Ai English in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Education

Ai English

Locality: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Address: 10 Dorcas Street 3006 Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Website: http://aienglish.com.au

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25.01.2022 A quick highlight of our chairman Mr Ai, signing a cooperation agreement with Yaruki Switch, one of the largest educational institutions in Japan! We are honoured and excited to embark on this new journey with Yaruki Switch.

24.01.2022 Ai English CEO, Kang Li, usually prefers to avoid the limelight. However, he couldn’t remain in the background when his staff nominated him for one of the weekly awards. During a tough period, one most CEOs will reference in the future about putting their leadership and management skills to the test, Kang has been incredibly strong. His ability to provide a calming influence in this incredibly disruptive time has been very much appreciated. His speech to staff following the p...resentation provided the perfect reference point as to why he is so highly regarded. I should say thank you to all of you. It’s not easy. I’m sure no one has experienced this in the last 100 years. On the other hand, this creates a good opportunity to improve ourselves. So now we can deal with both situations we learn. That’s how I see Ai English, a young organisation, young organisations can have problems but what I’ve learnt from this is that we always look forward and to learn to improve ourselves. I think that’s how I feel about this organisation. We have come from different countries, different backgrounds, different beliefs but at Ai English we are a group, we’re one family. We help each other and help grow one another and we learn from each other. I think that’s the spirit of Australia. I’m pretty lucky I came to Australia to live and I feel even more lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to work at Ai English with you all. I’m not old but I still feel younger when I’m working with you, I still think I’m 25 even though I’m only 26. It’s very exciting. I think that’s kind of the culture we’re trying to create at this organisation. I really feel lucky and appreciate everyone at this organisation. Thanks, Kang, for your inspiring words.

24.01.2022 August in review! #elearning #EdTech

23.01.2022 Need a #COVID-friendly activity for the weekend? Check out this FREE online event series courtesy of Caroline Packham Collaborations. Human x Human - Dance with us "Sense, imagine, dance, create, connect. We invite you to join us in dance, improvisation and visual storytelling as we develop a projection dance work exploring the power of collective human action."... There are just two more events to go: Saturday 19 September 10.00am - 10.45am (Children 5yrs+ and families) | 11.00am - 12.00pm (Adults and teens) -- Saturday 26 September 10.00am - 10.40am (All ages welcome for a recorded performance) -- FREE To register, book your ticket and catch a glimpse of what you're about to witness, head to: www.carolinepackham.com/humanxhuman #HumanxHumanxArt

23.01.2022 Tom Gleeson: Iovita, do you have a Bluey tattoo? Iovita: Planning on getting one ... Tonight, one of our lovely presenters, Iovita, will be on ABC Australia's Hard Quiz. Tune in to find out what her expert topic is and who will lift Tom's brass mug aloft Hard Quiz 16/09 8pm AEST ABC

23.01.2022 HUMANS OF Ai ENGLISH CHARLES XU My name is Charles Xu. I’m a Chinese guy that drifted onto the Australian beaches 10 or 11 years ago. I would like to present myself as the ‘Big Daddy’. I’m the facility manager here and at the beginning I took this as just a job. It meets my original scope of work, which is development. But as time goes by, and I welcomed my own little girl to this world to become a father myself, I see this place as a living thing that is growing. You can s...ee it by the amount of infrastructure works that I’ve been putting through and I really take pride in seeing everyone enjoying it, so this overseeing stuff make me feel like ‘Big Daddy’. I’m actually very proud of what this business has become. My story is very much the same as others that have migrated here from China, nothing too crazy. My family went through immigration off the coast of Western Australia, I went to high school in Melbourne, university in Sydney and my previous business was in Adelaide so I’ve been drawing a big smile down south. My previous work was in property development. We would acquire pieces of land, and depending on the location, the size of the land, the restrictions and all of that you subdivide and build smaller ones and resell or you build a luxury house. A fun fact about me is that I’m Batman! Four people pop into your class, who are they? Donald Trump, my grandmother, Cao Cao, Barack Obama

23.01.2022 HUMANS OF AI ENGLISH DARCEY BOWD Hi, my name is Darcey and I’m a presenter at Ai English. I started around June 2019, and so much has changed since then. It’s been fascinating to see everything that goes into growing a company, and it feels like things change every week around here.... I love everything about my role as a presenter; preparing for classes, engaging with the students and teachers in China, and even the daunting aspects such as trial classes for potential clients. It’s so rewarding when students implement feedback and gain confidence speaking English throughout each lesson, which is something that I never expected to be this passionate about. Between classes I also do curriculum work, which means I help to create courseware and lesson plans for our students and presenters. I was born in England but grew up in Melbourne most of my extended family lives here, too. I’m currently studying Nursing at Monash University. Working in a hospital is very different and far less glamorous than our Ai English studios. But both are really rewarding and challenging. I love music, dancing, reading, and am trying to practice Chinese again because I studied it a bit at school, but have forgotten so much. I was fortunate to be very involved in music throughout school. I play a mixture of random instruments like the piano, flute, viola, recorder, guitar this has been useful at Ai English because our team in China sometimes asks me to create songs for their courseware. They give me the lyrics or key vocabulary words to incorporate, and sometimes a prompt, such as; cheerful background music. The coolest part is when I encounter my song in a lesson and hear the students sing every word. Sometimes I hear them humming the tune during our mid-lesson break. It’s such a surreal feeling and I hope it helps them become more engaged with the content that they’re learning. Ai English was basically my first job upon leaving high school. I thought it would just be an English tutoring job, so I was surprised when they asked us to stand in front of a camera and pretend to teach. I’m glad I didn’t know what the job entailed when I turned up for the interview, otherwise I would have doubted myself and never applied. A lot has changed since then from only having 2-3 studios setup, to having a whole new building with 40+ studios, lots of experienced presenters, and so many students each week. A fun fact about me is that I trained at the Australian Ballet School for a few years during high school. I’m so grateful for the experience; it taught me to have a very determined mindset, which has been super helpful at this job and lets me push myself to improve with every class. Four people pop into your class, who are they? I guess my school friends

22.01.2022 HUMANS OF Ai ENGLISH JACQUELINE SMITH Hi, my name is Jacqueline Smith and I look after company training and wellbeing. I’m definitely a Queensland girl, I hate the Melbourne weather. You’ll see me wearing jumpers and scarves in summer. I started in September of 2019 and I love the people here. Getting to meet new people is the best thing about Ai English. I try to meet them all, welcome them and then through the Wellbeing Team we can follow them up. I love working with the ...staff and it’s actually really fun to come to work every day. A little about me. Well, I went to university to study acting and thought this was not for me so moved into event management. I then went into the big wide world and worked in events for a couple of years. I then thought I’d like to do teaching so I did a teaching degree in drama and theatre studies. People often go ‘ugh the kids!’, but they have never met the film, tv and drama kids. They’re there because they’re passionate, they love it, they’re interested and they inspire you to do all the stuff you need to do at school. I’ve taught in Far North Queensland, taught at a few schools in Melbourne and then I looked at Ai English for a Saturday job because I needed something to do on Saturdays then it took off. How is this job different to my previous one? Well, it’s a lot more collaborative here. It’s really lovely to work collaboratively with everyone and grab all this knowledge to put it to work. A fun fact. The ‘boring’ great accomplishment are my two children, so far for the first fifteen years of their lives they’ve done ok. I also love to travel. I force my kids to travel like backpackers so we always do it on a budget and that always leads to some fun stories. I want to have culture shock I don’t want to go to a resort, it’s not a place for me. Where possible I want to immerse myself in the culture as much as I can. For example, in Nepal we stayed in a farm stay on the verge of winter. No heating but a lot of hot water bottles. My son and I we were super healthy but my husband and daughter got upset tummies. My daughter was over it in six hours but my husband was sick for two days. In Cambodia, someone had been sick and a monkey came and tipped it out and started eating it in front of us, that’s always exciting, monkeys like to do strange things. Four people pop into your class, who are they? Dalai Lama, River Phoenix, Lucy Durack and Wally Lewis

22.01.2022 Sometimes we just like to get a little creative with the costumes! #edtech #onlineeducation #virtuallesson #funlessons

22.01.2022 Penguins ... ASSEMBLE! If you haven't heard yet, our Wellbeing Team is organising an Ai-mazing Race. To secure your spot (organised around your schedule), check your email or head to The Penguin Squad chat in Microsoft Teams for the link. May the best win!

20.01.2022 The Baby Panda. Coming to a classroom near you! Starring our wonderful Ai English presenters

20.01.2022 HUMANS OF AI ENGLISH NATHAN SAMES Hi, my name is Nathan Sames, I’m the Rise HQ operations manager at Ai English and I started in April 2020. I love the versatility of the role. Every day poses a fresh challenge for me and I enjoy finding solutions. I was mistaken for a software engineer by a presenter the other day, which I was proud of because that is not my background at all. However, I almost never joined AiEnglish because all of the initial emails sent to me were flagg...ed as ‘phising’ by my gmail. If Shaun Soong hadn’t called me as I was supposed to be entering the initial training meeting, I may never have joined. I grew up in Buckinghamshire and Oxford in England. The area carries the nickname the home counties and is what J.R.R.Tolkein based his Shire on. At the end of my garden there is a field which roe deer and pheasants often come up to, and Mr Fox has outwitted our attempts at protecting the chickens many a time. I studied at Magdalen College, Oxford and then went to the University of Bristol. I feel that Melbourne regularly reminds me of a larger-scale version of Bristol. I’m actually coming to the end of a two-year trip away from home, which started November 2018. I spent a month in Thailand, 2 months in Sydney, 6 weeks in Vietnam, 3 months on a farm in WA, 3 months in Perth, a month travelling across Indonesia, and then Melbourne since. [During COVID-19], the only travelling I’ve been doing is from my kitchen to my lounge. Before working for Ai English, I was a tradie. It’s a very different challenge. Now, I'm devising new procedures, whereas back then I got really good at sweeping the floor. There’s no smoko in this job, but all jokes aside it’s far more rewarding. A fun fact about me is when I was bartending at Sydney, I met Silver Chair’s Daniel James with no knowledge whatsoever of who he was. He did come across as a little strange but I liked his tattoos and picked out a few of his favourites and he told me some stories about them. Decent bloke. Four people pop into your class, who are they? Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Joe Rogan and Genghis Kahn

19.01.2022 The Ai English wellbeing team is hard at work. The next edition of the Ai-Solation blog is up. Read up on some our staff, some ideas on filling in spare time and a mouth-watering mac 'n' cheese croquettes recipe aienglish.com.au/ai-solation-blog/

17.01.2022 Take a look inside one of our classes. In this particular vocabulary lesson, see how our unique method engages students and allows them to achieve desired learning outcomes.

17.01.2022 HUMANS OF AI ENGLISH NIAMH MILLAR Hi, I’m Niamh Millar. I’m the recruitment manager and a presenter. I started at Ai English in March 2020. With my HR role, I love my team. We’re quite a small team in HR but we work very well together so that’s quite nice. I love giving people an opportunity. During the coronavirus (February to June) we employed about 195 people. It was great to give people that relief when they lost their jobs and came to work for us. With my presenting rol...e, it’s what makes me a good recruitment manager because I know what to look out for. A little about me? I’m from a very small island off the coast of Essex, England. I did a degree in sociology in Brighton, I graduated, I went to London and got a job in a women’s refuge. I was working in five refuges for a domestic violence charity and did that for a year and a half. I thought I hadn’t seen the rest of the world and that’s when I decided to take that travel instinct. I completed my TEFL, and then I got a job in Bangkok and I went just got on the plane. I did a lot of travelling. I did a lot of southeast Asia and then worked in Bangkok for six months. Honestly, I just picked somewhere on the map and said, ‘let’s just try it out’. I came to Australia because I wanted a change from Bangkok. I wanted to find a new country to explore. I have some family here and they recommended it, it was nice to already have a setup in Melbourne. I think this role is similar to my previous role in Bankgok in the sense of the teaching. The teaching is obviously similar and especially the style but the biggest difference would be the technology. In Bangkok, it was very much whiteboard and pen, whereas here we have an interactive whiteboard and it’s on camera. Working in HR I’ve learned a lot, I’m always developing on the job, which is cool. A fun fact about me is that I’ve been scuba diving in Indonesia. Four people pop into your class, who are they? My parents and my partner’s parents - as they are yet to meet each other!

16.01.2022 Congratulations to our Penguins of the Week!! Working remotely isn't easy but we're constantly reminded of how amazing and dedicated our staff are. These two have stayed on top of the ongoing training and have shown their commitment to being the best presenters possible!

16.01.2022 Learning new words through the big screen!

15.01.2022 At a shopping mall over the weekend, one of our presenters had the opportunity to engage with students through the big screen!

15.01.2022 In class games in a different perspective, would you like to attend a class with our presenters?

14.01.2022 We want to provide high-quality education for students that informs, engages and inspires. To do that, we need the best presenters to educate in a way that makes learning fun. Our presenters are simply fantastic and we love the work they do.

13.01.2022 Thank you to those that have shared their unique stories in our Humans of Ai English series. We love hearing about your backgrounds and interests. Looking forward to sharing more stories in the coming months

12.01.2022 Here's another insight into our online lessons! It is always so great to watch the children learn through the screen. Can you say GREEN GREEN?

09.01.2022 Last week our staff used the Qixi Festival (aka Chinese Valentine’s Day) as an opportunity to send their colleagues messages of support and appreciation! #qixifestival

07.01.2022 It's so great to meet all these students from different schools! Here's what classes now look like from their perspective!

03.01.2022 HUMANS OF Ai ENGLISH INDIA BROWNBILL Hi, my name is India Rose Brownbill. I started at the company in March 2020. What I like about Ai English is that everyone is so approachable and friendly. People are happy to take on fast-paced work that’s innovative and they’re happy to work in teams or individually. You never feel like you’re walking into a space where people are going to shoot you down. You can just walk in there and have your opinions, it’s really a cooperative atmos...phere. I’m from the UK originally from Manchester (I don’t like football). I like the music scene in Manchester, it’s the best thing about my city. Teaching TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) started nearly 10 years ago in 2011. I worked in France as a nanny. I didn’t know the language but I was looking after kids who were learning English as their second language. That threw me in the deep end. I wasn’t sure if I could do this but as I worked with the family I got to see that it was such a good experience to go to a different country see a different culture. I got to understand TEFL better and how to teach these kids that knew nothing. I started to realise that children are such fast learners. I came back from there [France] and then went all around the world. Then five years ago, I went to Italy where I worked as an assistant teacher at an international school. After Italy, I went to Hong Kong for two years, worked as a teacher in a tuition centre and got promoted to head teacher. The company was very similar to Ai English but without the technology. I learned a lot of skills there about feedback, training, marketing and onboarding, so got a great preparation for this job. Coming to Australia was such an easy move for me, I’ve been all over Europe, Asia and did university in the US. Two of my best friends from uni were from Melbourne so I always had in the back of my head that if I did make it to Australia, Melbourne would be the place that I’d go. A fun fact about me is that I have been to 42 countries. Four people pop into your class, who are they? Erin Brockovich, Jacinda Ardern, Kevin Bridges and Anne Frank --- India, we'd like to thank you for your outstanding contribution to Ai English. Even though we're saying "goodbye" for now, you'll always be part of the Ai English family. All the best

01.01.2022 HUMANS OF AI ENGLISH TRENT PAORA Hi, I’m Trent Paora and I’m a company trainer and presenter at Ai English. I think I started in March 2020 and what I like about the role is that it’s pretty varied. We’re trying to implement more systems to make training more effective and efficient across the board for all of our presenters. We also have initiatives to train our trainers so that everyone’s on the same page. ... I was born in Australia. I grew up in a place called Newcastle in New South Wales. I move to Melbourne it must’ve been 12 years ago now. I moved down to do some work then moved into studying. I studied at Monash [University] for four years and then I worked in non-profit doing marketing work. I then started doing more training, went into the private sector working in IT. I was doing marketing and IT then training and IT for quite a while. Before COVID happened, I was like ‘I’m done!’. I was a sales marketing manager in IT managed services, so outsourcing IT operations to a third-party provider. I left with no real plan, had a little break and then saw this role come up as a presenter. I thought it looked like heaps of fun so I applied and here we are. It’s similar and very different [my previous role to this one]. The types of things you’re trying to teach or train here is different to an IT space - everything’s processes. Here, the things we train people in are different. And then the presenter role I have never done anything like it before in my life. Presenting is something I’m super comfortable with doing. In front of large groups, however, they’re usually adults. That’s what I mean by different. The way you talk is different. Everything is different. I was talking to my uncle and said, ‘the big difference about this job and my last one is that they’re worlds apart’. A fun fact about me? It took me ages to figure out. It’s kind of like a party trick. I don’t know how it came up but in isolation and I was spelling a word and my partner said, ‘Man, you spelt that really quick!’. So she asked me to spell something else and I spelt it really quick, so I can spell really quick don’t test me. I was so impressed with that skill but now that I’ve had this conversation I’m not so sure. Four people pop into your class, who are they? Anthony Bourdain, Bear Grylls, that guy from Ugly Delicious and any talking animal