20 years ago, Raj Ridvan Singh set out on a journey to bring education to the underprivileged through SOLS Foundation. Fast forward to the present day, Teacher Raj, as he is fondly called, is steadfastly dedicated to revolutionising education yet again. This time, he is doing it through SOLS edu, a learning web app. Simply put, SOLS edu uses the native language of users to teach English. Users are able to learn English from Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Indonesian.
Low English Proficiency = Lower Salary, Reduced Opportunities
Let’s face it, English is the most commonly used language in the business world. Enhanced communication skills in English can, therefore, lead to better employment or career opportunities. In fact, most job interviews are conducted in English. So, whether it’s for a job interview or working in a professional setting, proficiency in English can help users communicate clearly and effectively. Job seekers have a very small window of opportunity to make a good first impression on their interviewers. Poor English skills can mean smaller chances of snagging that job. While there are a great many apps for users to learn new languages, Teacher Raj’s vision is to help those with Zero/basic English to be able to speak Employable English in 75 to 100 hours, while having access to recognised certification.
Teaching English Via Native Languages
At launch, SOLS edu offered two Cambridge-aligned courses, catered to basic or intermediate levels. Users going through either course could choose to learn via Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin or Bahasa Indonesia. Learning via a user's native language can help speed up comprehension and learning. This is a useful method of learning especially if users have little to almost no experience with the English language.
Building SOLS edu
Teacher Raj’s dream has been to make high-quality education and certification accessible to everyone. In order to make this possible, he spent almost 6 years elbow-deep in the research and development of SOLS edu. By digitizing SOLS Foundation’s award-winning courses and curating them to work on whatever device a learner already owns, users across the globe have access to high-quality education wherever they are.
Features To Speed Up Learning
To help users learn Employable English quickly and effectively, SOLS edu contains some helpful features such as:
- Video and audio tutorials, picture-word association, fill-in-the-blanks, and multiple choices to make learning English an interactive adventure.
- Competitions, clear goals and immediate feedback in all its lessons to keep users actively learning.
- Results in real-time, performance evaluation, and lesson repetition so users continue improving their English as they work through a course.
Where English Learning Is Now
Since this post was written, the SOLS edu English courses have been retired. SOLS edu now teaches English through the SOLS edu ACE app, and the courses web app carries on with Career Skills and Digital Skills.