After using rock stars and basketball players in its video English lessons, US ELT company English, baby! has gone a step further – recruiting the CEOs of companies to teach business English.
The premise is simple: English, baby! interviews a CEO – such as Mark Frohnmayer of the electric car manufacturer Arcimoto – discussing their business and relevant English terms and phrases.
The videos are then published on the English, baby! site (with subtitles) which is visited by a million users a month, as well as through a range of other media outlets overseas.
“Business English is a huge growth industry but is still being taught in a traditional manner that hasn’t evolved much,” John Hayden, co-founder and CEO of English, baby! explained.
“A student can easily find materials to learn how to have a conversation about general corporate finance, but to learn English from the CEO of an electric car company in a manner that’s slowed down and simplified is something that no one has had access to until now.”
Other lessons include Music Business English with Rumblefish CEO Paul Anthony, Investment Banking English with MergerTech CEO Nitin Khanna, and Software Business English with ForkFly CEO Paul Wagner.
Hayden said the videos, which are free and increase subscribers to the site, had been well received. “This business vocabulary is really interesting and I loved this lesson!” posted one Brazilian user. “I’d never thought about having my own company but this is a good idea.”
“Business English is a huge growth industry but is still being taught in a traditional manner”
English, baby! offers a variety of online learning resources and even a social network, but gained attention in 2009 with its celebrity video lessons which have featured NBA star Dwight Howard and rocker Sheryl Crow among others.
The company publishes through syndication partners such as Nokia China and HOOP magazine in Japan (the official NBA magazine), but says corporate partners were coming on board. Hayden said that the “star power” of the CEOs would also grow.
“We plan to continue building our executive English lesson library as demand comes in from different industries. Like the star power of our celebrity English lessons steadily increased, we plan on having the most famous executives in the world as part of our product.”