Hello Mynglers,

Many of you are already familiar with the work of the LANCELOT School, as trainers, language educators, and thought leaders in the world of online language training.  Several of the teachers on Myngle have  been able to benefit from the experience of Heike Philp, Holly Longstroth, and other educators involved with LANCELOT.  They are, without question, some of the most experienced and knowledgable trainers of online teachers in the market today.

We are incredibly proud to have set the foundation for a long-term partnership with the LANCELOT School to give the opportunity to Myngle’s teachers to be trained by them.  LANCELOT has created a unique workshop for Myngle’s teachers to enable them to learn how to maximize the use of the virtual classroom, improve the use of various online tools, and give guidance on how to market one’s work on the web.  Additionally, LANCELOT’s accredited course will be available for Myngle’s teachers who want to deepen even further their expertise and prepare for an eventual LANCELOT Certification.  We will soon communicate directly with all the teachers some of the logistical details on how the training will take place.

In a language education environment where live online teaching is continuing to grow and become an evermore accepted mean of instruction, the collaboration between Myngle and LANCELOT reaffirms the quality, professionalism, and dedication to excellence of our industry.

Stefan

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Hi everyone!

Some big news for everyone struggling with language barriers: Google is developing a software for the first phone that will be able to translate foreign languages instantly combining in voice recognition and automatic translation.

If they succeed, this could completely transform communication between different languages and also influence language learning.

If you want to know more about Google’s ambitious plan, check out this article

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Hi all,

This week, on February 2 & 3, the 11th national e-learning congress of The Netherlands was held in Philips High Tech Campus, Eindhoven.

First keynote speaker was Vincent Everts. Vincent is one of the top 25 speakers in The Netherlands and an innovation guru,  trendwatcher, passionate speaker, consultant, debate leader and video blogger. A man with original ideas who forges innovative links between new technology and the rest of the world.

We are proud to say that in his 40 minute presentation as keynote speaker Vincent mentions Myngle as the way education should be in the future. The part about Myngle starts at 25.40 in which he talks about the positive side of transparency on Myngle, and the fact that students can rate their teachers .  ‘Can you imagine how it would be if education would be like Myngle everywhere?”

Everts ‘opinion is that this is the direction in which traditional education should go, but that this will take long because the traditional forces in traditional education will show resistance to change.

But…..as the title of his presentation says; Consumers lead the way, the market will follow.

If you want to see the whole presentation of Vincent (dutch), click here.

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Hello mynglers,

Do you know the feeling of entering into a school and being intimidated by one of the teachers?  Don’t you wish you could have just sat through a class without having to speak to anyone right away until you were finally comfortable?  Now imagine walking into that class… in a different country, where few, if any, speak you language… You get the point, right?

Among the thousands of people that visit Myngle every day, there is a pool of them that is probably intimidated by learning live with a teacher online (VoIP, what?) or by the fact that everything is in English, Russian, Italian, German, French, Spanish, or Latvian, but not, say… Punjabi!

For these people and for everyone who wants to take the first few steps towards learning English, we have created three simple, but effective self-study videos based on the content of three lessons of the Myngle Programs, English Basic - A1 course.   These videos are free for every Myngler to use and share.

If you are a teacher, maybe you can send the videos to some of the students that seems to really need to cross into the very basics of the English language. Or if you have already taught a couple of the lessons, you can share the videos as refreshers of the material already covered.

If you are a student and you have gotten this far into the the post without the need of a translator, then the videos are probably too easy for you.  But if you are still using a translator, then this may be your opportunity to start your new learning path.  Start on your own, at your own pace, get an idea of what some of the courses on Myngle look like, and then take your learning to another level by meeting your favorite teacher on the site.

We hope you enjoy this additional study tool.

We hope to add more of them in the future!

Stefan

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Hi Mynglers!

We would like to welcome you all to our new section: “Teachers in the spotlight“.

Here we will put the focus on our teachers! We want to give our Myngle teachers the opportunity to share their stories and experiences with Myngle and tell everyone how myngling affected their professional and personal lives.

We will start out with a romantic and inspiring story from Alper:

“August 30, the first day I flew to Mexico, getting on an airplane to meet the girl who I have been talking to for 6 months. Full of excitement, not knowing what I would do, if it all would work out, decide to stay in Mexico or not?

Well, after arriving to Mexico, I was welcomed very nicely by the family of my girlfriend.  It was a real nice and warm welcome. My first impression, wow, this is great!

Two weeks later, I burned my ticket on the beach saying to myself, ‘What am I going to do in a country where I don`t know the language, I do not have a permit to work, and nothing else?’.  It was like I was burning all the ships to go back to Holland, but, what will I do now??? I mean, I’m talking about meeting the girl of my dreams and knowing I want to be with her.

Imagine, living in a country where you don’t speak the language, what kind of work can one do?  I had to have some kind of income if I wanted to be able to stay here in Mexico to be with my love.”

Alper’s first job was the one that came most natural to him.  Being fluent in English, Dutch, and Turkish, Alper joined a local language school and begun teaching English.

“After looking on the internet I encountered Myngle, a company which gives classes over the internet, I thought, ‘Well, this might be promising’.  I subscribed and applied to be a teacher here. The first week after inviting students, I received 2 students, and of course, I was taking care of them, teaching them like they were the most precious people for me in the world.”

After a few months on Myngle, Alper realized that he could match his day job’s salary with the fees he was earning on the platform.  In the summer of 2009, Alper left his job at the language school to focus exclusively on his students on Myngle.

“Well, Myngle has offered me the opportunity to teach–says Alper–and until now I have been earning enough here to make a living  in Mexico, far from my family in Europe.  But thanks to God, here I am, now earning the money for my wedding, also thanks to Myngle.

I really couldn’t have found a better opportunity, that’s why I would like to say:

Thank you Myngle for giving me this opportunity.”

We hope to hear many more stories from you.

For all teachers who would like to share their experiences please contact us.

All the best Myngling,

Aenn

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Hi Mynglers,

after part 1 and part2, finally we have the last part of Thea’s story.

“I was worried and told this story to many different people. Most of the reactions had a negative tone. The story is not true, he fooled you, everything was just acting and so on. I can’t really believe that. Did I let him trick me like that? But one person gave the following reaction: Can’t you ask him if he wants to become self employed and get him to earn money by asking a large group of people that you know if they would let him clean their shoes.That seemed a great idea. Unfortunately, because of all the negative reactions I hadn’t come up with that idea before that day. Besides, I couldn’t even present the idea to him because I didn’t see him again.

One monday around lunchtime I went to the park and heard somebody say “hola”. It was Alex.With his shoe cleaning set he is there for the first time in five weeks and just keeps walking through without talking to me. What to think about that? Am I that naive? I realize that I’m influenced by all the negative reactions. With Alex, I had and still have the feeling that he has more potential. Or does corruptions and lying have such deep roots in this culture that the children learn it from the beginning on? Which lesson am I learning right now? All kinds of questions are going through my head.

If the story is true, what can I do? Giving money is not an option because he would have to give it to ‘the other person’. And when I leave in 6 weeks, what happens then? Nobody will take over this. There are strong recommendations not to give money to the children anyways. If he is really homeless then there is a shelter where he can sleep and eat. Only if he ends up with the group that also sniffs glue and drinks alcohol it will be the beginning of the end.This picture is in my head.

What if the story was not true and he simply has a home where he stays? Is this the way to get the tourists sympathy and do some really open their wallets? Apart from the fact that I’ve then probably been fooled for the last couple of weeks, how in the future will I be able to distinguish whats true and what’s not? What shall I do with this information?I know that I can’t carry all the misery of this world on my shoulders and that I can’t have the illusion that I will find a solution during these 3 months.

Also, I don’t want to become cynical or distrustful and every human being, no matter how big or small,I want to keep seeing as  an individual with its own story and background. Even in The Netherlands and wherever in the world you meet people that take it a little easier with telling the truth.Its just that here it goes together with poverty and misery and this has now turned into a  familiar face for me: Alex.

I see really young children, sometimes 4 years old, selling their goods as if they were grown up’s. With the most beautiful eyes, their charm and smart comments they try to make some profit. And then always their main motivation of hunger comes around the corner. How incredibly close it all gets  to me at these moments and how inappropriate my reactions feel at these moments!
It looks like I will be coming home with more questions than I had when I came here!!

Greetings from Guatemala”

Aenn

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Hola Mynglers!

Today we have the second part of Thea’s story for you!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Its really touching I think.

“I also want to share a story with you guys that has been affecting me already since I got here.

On my second day here I met a 17 years old guy called Alex. Neatly combed, wet hair, a clean t-shirt and saying that he is looking for work. A really nice guy. Here is his story:

“I went to America when I was 13 years old and worked at my uncles company for 2 years. I was there illegally and somebody reported that.Then I had to go back to Guatemala. My father got killed. He did something in the drugs world and my mother lives in Chichicastenango. I haven’t seen her for 8 months, because I don’t have money. I live with my sister and my little brother.”

The first 4 to 5 days I saw him every day. With his clean clothes still looking for a job. He had trouble walking and told me he couldn’t find a job.Eventually, on the sixth day he arrived with a set to clean shoes. The set belonged to someone else(he wouldn’t tell me to whom) and he had to give a part of the money he earned to that person. This really reminded me of a documentary that I had once seen about people cleaning shoes who get exploited in, I think, Brazil. The only thing I could do at this point was to tell him if he had any issues that he needed help with, he could always ask me.That I might not have a solution but that I would always be willing to listen to him.

I saw Alex almost every day and he always came by to sit with me for a little while. He wanted to keep up with his English and I should practice my Spanish so we made the deal that he should correct me.
He is a smart guy and the relationship that we have is about chatting and goofing around from time to time. He quickly understood that it wouldn’t work out for him if he would keep asking me every day if I wanted to buy another thing for him.Nevertheless, he kept coming. Some days he looked better,some days he looked worse.

He told me one time when he looked very tired that he was worried about not being able to pay his rent on time. I thought he was living with his sister but It appeared that he had his own separate room in the building where his sister lived. Because there are many untrue stories being told here I have to say that I stayed cautious throughout all this time. All of the sudden his story got a different angle and I didn’t know what to think about that.

Last week, on thursday morning, I was reading a book in a park when he came to sit next to me. He looked tired and for the first time was wearing a bag pack. At his remark that he wanted to talk to me, because he had  a problem, I closed my book. The first thing he said was:” I want to come with you to Holland” My first reaction was: That is not a problem but that is a wish. He smiled with his mouth but his eyes were empty.

When I asked him what was really going on he told me that he had not been able to pay his rent and that he had been sleeping on the streets for 2 nights in a row. So during the period of 5 weeks I witness Alex becoming a homeless person sleeping on the street. How to react now and what to do? I told him that I really wanted to help him but that I didn’t know how to. I promised him to find out where he could sleep and I could already tell him that there was a place in Antigua where homeless people can eat. We agreed  that I would come back to the park at noon. That same day I wrote an email to Tesssa,who is in charge of the homeless project, and asked her for any suggestions. She replied to me the next day. I wrote everything down on a piece of paper and every morning and noon I went back to the park. The crazy thing is, since that thursday morning I never saw Alex again.”

Read more from Thea next week in the final part of her message.

Aenn

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Hello Mynglers

This year, Myngle offers you the easiest and most effective way to learn Spanish with a certified program of the Instituto Cervantes.

Combining the best of self study with the support of the certified teachers, this course offers you live online lessons with Myngle’s excellent certified Spanish teachers combined with Instituto’s Cervantes AVE ; an online virtual self-study classroom that will give you tailored homework and self-study material.

This is a unique blended learning approach that combines the flexibility of a distance course with the advantages of class attendance. Research has proved that this form of learning  improves study effectiveness and represents a very suitable course for part-time students  and busy professionals because of adaptability of the study process.

By successfully finishing any of the Instituto Cervantes courses you will receive an official diploma from the Instituto Cervantes recognized around the world!

So use the best self study software and the best online teachers, and get guaranteed results in 120 days.

Start your Spanish now!

Panos

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Hello Mynglers

We just received an update from Thea in Guatemala.  Thea is a project coordinator for Foundation Los Ninos which  helps children out of poverty and illiteracy. As she didn’t speak Spanish, Myngle is sponsoring her Spanish lessons! Here are her experiences working on this wonderful project:

“Hello everybody!

First of all I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy and successful year 2010.Unfortunately, the year has started out very bad for Haiti and its inhabitants. Awful! For some reason this news is getting through to me in a different way than it does to the Netherlands.

I finished with my Spanish lessons last Friday. Equipped with all the grammar and the inspiring lessons of my teacher in Guatemala Elsa and my Myngle teacher Paola I will continue in 2010 and now it’s only a question of practice and practice again.

It’s a wonderful language and it’s so great to already be able to catch some conversations from the people  around me. However,  my euphoria was only for a short term. This week I had to order gas by phone and I got a whole flood of Spanish towards me. After 3 attempts of the friendly señorita on the other side of the line, trying to explain something to me having to reply 3 times that I didn’t understand any of it, I got grounded again. Eventually the gas got delivered 45 minutes later. In any case, my order got through clearly.

I can definitely handle a face-to-face conversation in Spanish, but on the phone its a whole different story. However, I do trust that everything will be fine concerning the communication.

This week I started with the activities for the Los Niños. On Tuesday I went to a meeting of  Antigua Network for the target group NGOs. There were about 20 representatives from different foundations.  Several organizations, such as Los  Niños, are busy with this phase of their development.

This is an important subject, because how do you measure the social impact of your activities here? One organization builds houses for families, another one builds standpipes and yet others focus on women rights or education. Therefore some results are easier to measure than others. And how can it be done that a project becomes independent?

Helping countries to develop themselves further is not that easy, but we knew that. Especially when it comes to big amounts its a difficult thing. But the fact that all those private initiatives want to take the step to become professionalized and are all seriously involved is a good thing I think.

I also want to share a story with you guys that has been affecting me already since I got here.”

Stay tuned!  The second part of Thea’s story is coming soon!

Aenn

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Hi,

Myngle’s most successfull teachers often promote their own profiles as well through a blog or their own website. In this case not only Myngle drives traffic and thus new students, but also teachers.

If you do not have a blog or website, no worries, you can also share your profile buy using the new socal media bookmark buttons which were just introduced.

If you do have a blog or website, why not use the Myngle banners to help you promote your Myngle-profile? Over a year ago my colleague Danilo already told you so some of you already know it and Myngle teachers are already promoting themselves (click and scroll down).

If you want to promote your Myngle profile on the internet and spread the word, you can have this too. And in just 1 minute.

Summarizing:

Do you have an own blog or website? Go to our Myngle banner page and go and get the banner you want. No banner of your language available yet? Let us know and your language will get priority over others.

You do NOT have an own website or blog?; Share your profile directly on the internet by using the bookmark buttons.

Happy Myngling!

Egbert

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