comes to languages,

9:15

this is any sort of online learning, but

9:17

that the parents are kind of listening all

9:19

of time.

9:20

Yes. Yes. It's a challenge. It's

9:22

a challenge, but it's also

9:25

have their own, uh, thoughts

9:28

about how to teach a language. For

9:30

example, sometimes they,

9:33

if they still make a mistake, when speaking,

9:35

they correct. Right

9:37

there. And sometimes

9:39

this is not what we as teachers are

9:42

looking for because sometimes you want your student

9:44

to be able to communicate,

9:47

you know, to speak, to be more

9:49

fluent. And if you correct

9:51

every single mistake as I am probably

9:53

doing now, I

9:55

was free. I said, no, no, I won't talk

9:58

anymore. This is naturally, this happens.

10:00

So sometimes you need to. So

10:03

the parents, okay, this is, I'm doing this

10:05

because of that. You need to explain a lot of things.

10:09

I, they get more involved in

10:11

your class because they listen

10:13

to the class. So this is one thing, but

10:15

there's more and online

10:18

learning also emphasize the

10:20

communicative approach. When

10:22

you learn the language, you learn

10:24

it to be able to communicate

10:26

in that language. And sometimes

10:29

face-to-face classes. Uh,

10:32

you can have a student for one hours, you

10:34

during a chair without communicating, without

10:36

speaking a word, just completing worksheets

10:38

and doing grammar. And

10:41

that's the class, uh,

10:43

in online learning. This is very

10:45

different, especially of course, if

10:47

you have a small group or private

10:50

class, either. They

10:52

need to talk. They need to write,

10:55

even on the chats, they need to communicate.

10:57

They are forced to come here. So

11:00

that's another good point.

11:02

And the last one would be

11:04

that the use of the technology

11:07

is very natural for the student, for

11:09

the children, especially, and

11:13

they love the technology. They love the games,

11:15

the activities that you have that we provide

11:18

them. And so

11:20

we use it, we use it to motivate the students.

11:23

They, they love it. And, and

11:25

also, uh, We

11:27

many times will know from them. And

11:30

they love to teach us how to

11:32

use this and that and what you can do. Let

11:34

me show you these for the, of course, in Spanish,

11:37

but that's also

11:39

with point, I

11:41

really relate to, to what you're mentioning

11:44

the citizen. They think that,

11:47

um, The,

11:49

you know, the pandemic has shifted a

11:51

lot of how, uh,

11:53

on, on how we do, how we communicate

11:55

with people. I think today, being

11:57

able to do all that online

12:00

is an important skill. Uh, when

12:02

they grew up, they will actually do

12:04

a lot of their work online.

12:06

They'll do a lot of their studies online.

12:09

So starting now, um,

12:12

communicate and learning online is

12:14

actually also building their. Just

12:17

general communication and

12:19

tech skills for life. Rebecca, you want

12:22

to add something about that as well?

12:24

Yeah. Oh, I was just going to follow up on the parents being

12:26

involved. It is phenomenal,

12:29

right? Sometimes they pop in and,

12:31

you know, they get to be part of the class. They

12:33

get to be engaged. It is

12:36

so wonderful. And you know, we also do

12:38

in-person classes, but when we have

12:40

parents who are engaged, we can help

12:43

the parents incorporate. Into

12:45

their daily life, right? So we can

12:47

say, Hey, you know what, this is what we're working on this week. This

12:50

is how we'd like you to follow up. And we have

12:52

the ability, even if the parents are,

12:54

you know, halfway across the house, listening,

12:57

they're learning those skills so that the

12:59

students get other opportunities to

13:01

be able to practice throughout the week. So I actually think

13:04

parents being involved in. One

13:06

of the greatest parts of online language

13:08

classes is it allows

13:10

for a significant reinforcement

13:13

throughout the week with our students that we don't necessarily

13:15

get when we don't have interaction with the parents regularly.

13:18

Um, uh, I'm laughing because I'm from

13:21

Washington DC, but I since moved to

13:23

a small town in Mexico and

13:25

my wife is fluent in Spanish. And so is

13:27

my daughter. So it's kind of flipped

13:29

in my house because every time I try

13:31

and speak Spanish, my daughter corrects me. And

13:33

so I absolutely know what you're talking

13:35

about, Mercedes, in terms of, you know, as, as

13:37

you get corrected and get corrected, you kind of,

13:40

you know, begin to. And lose some

13:42

of that confidence. Although my seven-year-old daughter

13:44

thinks it's hilarious when I pronounce

13:47

names and in the restaurants the wrong way.

13:49

So, but we'll get to that. So let's,

13:51

uh, let's talk about other skills that,

13:53

that the kids are, are also building

13:55

other than languages. We have Alex. Uh,

13:58

Alex is joining us from Montreal.

14:01

Um, he has over

14:03

eight years and been in close collaboration

14:05

with Lang mobile. And we've been talking for

14:08

actually a while with this great company.

14:10

So Alex, your question, how

14:12

do you leverage online teaching for developing

14:15

character and life skills

14:17

while also of course keeping it fun because

14:19

that's what we know the kids. Yeah,

14:22

of course. Um, I

14:24

think the first thing

14:26

is really to not

14:28

see the language as a finality

14:31

and really, see

14:34

it as a tool or as an opportunity,

14:36

um, grammar

14:39

and, um, the

14:41

structure of language is so important,

14:44

but uh, what I experienced

14:46

being like in a bilingual province

14:49

Is that it takes all this space when you're

14:51

in the scholar environment.

14:53

And there's not a lot of space for the

14:56

other things. And

14:58

I um, think

15:00

just being here, I'm the perfect

15:02

example being here in this webinar

15:04

and meeting these amazing panelists

15:06

and people, uh, English

15:09

is my second language. And

15:11

being here and experiencing this

15:14

webinar and being so proud

15:16

of me for achieving this

15:18

and experiencing joy by just

15:20

connecting with other people is

15:23

something I do through English

15:25

or with English. But English

15:27

is not the finality of it. That's just the tool

15:30

for me to achieve something new.

15:33

Um, I think

15:35

the language has really.

15:39

has to be seen as a tool to

15:41

broaden your identity. Um,

15:44

and you kind of want to, uh,

15:47

express that to, uh,

15:49

everything that we said before to the teachers,

15:52

to the parents, and then

15:55

the last stop to, the children. Um,

15:59

so a bit more concretely. This

16:02

is all a beautiful in theory, but a

16:04

bit more concretely. I think it

16:06

goes through fun learning road, goes

16:08

through fun through,

16:11

um, themes,

16:13

activity, immersion,

16:16

um, Again,

16:18

to, uh, take the awards

16:20

of Mercedes as small groups, uh,

16:24

is definitely helpful because the

16:26

key for me is to

16:28

put the emphasis on connection, connection

16:31

between the students connection

16:34

with the theme or the activity that

16:36

we're doing right now. Most

16:38

important to me. And this is the biggest

16:40

opportunity opportunity we have with

16:42

online. They, they

16:44

are home, they are in their environment,

16:47

you know, so it's important

16:50

to be able to connect

16:52

with the real world, connect with their

16:55

environment and let

16:57

them show you something from their house.

16:59

Let them show, show you something,

17:01

you know, uh, let them ask

17:04

them to react to the activity you're doing

17:06

right now. And, um,

17:08

through activities like we, we

17:11

do this through activities like book club

17:13

or glee club or things

17:15

that are really specific, like go

17:18

in, you know, with specific

17:20

themes, specific activity online

17:22

gives you the opportunity to, um,

17:25

not be stuck in your classroom with

17:27

people, not, having the

17:29

same interest as you, you can go

17:32

all over the world and create a small

17:34

group of children. That

17:36

are passionate about this book,

17:38

you know, this specific book and

17:40

they can express themselves

17:42

on it. And really, um,

17:45

this is where your identity just grows

17:48

because you have the space to do it. And

17:51

even though language is a great, uh,

17:53

opportunity, it's really

17:55

the tool that brings you there

17:58

and brings you those, all those great

18:00

positive feelings. Um,

18:03

so yeah, this is how is.

18:05

I wanted to, to follow up on this Alex

18:07

and, um, um,

18:10

in my. Previous

18:12

career. I started

18:14

a summer camp in Israel that brings

18:16

together kids from 30 different countries. And

18:19

so imagine the number of, uh, languages

18:22

and cultures that came

18:24

into this mix

18:27

of, uh, experiences

18:29

and, and fun. Um, and.

18:32

You know, we, we actually never taught

18:35

language, but we always felt

18:37

like the kids are learning a lot of language, uh,

18:39

because they were really using it

18:42

to bridge between,

18:44

you know, between themselves and basically to do

18:47

stuff together. So they were using it to

18:49

learn stuff. And then they

18:51

started liking this idea of speaking

18:53

another language. Um, so

18:55

I really relate to that. And I think there's

18:58

an era you have more to talk

19:00

about when it comes to. Cultures

19:03

and regarding languages.

19:05

So you were not introduced yet, but

19:08

take the mic. And then Josh related to this year.

19:11

Totally. I will, I will introduce

19:13

my neighbor here in Mexico. Uh,

19:15

out as in Guadalajara, out of

19:17

Vasquez is the founder and CEO

19:20

of tuk-tuks Spanish. Um,

19:22

and it's a language learning based company

19:24

based in New York city. But again, she's my neighbor here

19:26

in Mexico. Um, and what

19:29

she's going to talk about here is how to differentiate

19:31

and create your own niche and right. You

19:33

could see right there on her shirt. She's got it loud

19:35

and proud there. So talk about how you differentiate

19:38

yourself outside of the beautiful, beautiful

19:40

blue shirt you have on.

19:41

Thank you. Does and well, uh,

19:43

thank him so happy to be here. And yes,

19:45

I'm I'm I started this, um,

19:48

Spanish school in New York city

19:50

and, um, something

19:52

that we have to. Like

19:55

look first in the business. It's like, we're

19:57

like, okay, what type of business that all of

19:59

us were here? Uh, and people releasing

20:02

them from their homes. Yes. Has already started

20:04

on languages, schools. You're not selling hats or

20:06

selling food. You already have. Uh,

20:09

niche that is people who want to learn languages.

20:12

But if you start just

20:14

like, okay, I'm going to like teach languages.

20:17

Well, language. Well, we did everything. We

20:19

will find my teacher for you. Like we teach every

20:21

language and who are you going to teach

20:23

to us? Like, it's those things.

20:25

It doesn't matter where not

20:28

like everywhere in the world. Right? Like

20:30

if the internet. Era like

20:32

we can reach everyone in the world. If you

20:34

start just talking to everyone like that

20:36

and teaching everything at the end, you

20:38

were going to be generic language

20:40

at school that no one can relate to think

20:43

that, uh, nowadays we need to really

20:45

be, um, Like

20:47

narrowing it down and you want to be

20:49

a big fish in a small

20:51

fund because you're going to be there a

20:53

small phase, like a generic language school

20:56

and the CLV schools. You're not going to talk

20:58

and you're not going to anyone specific

21:01

and you're no one is going to feel related

21:03

to you. So what do we do in. Spanish

21:06

for instance, uh, we're based in New York city.

21:08

So our personality and our niche

21:11

is very much like the New York families.

21:14

Um, and we pitch exclusively

21:17

to kids and we,

21:19

uh, let's say our, our niche are

21:21

people either like families of

21:23

immigrants or people who feel connected. Do,

21:26

um, delay Hispanic culture and

21:28

wonder kids to learn Spanish.

21:31

So that's our like very narrow

21:34

niche and it doesn't matter. I mean,

21:36

it doesn't mean that we're not like the teacher

21:38

as someone from other countries.

21:40

Actually we have families, um,

21:43

like in Berea and Australia, but

21:45

again, like our niche is one. You

21:47

have to be specific

21:50

about it.

21:51

I don't know about you, Joe, Tom, but as a

21:53

business owner, I, I hear what you're saying.

21:55

I hear it, but it almost makes me a

21:57

little nervous cause I'm like, wow. So, okay.

22:00

So you're going to be very narrow about who you're talking to,

22:02

you know, and you'll be very narrow about who you're

22:04

teaching, you know, and one language

22:07

and one group of people. I mean,

22:09

I would imagine having known you now

22:11

for a little while you agree with the philosophy.

22:15

I agree with the philosophy. I think there's

22:17

a many ways to

22:19

differentiate and, and

22:22

be unique. You have to be unique today, right? To be

22:24

heard and to be, uh,

22:27

there's this competition is great.

22:30

And the fact that you're unique, are you in

22:32

a specific niche, still leaves a lot of competition

22:34

around you, but it makes

22:36

it, uh, uh, the decision to work

22:39

with you a little bit easier or more

22:41

straightforward. Um, I

22:43

think from speaking to all

22:45

of the panelists here before I

22:47

think each one here has their own. Niche.

22:50

I wonder if we do have rights sometime

22:52

Josh, if, if, if it's okay. I'll just

22:54

schedule. Yeah. Okay. So

22:57

to, to allow, uh, each one,

22:59

anybody at once to give

23:01

us a glimpse into what's unique,

23:03

special about how you do stuff.

23:06

really? You shortly at Playmobile

23:09

a bit what I said before we just

23:11

go with, through activities and theme-based

23:14

classes, and it's always about something

23:18

really, really specific. And

23:21

for sure, our main, uh,

23:24

Uh, language is English

23:26

since we are in a French province.

23:29

Uh, but I mean, English is all

23:31

over the globe as well, also,

23:33

All right. So at language we have

23:36

a little bit of a different approach.

23:38

Um, well we're still a little bit

23:40

of a niche market, but we start with a really

23:42

well developed, very robust

23:44

curriculum that takes. Kids

23:47

from, and we do, um, we have Spanish,

23:49

we have Mandarin, we have French. Um,

23:51

and we have Portuguese, but we have a curriculum

23:53

that we developed over the course of 20 years

23:56

and it will take kids and it's sequentially based.

23:58

So it'll take kids from not knowing all that, not knowing

24:01

me how all the way up to being,

24:03

um, proficient language speakers.

24:06

We have students all over the world. We have students

24:09

who have Spanish speaking parents or French speaking parents

24:11

at home. We have kids who have absolutely no,

24:13

no family support, but it's

24:16

created so that from

24:18

class one to, you know, I

24:20

have students I've had for a decade. We

24:24

can monitor and know exactly where they are

24:26

in the curriculum. We know exactly what they've been introduced

24:28

to. We know exactly what is coming

24:30

next, and if we have any need to switch teachers

24:33

or find a different fit at any point,

24:35

we can just look back at the documentation and say, okay,

24:37

they're on level three, unit two. Then

24:40

when the next teacher comes in, or if they need a time

24:43

change, then we are able to

24:45

really stay at the

24:47

exact same place. Um, I think

24:49

when you have students who. I don't

24:51

have a background or anything at home.

24:53

We get something called. I like to call Swiss cheese language

24:56

where we have, because there was

24:58

no direction or sequence or path for them to

25:00

follow. We have a lot of

25:02

knowledge, but huge holes

25:05

in that, because there was no sequence to be followed.

25:08

You know, where you may know a lot of vocabulary

25:10

or you may know some phrases, but what

25:12

we're trying to do is teach whole learners. We want

25:14

you to be thinkers. We want

25:16

you to be able to take, you know, what

25:18

you know, and use it to construct. Language

25:22

so that you can use it in any way you want, not just

25:24

know various vocabulary or themes

25:26

or phrases, but have a robust, um,

25:30

understanding of how language functions and

25:33

that ends up coming out and not just language,

25:35

but also in, in their English learning as

25:37

well.

25:38

Awesome. Awesome. Mercedes, you want to kick

25:40

it? Yes.

25:42

Yes. Well, my initial is better similar

25:44

to our us because we did Spanish

25:46

to children and,

25:48

and also very small children.

25:51

We have students of four

25:54

years old, five years old. Um,

25:57

and, and one differences

26:00

that we, when we start this school into

26:02

south end for. Eh,

26:05

we pretty much create a curriculum for

26:07

Spanish-speaker children who are

26:09

the students that we have at the moment, many,

26:11

many families, immigrant families

26:13

coming to the states for the first time.

26:15

And you want the children's to

26:18

maintain the language, to keep that heritage,

26:21

to give everything

26:23

at home. Not only sometimes spinalis

26:25

asked me. What, why

26:28

do they Spanish? They already speak

26:30

Spanish. And they say, because

26:32

they are children, they're small children. They also

26:34

need to learn how to read and

26:36

write in Spanish and not as

26:39

a five-year sold, but you

26:41

growing and.

26:44

That's great. Well, I

26:46

mean, outta or, or Mercedes, if you're interested

26:48

in having a 42 year old student, uh, you

26:51

know, I might apply for your schools,

26:53

but honestly there's

26:56

clearly a community here. Um,

26:59

one thing I wanted to point out, we're also growing

27:01

our community on Facebook. Um,

27:03

so if anybody's listening on Facebook,

27:05

please share this right now. Uh, let's

27:07

try and get more people into this group, you

27:09

know, who want to be a part of it now? Very

27:12

successful. That's awesome. It

27:14

is not all roses. We know that. So

27:17

I'm going to ask you guys a question. I want

27:19

you to talk about, uh, you know, the,

27:21

the fact that you potentially are still

27:24

struggling with management and administration

27:26

aspects of running your big online learning

27:29

company. Now, some of those challenges

27:31

might be. Cause we've heard from people.

27:33

They are communication, registration,

27:35

safety, security, and making it engaging.

27:38

So, uh, we'll start with Alex,

27:40

Alex. Uh, just please tell

27:43

us, what are you still struggling with, man?

27:47

Um, I mean, the

27:49

it's constantly

27:51

evolving. Uh, it's been almost two

27:53

years. It will be all we do online. We've been doing

27:55

in person for a long, long

27:57

time teaching languages for a long, long time,

27:59

but. Uh, online,

28:02

just figuring out how to, uh,

28:06

get to present the offer

28:08

is an ongoing theme. Exxon-Mobile

28:10

we never stop and quality

28:12

control with the teacher is like, So

28:15

much resources, just go into that.

28:18

Uh, watching the

28:20

teachers teach, go into classes,

28:22

making sure there's like a strong quality control,

28:24

implement new strategies

28:27

with teachers. Uh, I think it was said

28:29

in the first question that the amount of time we

28:31

could put in our

28:33

teachers and our theme team, and

28:35

this is. So,

28:38

so, so huge. You would

28:40

have no idea by

28:42

just taking a class online.

28:45

No idea of what's going

28:47

in the backend D all of these questions.

28:49

You said registration presentation

28:52

of the offer management quality control

28:54

is like conversations. We

28:56

have every day and Friday to.

29:00

Okay. Okay. I'm going to go

29:02

back to ATA. Tell us, you

29:04

know, again, looks like you've got a fantastic business.

29:07

That's booming in New York city, but

29:09

it can all be amazing. What are you struggling?

29:12

I think that what we've been struggling

29:15

is that constant evolving

29:18

of the field. Um,

29:21

right when we started, right. Well,

29:23

we say one year before the pandemic, uh,

29:26

so we have. You

29:28

know, like this thing going on, like in person,

29:31

it's always like, okay, we cannot do this anymore.

29:33

Okay. So let's try it. Let's see how,

29:36

like, it was just a shot

29:38

of like, we'll see how it goes. And

29:41

we started online and we,

29:43

before the pandemic, we used to date exclusively.

29:45

Like we have grown up in me program,

29:48

like a music program for babies and solvers.

29:50

That's what we used to do. Um,

29:53

so Simon is like, well, we can. Three-year

29:55

olds in front of the computer, like,

29:57

so we need to evolve and start teaching

29:59

to older kids. And then

30:02

I'm like, well, but now we

30:04

need to go back in person. Oh no. Now

30:06

schools are closing again. Okay. So now the registration

30:08

up for this. So it has been a constant

30:12

evolving, and I think that

30:14

that has been there. It

30:16

doesn't struggle, but

30:18

the struggle is not about the environment.

30:21

The struggle. I think that as business owners is

30:23

to be able to adapt and to be able

30:26

to not hold tight on, like,

30:28

what am I going to do if this doesn't work?

30:30

It's like, just letting go, going, going with

30:32

the flow. Um, but yeah,

30:35

just adapting, constantly adapting.

30:37

I think that that has been the challenge that

30:39

everyone can relate. Uh, but

30:41

that's the reason we're still afloat while

30:43

all their businesses suddenly have been

30:45

shoved down because they hadn't been

30:48

able to adapt and evolve.

30:50

Yeah. Well, the beautiful thing at the end of the day,

30:53

as somebody who started two businesses and sold

30:55

them is that you really got no control.

30:57

You know, you got to trust your gut, you got to go with

31:00

the flow and you got to, you know, improvise

31:02

and adjust on a daily basis, which sounds

31:04

like that's what you're doing. So Rebecca. Challenges

31:08

for Minneapolis. I'm

31:10

going to be

31:10

honest. And I'm going to be a little bit of an oddball here.

31:13

I love the challenges because

31:16

they all represent opportunity. Every

31:19

time we have to pivot or flip,

31:22

um, there are all sorts of

31:24

amazing creative ideas that come out

31:26

of our team that we're able to put

31:28

out in the world, um, that

31:31

just make us better at what we do.

31:33

We, you know, prior to the pandemic,

31:36

we were a large language program in the city.

31:38

We went into schools before school, after school, during

31:40

school babies, toddlers, like we taught. A

31:43

lot. Um, and when we flipped,

31:45

we had to be really creative with how

31:47

we're interacting with kids. What are ways,

31:50

um, especially as we're putting, you

31:52

know, children as young, as 18 months old in

31:54

front of a screen to learn with us, how are we doing

31:56

that in a way that is not

31:59

only, you know, educate them well but

32:01

makes them interact with us.

32:04

And so we've really had, um, Kind

32:06

of a great time with making our class

32:09

really interactive. We've been shipping

32:11

out materials, having our teachers have the same

32:13

materials as our students in front of them. I

32:15

mean, the

32:18

challenges with registration and

32:20

communication have really just presented opportunities

32:22

to be better at what we. do To

32:24

be more communicative to look

32:26

at registration programs and say, okay, what do we need to create?

32:29

And how are we interacting with the

32:31

service providers that have those registration pieces

32:34

to communicate with them, to make those

32:37

systems more functional for

32:39

us?

32:40

Yeah. Well, Rebecca, you

32:42

know, amen on that. I mean, I certainly, if,

32:44

if you don't enjoy the challenges and

32:47

see them as opportunities, you ain't going to be a part of this

32:49

panel for long or be in business.

32:51

You know, we know that, you know, so Mercedes. We're

32:54

going to come to you. Uh, we've

32:56

got things like registration and

32:58

monitoring and communication and making classes

33:00

interactive. Is there one specific thing there

33:03

that you're still struggling with?

33:06

Uh, this time I would say communication,

33:09

uh, is hard for me to

33:12

communicate what we are doing.

33:14

I mean, nobody that parents that are they

33:16

are, or with the classes back with

33:18

the new virus to get

33:21

new students, it's hard to show.

33:24

All the values of the online learning

33:26

like that. And for me,

33:28

I mean, I, social media, eh,

33:31

many things, but it's, it's hard

33:33

for me. It's hard. I don't know how to show

33:36

it. I don't know how to say the things

33:38

I just said, uh,

33:40

is, is, uh, yeah. And also

33:43

what I've seen because I partied, I have

33:45

participated in different language

33:47

programs as a system. For

33:51

a study French, for example. And

33:54

then, and they communicate

33:56

a lot with the parents, not be a text

33:58

message. I do text messages

34:00

or emails, but they, I mean,

34:02

their parents are completely, uh,

34:05

they know everything. They have the

34:08

class, they see. Can

34:10

you guys have been doing in the class?

34:13

Not only recording, but also,

34:15

yeah, I mean, I can do, but it's a lot

34:17

of work. I'll work

34:20

on the teachers and the curriculum and everything.

34:23

Just email every class after every

34:25

class, what we have been doing.

34:29

Well,

34:31

yeah, there are definitely programs for that. And,

34:34

uh, I think we potentially have a solution

34:36

for that. Um, you know, we're, we're

34:39

truly all about building community here. I'm looking

34:41

around the, my screen here and everybody

34:43

here speaks. Uh, two

34:45

languages, which is really exciting. So we've got a

34:47

community of online language speakers

34:49

here. We also have a community

34:52

just who's here to support when it comes to

34:54

cohort-based learning and

34:56

they leverage most of them cook

34:58

too. So, uh, Dotan,

35:00

I can only imagine, has been sitting

35:03

here wanting to hop in,

35:05

you know, with the challenges that everybody's happy having,

35:07

um, which are opportunities. And

35:09

don't talk can talk to us about. Cook

35:11

to what he's seeing when he's talking to

35:14

other online language providers,

35:16

he's got an amazing video for us and

35:19

he's got an offer. Take it away.

35:22

I, I, you know, I like to

35:24

start by following up on what mark said. It's just shared

35:26

the big on, um, the

35:28

challenge of presenting what you're doing.

35:31

Um, cause cause we're doing.

35:35

Ourselves and you guys and the panelists,

35:37

uh, we're doing exceptional

35:40

education, uh, remotely,

35:43

uh, and changing lives and,

35:45

building futures for those kids.

35:48

W um, When you try to show

35:50

it, sometimes it looks like some boxes on the screen

35:53

that looks like anything else. Um,

35:55

and you have this challenge of really

35:58

showing that what you're doing is

36:01

exceptional and it is. I

36:04

And I still think that we if

36:06

we could look into the future five years from

36:08

now we would say, whoa, back

36:10

in 2021, we were in

36:12

the dinosaurs age in terms of how

36:15

things look like and the, the

36:18

infrastructure, but also the experience in

36:20

definitely the presentation. Um,

36:22

and you know, we are trying to build

36:25

that. Five years, future at

36:27

Clickto uh, I'll try and explain

36:30

in short what it is, but also,

36:33

um, say like what's, what's the offer.

36:35

So, um, just imagine,

36:37

when you are starting an online store, for

36:39

example, you'd use something like Shopify

36:42

because it is an end-to-end solution from. Marketing

36:46

selling, and delivering all the operational

36:48

payment collection, and everything. When, if you're doing marketing

36:51

through emails, then you probably build them on MailChimp,

36:53

which isn't end-to-end for marketing email marketing.

36:56

So what we're building is an

36:58

end-to-end solution for online enrichment

37:00

businesses, basically. As

37:03

an online enrichment business, you need to take enrollments,

37:05

manage teachers, schedules, get kids on

37:07

the video, conferencing, collect feedback,

37:09

all the communication, all the things that we spoke about. So

37:12

where do you go? That's exactly the problem

37:14

that Clickto is solving. Um,

37:16

and we're doing it with having in mind

37:19

the way. that Organizations enrichment

37:21

businesses operate. Uh,

37:23

we are really experts of online classes

37:25

and we work with organizations in multiple

37:27

verticals, not just language. We

37:30

love helping them identify simple

37:32

ways to improve the workflow. And by

37:34

that really grow in scale, uh,

37:37

because a lot of the times organizations

37:39

don't realize that they're stuck

37:42

because of the way. They

37:44

worked because of the way they manage things. And

37:46

by releasing that, by letting that

37:48

go and having this all being automated

37:50

and managing one single place, it

37:53

gives them the platform to scale and grow. So

37:55

if those of you have joined us

37:57

today, um, so this webinar,

37:59

and if you'd like to have a consultation

38:02

session to really help

38:04

you upgrade your efficiency and become

38:06

a stronger online class provider. I'm

38:09

really happy to offer a super valuable

38:11

consultation called at no cost.

38:13

And this offer is only available during this

38:15

webinar. So Joyce is now going to

38:18

put the link on the chat and you're

38:20

welcome to go and find the color, the few

38:22

condor options and book

38:24

it, um, for this coming

38:26

week. Um, I

38:28

want to show you a, um, one minute video

38:31

of, uh, what clicked is about, and then

38:33

we'll wrap it up. Uh,

38:35

so here it is.

38:37

When I

38:37

build an online live learning program,

38:39

I use a calendar to schedule the video meetings

38:42

and then assign them to our teaching staff for

38:44

processing new student accounts. I use

38:47

a registration system and a payment processing

38:49

software. Then I go to my email

38:51

to send video conferencing links and to

38:53

communicate with the cohort groups to

38:55

record attendance and track student progress.

38:58

I also use different. And

39:00

lists, or I can

39:02

manage my online education business

39:04

all in one place with Clicktale.

39:08

Now I can open a single course or

39:10

scale up, but providing multiple programs

39:12

with various cohort options in

39:15

just a few clicks, I can publish each

39:17

cohort option on our course catalog

39:19

for easy registration and payment.

39:22

Then everything comes together on the agenda

39:24

screen where the teaching staff can easily

39:26

access their assigned classes. Our

39:28

teaching staff takes advantage of a multitude

39:31

of tools that are designed to deliver an immersive

39:33

live learning experience. Each

39:40

student uses their secure, personal access

39:42

link to join. Plus eliminating the

39:45

use of multiple links and a password.

39:55

click to automatically tracks, attendance,

39:57

student engagement, metrics, and post-session

39:59

feedback, which helped me make data-driven

40:02

decisions. Join the cohort

40:04

based learning revolution and scale

40:06

up your education business. Get

40:08

started now at click to.

40:12

All right. Um,

40:15

before we wrap it up, I think. You

40:17

know, all the experts that participated

40:20

where the panelists here in today's

40:22

panel are. I know they're all planning

40:25

to grow their online language, education

40:27

operation, um,

40:29

and a, uh, there

40:31

is a bright future for this, uh,

40:35

Vertical for this business, for this

40:38

opportunity for kids and adults

40:40

to, uh, meet and

40:43

people from different places and

40:45

bridge over cultures and really learn

40:47

this amazing skill, um,

40:50

with, and we hope that with click to that

40:53

should be easy as one click, as we like

40:55

to say. And really the, the

40:57

most successful that this category

40:59

of online learning is the most more

41:01

successful. Each of us is going to

41:03

be. So, thank you so much,

41:05

Josh. Last time.

41:07

Yeah, I, I don't know about you guys. Uh,

41:09

but that, that video seriously

41:12

gets me pumped up. We are passionate

41:14

about, um, online learning

41:16

for sure. Uh, I am personally

41:19

very passionate about online learning when

41:21

it comes to languages as well. So maybe I'm extra

41:23

pumped up today. Um, and I

41:25

think this is a great group here that we

41:27

got together. So I think Dotan, you know, to your point,

41:30

If somebody were to see us from back

41:32

here and they just saw boxes on a screen,

41:35

they would say, well, that looks kind of boring.

41:37

Um, and maybe 20 years from now, they will.

41:39

But the energy that we got together,

41:42

you know, having this discussion from all over the world,

41:45

you know, from Mexico, from Miami,

41:47

from Minneapolis to Montreal, to

41:49

Israel, It was fantastic.

41:52

So thank you all for joining us. Um,

41:54

let's keep the conversation going. We've got this

41:56

great community on Facebook. I'm sure

41:58

everybody here, Dotan,

42:01

everybody would be happy to help anybody.

42:03

Um, who's in the, who's in the chat. Who, who,

42:05

who sees this 20

42:07

years from now. So let's keep the conversation

42:10

going. Thank you everybody for joining us

42:12

thank you very much, everybody.