The company's business plan arose from lessons learned by first studying Japanese in college and later teaching English in Japan. From Madonna to the Monkees, from trendy movie dialogue to swapping e-mails and jokes, the free lessons strive to give students a feel for how English is spoken in the real world. Zach Hoffman, the company's vice president for Web development, recalls how his own Japanese students coped in the classroom just fine as long as he stuck to traditional teaching materials. But whenever students visited the United States, they returned feeling language-challenged. They weren't able to grasp mainstream culture because they'd had no real exposure to it.
Buttons directing students to other pages flash and buzz.
Online trivia tests are graded immediately with scores posted at the bottom of Web pages splashed with purple and orange. We're simply giving them the interactive tools to do that. Hayden hopes to capitalize on that niche by offering the company's materials to other language-instruction companies. It's loosely defined as lambs and lions lying down together for the mutual benefit of all concerned. The strategy is showing signs of success.