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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Hi everybody,

We were just informed that Myngle’s CEO Marina Tognetti is among the 49 most notable female internet heroes of 2009, according to The Next Women. The Next Women is the first online Women’s Business Magazine, with a focus on startups and growing businesses, led, founded or invested in by women. They bring news on business, events, funding and tech from a female angle and interview and profile Female Business Heroes, making them notable and quotable.

Marina is listed in the section ‘fundraising heroes”.

Congratulations Marina.

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Hello Mynglers,

Have you all noticed our new feature on our courses and teachers’ profiles?!

We are very happy to introduce a social media bookmark button on all our teachers’ profiles and courses pages! Just click on the “Share/Save” buttons on the website and with 2 easy clicks share/save your favorite course and teacher.

Teachers can now promote their profile and courses by using the power of popular sites like Twitter and Facebook or any social media platform they prefer.

Students can share with their friends and family their passion about languages and myngling. They can bookmark and share their favorite teachers and courses on virtually any social media platform! There are 132 options to choose from!

So spread the word on the Myngle revolution!

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Hello everyone!

Here is the Hall of Fame for the last month of 2009.
Every month the top 3 Myngle teachers based on the number of lessons they gave, the packages they sold and their month to month growth, are honored.

Congratulations to all the teachers who made it on top! Let’s see what 2010 holds!

Panos

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Hi everybody,

Based on questions which are often asked to our customer service, we have created a page called, ‘10  things you need to know about Myngle’. We realised that there are a lot of things about Myngle which are completely unknown to people. So please have a look below. Perhaps useful for you, or you want to send it to someone interested in learning languages?

Please find below the text;

Our Mission statement: Transforming language learning in a flat world

1. Myngle is the leading multi-language global platform for live online language learning. You can learn any language online from the best private teachers. You can learn whenever you want, wherever you want! Private tutoring is proven to deliver a much faster and effective learning than any other method.

2. 54 Languages offered, including languages like Azeri and Ndebele. The most popular language on Myngle right now is English followed by two other European languages French and Spanish,. We also have 7 different sub languages that are spoken in India: Marathi, Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, Panjabi, Bengali and Sanskrit.

3. 1,235 courses available created by professional teachers, for you to choose from. The popular courses includes Basic French, Italian for Travellers, Basic Italian, Pre-Intermediate Spanish.

4. 284 Myngle Teachers from 104 countries, who have gone through our special training and selection process, out of more than 4.000 teachers who applied. Over 1,000 teachers are on the waiting list.

5. Lessons are given online through the Myngle virtual classroom, where you can see and hear your teacher and your learning material. The virtual classroom is the next best thing to being in the country.

6. Myngle ensures top quality language learning because all teachers displayed have passed the Myngle selection and training program. Myngle also develops its own content called Myngle Programs, a set of original courses based on modern teaching methods and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages(CEFR).

7. Myngle also offers a complete set of additional study tools, from internet-based programs, to podcasting, to giftvouchers, iPhrasefinders and Digital Dictionaries.

8. Students can evaluate teachers by rating them, so other students can read these reviews. 95% of our students rate our courses as excellent!

9. Myngle has received 4 prestigious awards: Plugg’s People Choice Award 2009, the Best ICT Company at the European Venture Summit 2008, Accenture Innovation Award 2008 and Most promising ICT company at Benelux Venture Summit.

10. Myngle has entered into partnerships with global brands such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Collins Languages and Instituto Cervantes.

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Dear Mynglers,

Best wishes for a great 2010 to all of you, and we wish for  the Myngle parrot to fly even higher and reach even more the corners of the world.
I want to start this new year by thanking our students – that so enthusiastically are embracing this new way of learning - and our great teachers, that every day share their passion and professionalism to  make of each lesson a successful experience.

A brief look at 2009 shows that this was the year of  ‘quality’  for Myngle:

-  We can proudly tell students that their teachers are all excellent, as they have passed a strict selection and have been trained to become teachers of Myngle. To date, less than 10% of teachers who registered have passed the selection and are visible to teach.
-  Quality means also content, apart from the good quality programs that teachers develops, we launched Myngle programs, based on advanced, modern teaching methods and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
-  Leading publishers have joined forces with Myngle in order to provide a complete learning experience offering different kind of self-study tools and supporting material.
-  Many key players all over the world are now working with Myngle, like KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Instituto Cervantes, NDTV, Forticom; which proves the trust in linking their high reputation brand to Myngle.
-  Myngle got a lot of press coverage in 2009, won a couple of more Awards and was invited to present at different technology and education conferences… the world is getting ready to accept live online learning as mainstream education.

Results speak by themselves. Our students are enthusiastic and every day more students are using  our quality service: 95% gave a  5 stars feedback, retention is very high, some students have already taken hundreds of paid lessons, and the number keeps on growing.

Thank to all of you who have gave us their trust and support during this past year.
2010 will be a great year, a lot of new projects in pipeline, and a clear direction will bring Myngle to grow higher and higher.

Stay tuned…

Marina

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