Hello from San Francisco

[Comenius]

Hi Everyone,

I live in San Francisco currently. This is a really nice site. I took the GMAT recently and the GRE a number of years back. I wish I had found this site earlier!

Right now I work as an English teacher, mainly focusing on adults, although I have taughts kids too. I have a MA TESOL from New York University, where I also taught for a bit. Outside of the US, I've lived and worked in Prague, Taipei and Istanbul.

-David
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Learn English Online at Open English World

[Torsten]

Dear David, many thanks for giving us such positive feedback. We are glad to have you onboard. Maybe you can share some of your teaching experience with us? Also, when did you start openenglishworld.com? How long have you been using Skype to teach English? And what about SpeakEasy.net - have you tried their VoIP services too?
Talk to you soon,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Comenius]

Hi Torsten,

Thanks for stopping by our site as well! I've been involved in online ESL for about 10 years, but it's only recently that I think the technology has gotten to the point where live, online instruction is really feasible. Skype (and a number of other similar tools) are actually remarkably capable--very clear. When combined with some of the video and screen sharing technologies that are also available, there's a lot of potential. I think we're only beginning to scratch the surface!

Best,

-David
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Learn English Online at Open English World

[Torsten]

Hello David,

So you have a lot of experiences under your belt! 10 years in online ESL - that's amazing. I must admit that your website reflects your professional background, both technically and in terms of the content you have start providing on your forums. I'm sure that quite a number of 'our' users will be interested in your services and knowledge too so I suggest we continue our dialogue. There are number of things we could do together, just let us consider all the options step by step. Once again, thanks for joining our community and supporting our project.
Regards
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Comenius]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Torsten. I really look forward to learning more about your site, and how you've been able to build such a strong community.

Our forums are still a bit new, so I'm afraid people are a little anxious to be the first person to post. Hopefully some of that shyness will go away over time!

It's great to see so many people posting and sharing here, though. It gives me hope!
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Learn English Online at Open English World

[Torsten]

Hi David,

With Internet forums it's a bit like in the 'real world'. Imagine you go to a party where there are lot of people you don't know. Who wants to introduce themselves first? Especially if you have to speak in a language you are learning. What I'm saying is that the vast majority of people are afraid of speaking up, they prefer to follow other people's conversations from a safe distance. After all it's not so important how many people contribute to a discussion. What really count is what the contributors have to say..
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary