Ecoutez, et repetez. eduFire is a new startup that promises to teach you a language through live online video chat tutorials. The service, which officially launched last week, has more than 500 teachers instructing in over 30 different languages.
A visitor to eduFire can either jump into a spontaneous session with a teacher that’s already online, or schedule a lesson for a later date. Prices for each session are determined by the teacher but cost at least $10 an hour, of which eduFire takes a 15 percent cut.
Anyone can sign up to be a teacher on the site; the community is tasked with weeding out the good from the bad. Teachers can provide an intro video to help sell their services, and to give both parties a chance to decide if they’re a good fit for one another, the first 10 minutes of the first session are free. The site currently only offers one-to-one sessions, but plans to roll out one-to-many sessions as well.
Jon Bischke, eduFire’s founder and CEO, says there have been 500 sessions on the site since it soft-launched 60 days ago, with the average user doing 2.5 sessions each.
The company has eight full- and part-time employees and has raised half a million in angel funding. And according to eduFire, languages are just the beginning; it says it will expand into other areas of learning as well.
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