(1888PressRelease)
July 22, 2009 - SHANGHAI, CHINA – Language learning social network, italki, announces the first business member of its Language Marketplace: English training company, Eleutian Technology. Beginning July 21, Eleutian will offer one-on-one internet tutoring with US-certified school teachers and Eleutian's SpeakENG product, which incorporates Pearson's (PSO) English Language Learning and Instruction System™ to italki's members.
Prospective students can visit www.italki.com and register for an eight-minute trial lesson with one of Eleutian’s American teachers via video-conference. The product is called Eleutian SpeakENG™, and students can subscribe to an integrated package of online multimedia English courses and video-conference tutoring. SpeakENG also offers real-time assessment to measure progress and to track a student's needs.
This partnership marks the opening of italki's Language Marketplace to language schools. The Marketplace was launched in March 2009, and began by connecting independent teachers with students for paid online language teaching. In three months, nearly 3,000 teachers have joined the Marketplace to teach italki's 500,000 users. The Language Marketplace is now open to schools and companies that want to reach italki users with their language learning products and services.
Eleutian’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Sam Merrill had this to say about the partnership, “This agreement is a strategic opportunity for us to move towards our goal of becoming the world-leader of web-based English instruction. The italki partnership not only allows us to expand into the global consumer market but it also provides us the opportunity to prepare for the expansion into the public school and corporate markets in China and throughout the world.”
"In helping to satisfy the huge demand for language teachers who are native speakers of English, we are also helping to create more jobs for Americans." says William Bao Bean, board member of italki. "There are over 250 million students of English in China alone, and the italki Language Marketplace gives them the chance to learn from top quality teachers using top quality content."
italki plans to expand its marketplace in the near future with additional partners in multiple languages to complement its current offering of language learning resources.
About italki: italki.com is a leader in the online language education space, utilizing Web 2.0 technology to create a global community of language students and teachers. Since its December 2006 launch, italki has become one of the largest and fastest growing sites for online language learning, representing over 100 languages worldwide. italki offers free language exchange and learning resources, as well as a marketplace for finding teachers and other language service providers.
For further information, please contact Toffler Niemuth at press ( @ ) italki dot com or visit www dot italki dot com dot
About Eleutian Technology: Eleutian Technology is the premier, global provider of language teaching which pairs an evidence-based curriculum and one-on-one conversation lessons with certified American school teachers. A respected pioneer in the rapidly growing e-learning industry, Eleutian’s customers include some of the world’s largest companies as well as universities throughout Asia and Europe. The company also serves elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Headquartered in Ten Sleep, Wyoming and with an office in Seoul, Korea, Eleutian serves a global client base.
Visit www.eleutian.com for more information.
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