In an interview with The Plan G (CEO Kyung-ah Lee), a resident company of the METAVERSEHUB Corporate Growth Center, weheardan explanation of the English conversation app 'Odinga English' which a child becomes a teacher. Here is Q&A by herself with Kyung-ah Lee, CEO of The Plan G, who introduced K-Education to the world.
Q. What exactly is ‘Odinga English’ which is considered as there presentative app of The Plan G?
A. Odinga English was created with the concept of my child becoming an English teacher. It is an app that allows childrento learn English like a game and keeps childreninterested. It is an English conversation learning app that childrencan find and study by themselves. Childrenhave to teach theircharacters English, and as their characters’ English improve, the learning childrenwould feel proud ofit. The biggest advantage is that childrencan enjoy studying without the stress of studying.
Q. Can you tell us more specificabout Odinga English service?
A. It is a mission achievement role-playing game that teaches English to characters. We appoint learners as English teachers and letthemdecide how much time each day the children wanttostudy. Childrenchoose the learning sentences to teach, andchildrenteach the English sentences to a character named Odinga, and evaluate them. After the class is over, childrenreceive coins or gifts as a reward, and because children recognize this process as a game, childrenlearn English naturally. By teaching Odinga over and over again, English becomes more fluent.
Q. What differentiates it from existing English learning apps?
A. In the past, it was common for AI avatars who were very good at English to teach English to learners unilaterally. To be able to speak English well in a non-native environment, you need to increase your self-esteem and reduce your anxiety. Therefore, The Plan G chose a learning method called 'teaching'. This learning method is about three times more effective than passive learning by simply listening and following.
Also, Odinga English differs from general learning apps in English content. It is equipped with a highly designed curriculum so that you can speak English directly, not just liketextbook contents. In addition, in order to be able to speak English well in various situations, the webtoon was used for role-playinglearning according to the situation. Forthose children who lack vocabulary, it is taught in sentences according to the situation. These contents make it possible to implement English at any time in daily life.
Finally, AI speech recognition was applied to the character. This leads to self-objectification of the character's English skills. In order to increase the skills of the characters, children will use more accurate pronunciation and sentences.
Q. What is the goal of Odinga English?
A. I look forward to the day that elementary school children will all use OdingaEnglishto accept English as an exciting language and become more confident in speaking English. We also hope that it will be the first app for children around the world who need to learn English like Duolingo.
Electronic Times Internet Reporter Eunjung Judy Yu(judy6956@etnews.com)