Emory students create language learning app that reaches top 30 in App Store
A-Friend allows Chinese students to connect, practice their English and learn about American college life
Kevin Huang, Ben Schofield and Tom Zhang teamed up with friends from the Emory community to launch their app ‘A-Friend’ on Monday and it’s already reached the top 30 paid list in the Chinese app store.
The language learning app allows Chinese students connect with American college mentors. The mentors build profiles with things they like. Mentees can like, comment, ask questions, follow mentors and sign up for 30 min one-on-one sessions where they text and talk and essentially get the 411 whilst improving English skills.
There are currently have 100 mentors on board. These students are coming from mostly Emory but also NYU, Case Western, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Penn State, MIT, Duke, UCLA, UNC and USC (Cali… not Carolina). The team is welcoming anyone who might be interested in making some money mentoring in this cool new way to apply.
Mentors get paid by the hour, set their own schedule, and can get bonuses for being especially involved.
The app allows for both text and voice communication so users are able to improve their reading, writing and speaking skills. Mentors are encouraged to post videos and audio clips just like they would to their Instagram page about things they like to do.
This allows mentees insight into the daily life of American college students. Mentees can jump right in and work on their English while having conversations about things that are really on their mind. How do you ask your teacher for help? How do you tell someone you think they’re cute? What’s a typical night out like? Who the heck is Dooley?!
Tom said: “Currently, there are thousands of Chinese students who are dreaming of coming to America to study, but they’re scared and don’t know how to fit in or what life in America is like. In addition, they want to learn some real English!
“That’s where A-Friend comes in to help. Not only will you be aiding in their English speaking capabilities, but you will also be helping them out with all aspects of American [college] culture, and hopefully make a few friends along the way.”
The founders met through Kevin’s roommate, Chris Giles, who played tennis with Tom Zhang. Tom used to record Chris playing tennis. They invited Ben, Kevin and some other friends to join and they began making mini episodes of themselves hanging out and trying new things, especially of Chinese culture. Those videos became season one of the web series “Lao Mei Ni Zen Me Kan”. They later went to China and filmed episodes for season two. Since October 2014, they’ve gained over 400,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.
The whole crew will be heading back to China in March for a few weeks to film season three. They’re focus has been on sharing their experiences of bridging the gap between Chinese and American culture. Now with their new app A-Friend they’re going mobile.
Once they get the mentor base up they will open it to more mentees in China. The market is there but the supply of mentors is too low at the moment to allow all of their fans and their friends from China to join the app.
Ben said: “Although that is a problem it’s a better side of the business [to be on].”
Something about this tells me that once the word gets around that won’t be a problem for long. This is exactly the kind of flexible, engaging, part-time job students look for. It’s especially relevant for those with interest in Asian culture. The sharing and learning can easily go both ways.
I’m no tech expert but I have to say I think these guys have created something amazing. If you want to get involved both Ben ([email protected]) and Kevin ([email protected]) welcome your emails.