Founder / CEO
Matthew Radich
CFO
Alex Mc Curran
CTO
Dan Dissanayake
Our Why
Our executive team at Inkstone has a combined 70+ years of experience of teaching English around the world. Between us, we also speak Japanese, Māori, Spanish, and Portuguese at either an advanced C1+ or native level. When it comes to tech-enabled human-lead language acquisition (human-powered learning), we are the experts. We have been building and delivering online 1-1 language courses officially together under the Inkstone umbrella for 10 years. This is what we do.
Hello!
I'm Nadim
Hello! I’m Nadim. As Convo school director, I am extremely excited to offer international English students something different. Something that works to solve the spoken fluency problem at globally affordable prices.
I have met so many English students who have hit the fluency wall. Hundreds of intelligent, hardworking students who have cried to me "why can’t I speak English still!?” “How can I improve my English speaking?”
Even though they have passive knowledge and they have spent years or decades studying English, they still can’t speak fluently.
If this is you, ask yourself now. Why? Why have you spent so much time and money NOT reaching fluency? This is the problem that Convo solves. This is our why.
In summary, these are the two principle reasons why students fail to achieve fluency, even after years of study:
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They have focused too much on study textbooks, apps, and group classes;
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Which are good for passive knowledge and engagement, but not good for active speaking fluency.
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They haven’t had enough (or any) 1-1 speaking fluency coaching;
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Because structured and organised 1-1 classes are either too expensive, or they are not structured and organised around a speaking fluency curriculum with trained fluency coaches.
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Welcome to Convo.works
FAQs
Download an app. Use it every day. Fail at your language goals.
“The students also found it difficult to interpret their Duolingo learning progress in terms of real-life language use and felt that their language skills were not adequate outside of the application tasks. Marques-Schafer and da Silva Orlando (2018) noted that some of their participants stopped using Duolingo because it became too repetitive and boring, and Huynh et al. (2016) cautioned against using Duolingo with more advanced learners who might find it less interesting than beginner students.”
After almost 20 years of smartphones and tablets, we should be asking ourselves a few questions:
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Have we (in society) improved our face-to-face fluency in our non-native languages?
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Have we improved our general language skills in our native and foreign languages?
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Are today’s young adults, 18-30 year olds, better at languages than previous generations were at that age?
A lot of people look for quick wins and shortcuts, they want cheap and quick results NOW, and more often than not, they fail. Of course they do.
The fittest people you know are those who consistently put the work in, week in week out, over decades. They know there are no shortcuts. They structure their exercise, food, and sleep, over the course of their lives. They rest, but not for too long. They are disciplined. They find the best methods and coaches. They put in the time. They put in the effort.
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If you just use app based and self-study methods, you will fail;
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If you just use group classes, you will fail.
Real and long-lasting language acquisition, and especially spoken fluency, requires using a combination of effective methods, consistently over time:
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Consistent reading to build vocabulary, and review/practise grammar structures within ‘real-world’ contexts;
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For A2-B1 speakers, non-fiction and non-news sources are recommended, e.g. biographies, magazines, and personal development books, because the language used is more ‘day-to-day’.
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For B2+ speakers, you can start reading more fiction if you wish, but the vocabulary, especially adjectives, might be unusual and not really used in day-to-day speech.
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Consistent listening practice, to a range of accents and dialects;
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Online streaming services are great. Series and documentaries are recommended because they generally have more dialogue than films/movies.
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For A2-B1 speakers, turn on English subtitles and create your own vocabulary and phrase dictionaries, hand written.
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For B2+ speakers, experiment with English subtitles off and on
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NEVER use your own language’ subtitles!
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1-1 structured and high-intensity speaking practice with a conversation coach. 2-4 classes per week is ideal, but even one a week will help you to progress.
Naturally, when your studies and practice are grounded in the interaction with a coach/teacher who can assist you in setting your goals, design your long-term learning, sustain motivation, and provide timely corrections and feedback, you will progress faster.
And of course, having a safe space where you are actively encouraged to make mistakes is essential. You MUST make mistakes in order to progress. I challenge you to make at least 100 English speaking mistakes a week! Then, and only then, will you be progressing.
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The false economy of group classes
Group classes are cheap. If delivered well they are fun. If they are not too big (5 students or under), they can be effective at developing both collaborative and individual learning.
Group classes definitely have a place in the language journey, especially when facilitated by competent teachers who know how to organise groups and the materials used. They can be great at cultivating interest, at encouraging students along their journey, especially those who want to walk their path with other people. They can stimulate creativity and give students the opportunity to practise their skills in front of the group, which is useful presentation practice. They can increase student accountability through group work and achievements, and of course, they give students the ability to practise with a mixture of people, which by its very nature is useful practice.
However, on their own (without 1-1 classes), they will not produce face-to-face fluency for the vast majority of people. The teacher doesn’t have the capacity to focus on a single student, to work individually in order to correct and guide the individual. In group classes, the teacher cannot identify, measure, and ultimately meet the individual needs of each student. They are less able to build a strong bond of trust, because their attention is spread between multiple students.
Group class providers know that group classes are attractive because of the price, but on their own, they will not lead to significant and consistent progress in face-to-face fluency.
Think about it in similar learning environments. In dance, sports, arts, cooking, music, personal training, etc. Think about it in the context of your personal hobbies, interests, and passions.Which is more effective for consistent and effective skill development over time? Group or one-to-one?
The importance of repetition: it’s not how much you know. It’s how you use it.
To use a dance analogy, the best dancers are not those who know the most steps, combinations, and sequences. The best dancers are those who can connect the best with the music and their partner. That connection is formed through hundreds upon hundreds of hours of partner-practice and listening deeply to the music.
And if you prefer martial arts, here’s what Bruce Lee had to say about this:
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
-Bruce Lee
It’s exactly the same with language. It’s not fundamentally about learning hundreds or thousands of specific phrases, idioms, and pieces of vocabulary.
Of course, from a comprehension perspective, it is important to understand common terms and expressions, but that comes naturally from listening and reading practice.
Effective communication is fluent communication. It is about actively listening, understanding, and then being able to respond in the moment at the correct speed whilst being able to communicate your message clearly. You don't need to know 10,000 different words to be fluent. You do need to be able to use the words and phrases you already know, fluently.
In work, this happens in a number of different settings listed below, but essentially the interaction is the same - live spoken communication between two or more people.
Meetings, pitches and presentations, seminars, workshops, brainstorming sessions, team huddles and standups, interviews, training sessions, negotiations, networking events, mentoring and coaching sessions, and feedback sessions.
In all of these situations, face-to-face fluency is king. It is the King of kings. It is number one, it sits on top of all other skills. It doesn’t matter how much vocabulary you have if you can’t use it fluently. It doesn’t matter how many idioms you know if you can’t have a fluid and natural conversation. Gap fill exercises do nothing for fluency. Mobile apps do nothing for fluency.
All self-study, which does have its merits and uses in language acquisition (e.g. for vocabulary building), will never improve your face-to-face fluency. So let’s ask ourselves a question.
What exactly are your expectations for yourself?
A fluid and natural conversation. Just like nature intended.
I had a teacher who always used to say at the end of class, “...and remember everyone, practice practice!” Surprise surprise, those who followed the advice succeeded and those who didn’t, failed.
It is one of the most overlooked pieces of wisdom. It is simple, almost too simple, but it goes against our lazy instincts and is often ignored.
If you want to achieve face-to-face fluency in English, you need to speak often, in English, with human beings. Even better if you can practise with competent and trained coaches using a relevant and interesting curriculum which covers the various environments and situations in which you use English.
Just like we talk about ‘match fitness’ in sports, effective language acquisition only happens when the student learns in the language. Sports aren’t played on paper, and face-to-face fluency isn’t built in theory and textbooks. It is only through structured spoken practice, in English, which leads to English fluency and excellence.Native and non-native coaches.
There is a false notion in language learning that teachers should be native speakers. That native teachers are better than non-native teachers. It is understandable that a lot of people look at it this way. Native teachers have native dialects, and students likely want to be able to speak in a natural (native) way. Someone with excellent pronunciation will generally sound more native, so it is understandable why native teachers tend to be favoured by students.
However, let’s look at it from a different perspective. Native teachers never had to actively learn their language. Native teachers never had to go through the years of struggle to not only speak English, but to dominate it. Native teachers never had to put the thousands of hours of effort into actively studying and learning English. They are not directly and intimately aware of the challenges of learning English as a second language.
Some of the very best teachers and coaches are non-native speakers, because they are aware of those challenges. They have walked the walk, and can talk the talk. They have learned how to dominate a non-native language. The patience, effort, and intelligence that this requires must not be underestimated. The intimate understanding of the student journey and therefore the ability to connect with and coach students through their own journey must be respected.
Having walked the path, they can guide others down the same path.
A quick word about app-based shadowing exercises.
Do you want to sound like an AI robot? Because that’s how you will sound if you do your shadowing practice with an AI voice.
Shadowing is a highly effective method used to improve pronunciation, rhythm, emphasis, and intonation, when done with an advanced speaker and real human being. It is very simple. Listen to a sentence and repeat it. This can be done effectively with a human teacher or with films, series, and podcasts. But the language being imitated has to be delivered by a real human being, if you expect to sound natural. AI voices, at the moment, don’t sound natural.
We build relationships with people, not robots. If your shadowing exercises use an AI voice, you will end up sounding like a robot. We don’t do business with robots, we do business with peopleAchieving face-to-face fluency and confidence as an adult, in real life.
How do we achieve face-to-face fluency?
Reading and writing build and enforce vocabulary and grammar. Listening and speaking build fluency and confidence. Fluency and confidence build competence, trust and relationships. Competence, trust, and relationships build successful careers.
All of this needs to happen over long periods of time. Face-to-face fluency and linguistic excellence are not built in a day, week, month, or a year. They are a multi-year process of consistent and structured practice with trained and competent coaches.
Which brings us nicely to our next point.
Relay coaching (our ‘many-to-one’ model)
How many people spoke to you in the first seven years of your life? Many, most probably.
We learn to speak our native language over the first seven years of our life by listening to lots of different people. Our parents, siblings, extended family, family friends, friends, playgroup and school teachers, activity leaders, not to mention TV, films, music, etc.
That’s a lot of people! A lot of people.
When learning a foreign language you also need to speak with a lot of people. If you are a non-native English speaker, most people you speak English with will also be non-native. So it makes sense that on your fluency journey, you should get as many Convo practice hours in as possible with non-native speakers. The greater the amount, the greater your comprehension abilities will be. The better your comprehension, the better your communication.
Therefore, it is always in the best interest of the student to study with a variety of teachers who have a variety of accents and dialects.
The many (coaches)-to-one (you).
Class transitions (teacher-to-teacher handovers)
The relay ‘many-to-one model’ is extremely important to give students the opportunity to learn with different personalities, perspectives, styles, accents, and dialects. However, this model falls down when teachers don’t do a handover and when they don’t have any knowledge about the student they are teaching.
A good school or academy will always have these two capabilities:
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A formal handover mechanism, e.g. a lesson record that is completed after each class for the next teacher or coach to see, so that their class dovetails with the previous;
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An informal ‘behind the scenes’ way for teachers or coaches to speak to each other in order to share knowledge and best practice, given that each student will have their own particular needs and preferences, and different teaching styles will benefit different students differently;
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False promises in language fluency
Why so many dedicated and intelligent people fail to reach fluency
So far we have covered a number of critical issues that surround second language learning.
Given that we love lists (who doesn’t love a well structured bullet point list?), here is a list of things that students typically don’t understand about learning and maintaining languages.
In no particular order:
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If you are using only self-study methods, whether apps or books or programmes, your investment in the programme will not see a return if your objective is face-to-face fluency;
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If you only use group classes, your investment will not see a return if your objective is face-to-face fluency;
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If you only work with native teachers, you will miss out on some of the best teachers, styles, and methods, and will be unable to work with a global mix of accents and dialects;
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If you only have access to one teacher, you will lack access to different styles, perspectives, personalities, accents, and dialects;
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If your English course has a definite end (e.g. 50 lessons and finish), you will fail to gain fluency. Language excellency and face-to-face fluency is similar to health and fitness. It requires consistency over many years;
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If there is no teacher-to-teacher handover and knowledge transfer mechanism, teachers/coaches will lack important insights;
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3 x 25 minute classes are better than 1 x 90 minute class per week. Practice and study should be as frequent as possible, but each session can be short, similar to HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training). Short periods of intense activity are highly effective in promoting growth and learning. In the context of language learning, 3-4 classes per week of 25-minute classes are highly effective, especially when supported by self-study. Did you know that after 25 minutes of focused attention, your brain becomes a tomato?
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How to bake a cake
Recipe for success
Choosing the right English programme is hard. The industry is constantly evolving with technological innovations and there have never been more platforms, schools, apps, and methods. From providers who claim that you can learn English in eight easy steps, to apps which suggest that you can learn English as you did with your mother tongue when you were a baby, the noise is loud and it makes finding the real actual truth extremely difficult.
As much as we would all love to be able to go back to when we were zero years old and learn a foreign language whilst being held and cuddled by our parents, it’s not going to happen.
Providers who claim that you can magically learn face-to-face fluency like you did with your first language as a baby and young child, or that just with their apps you will be able to dominate face-to-face conversations, are lying to you.
They do not respect you, they do not care. They just want your money.
Learning face-to-face fluency as a busy adult requires, at its core:
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Engagement in an effective and varied learning programme;
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Satisfaction and enjoyment with the learning process;
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Consistency over time.
What you want, through engagement, satisfaction, and consistency over time, is ultimately results. This means, face-to-face fluency and the confidence to use that fluency directly with other speakers, both native and non-native.
Process Success
To be most effective, you want to mix up your study and practice:
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Self-directed study;
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1-1 fluency coaching.
Self-directed learning, as organised through our Study Strategy page, through reading, watching, and interacting with apps and software can absolutely support vocabulary and grammar development, but not face-to-face fluency and speaking confidence.
Remember that your final language goal isn’t to be able to complete exercises on a screen or in a textbook.
It is to be able to speak and listen, accurately and fluently, with your international friends, acquaintances, colleagues, clients, customers and partners, in real life and professional situations and context which require building trust and relationships through face-to-face human interaction.
Come over to Convo and let’s get speaking, shall we?
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Foreward
By Nadim Bakri, Convo school director
February 2025
How to learn English online and especially how to learn English effectively online, in a sea of options, is a difficult task. There are so many options to choose from that it can feel like all the services are the same. Our Convo student white paper below shows why we are genuinely and actually different.
Quite simply, it is because we are focused on one single learning outcome; improving English fluency, because we know that, most students most of the time, primarily need to improve their English speaking. The amount of times that I have met a student for the first time and they say to me, “Nadim, I have been studying for years and I still can’t speak English”, is the reason why Convo exists. For reasons that I am not entirely sure of, the vast majority of language academies and schools across the world, and both off and online, do not provide structured and focused English fluency training.
This is not the same as simple English conversation practice. It’s not just about having an English speaking course online. It’s much much more than that. It’s about improving your English speaking skills through the intense coaching of student talk time. By providing a safe space where not only are you permitted to make mistakes, but rather where you are actively encouraged and supported to make as many mistakes as you possibly can, within structured and focused high intensity conversation training. Because at the end of the day, success requires one to refine and perfect their mistakes over many years, and then and only then, bit by bit and step by step, one’s skills start transforming into real-world achievements.
“I understand English but can’t speak it” should never be an acceptable thing to say by an adult who needs to be able to speak English for their life, their family, their travels, their career, and their personal success.
How to speak English better should not be such a difficult problem to solve.
You know that in this hyperconnected global world, success speaks English, and you need to too.
Welcome to Convo.works.