Chelsea Jeon ’16 and Ryan Jeon ’20 moved to Irvine, Calif., from Seongnam, South Korea, as adolescents. Despite performing well on English language exams growing up, the siblings found it frustrating to converse in English among their new American peers.
“We were only [able to convey] 30% of who we really [are],” Chelsea says. “It [hindered us from] getting the opportunities that we wanted.”
In 2021 they discovered a YouTube channel that taught English to non-native speakers. Many commenters on the videos were looking for conversation partners. That observation, along with their own personal experiences, inspired them to co-found Immigo, a peer-to-peer virtual learning platform that offers online classes and allows students to practice English language skills in a collaborative environment.
Each 50-minute class starts with a 15-minute live lesson led by a native speaker coach. Then students are assigned to conversation groups with classmates who speak different native languages, which encourages everyone to communicate only in English. Artificial intelligence embedded into the Immigo platform gives each student comprehensive feedback at the end of the session, telling them what they’ve improved upon from the previous class, pointing out frequent mistakes and offering alternative vocabulary for overused words Students can choose from a variety of subscription levels and be billed monthly or annually.
“To become fluent in [any language], frequent [practice] and exposure are the two most important things,” says Chelsea, who is CEO of Immigo. “[But] in traditional group classes, students [might only] get to speak for five minutes. We aim for each student to get [much more] speaking time in each [Immigo] class.” And with Immigo’s AI component, she adds, students can receive feedback even without the teacher present.
To date, Immigo has served more than 10,000 students from over 140 countries across the globe.
“No matter their background, every [Immigo user] shares the same goal, so they’re all super motivated and willing to help each other improve,” says Ryan, Immigo’s chief technology officer.
“Learning is an extremely vulnerable process. You need to feel safe in order to make mistakes over and over again,” says Chelsea. “Nine out of 10 students have reported feeling more confident about their English after taking classes with Immigo for just one month.” And after three months, she adds, students double their use of advanced words, as measured by the Common European Framework of Reference for Language, an international standard for language proficiency.
The Jeons have found it extremely rewarding to see the effects Immigo has had on students’ lives. Chelsea shares the story of an Immigo student from Russia who had been a dentist. “After immigrating to the U.S., [she discovered] her Russian dental degree was not recognized,” says Chelsea. “She started preparing for another dental school residency in the U.S. to continue her career but faced a language barrier, as the residencies all require English proficiency. Within six months of taking classes with Immigo, she passed her English proficiency test and was accepted into a residency. She is [now] on her way to becoming a dentist once again.”
The Jeons, who were featured on the 2024 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for education innovation, honed their entrepreneurial skills at Northwestern, where Chelsea studied business, economics and integrated marketing communications and Ryan joined EPIC, a student-run entrepreneurship club. He also joined The Garage, where he co-developed the rideshare app Fareshare with several other students. They’re both proud of their accomplishments with Immigo.
“English [proficiency] is one of the strongest tools that anyone can have because of the socioeconomic power it holds,” Chelsea says. “Thanks to technology, we’re able to [expand] access to English [language] education and … socioeconomic mobility.”
Reader Responses
No one has commented on this page yet.
Submit a Response