The Convo Method
Invented by our founder, Tysun Edison, the Convo Method is the first-known immersive-deductive teaching method supported by empirical evidence.
How the Convo Method developed
Like many great discoveries, the Convo Method came about because of necessity, specific circumstances, and a creative mind. While teaching in Japan, Tysun Edison found that students enrolled in traditional well-established language schools were not making significant or rapid progress. Students enrolled in famous ESL and eikaiwa were spending huge sums of money on English courses, but had little to show for their efforts and long-term investments.
Edison observed that students and instructors were often lured by the elite image and marketing campaigns of expensive boutique English schools. Questionable management and undefined teaching methods led to many school closures leaving students and teachers out in the cold. Schools that survived did so because they were the first to market in the 70s making it easy for them to maintain a presence even with mediocre service. For those schools it became all about image and bottom-line not value creation.
Tysun Edison's great grandfather Sir Sanford Fleming was the inventor of Standard Time that the world uses today and the chief architect of the Canadian Railroad. Being a former artificial intelligence engineer himself, Edison applied similar logic and reasoning used in building artificial brain models to learning strategies. Having no second language experience he was able to teach himself fluent Japanese in one year and advanced Mandarin Chinese and Korean in only 6 months. Edison applied his methods and strategies in his English classes and the students' progress and feedback was remarkable. Students learned more easily, remembered more quickly, and retained information longer than ever thought possible. Performance previously thought possible only by infants and very young children.
Out of a necessity for value creation and modern learning methods, a completely new and highly effective method of teaching was created.
The Convo Method today
The Convo Method is the most effective way to learn a language and is creating a paradigm shift in the eikaiwa world and gaining rapid adoption like never seen before. It uses a combination of traditional learning strategies with ideas borrowed from artificial intelligence research. The focus is on inferring language context.
The key elements of the method are:
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Immersive. Your instructor teaches and addresses you in your target language only. Language is presented in context of real-life situations with a focus on grammar and vocabulary.
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Deductive reasoning. The instructor provides an environment where the student can apply deductive reasoning to easily infer language context. First, there is a premise, then a second premise, and finally an inference.
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Goal orientated. Each lesson is task-based with specific learning goals. This allows you to put your new language to use in actual situations right away.
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Present, practice and perform. To help you absorb your new language, every lesson follows this structure. New content is presented by your instructor, you take part in both guided practice and general practice, and are then encouraged to perform what you have learnt.
How learning with Convo works
When you inquire about building your language skills and cultural understanding with Convo, you’ll follow a few steps to help us define your learning path to ensure you’re matched to the correct proficiency level and can quickly progress towards your goals.
We call this the Convo Learning Track, and it’s designed to act as a quality assurance tool for you as you work through your studies.
We’ll find out your situation, your specific goals, your proficiency level and what you want to achieve out of your language and culture program.
Here’s how it works:
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Getting to know your needs Once we understand your aims, we’ll clearly explain the training options that would suit you best and how they can help you achieve your language and cultural understanding goals.
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Orientation We’ll explain how it all works and help you get started. You’ll meet your language instructors, get to know your way around the learning center, receive your program materials, and learn about our platforms.
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Reviewing your progress We’ll check you’re on the right path to achieving your learning goals, successfully retaining what you learn and give you any extra learning support you need to embrace your new language and culture with confidence.
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Testing your achievements We’ll measure your understanding and skills so you can see how much you’ve progressed before moving to the next level.
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Certifying your achievements You’ll receive a certificate to celebrate your accomplishments!
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Progressing to the next level We’ll check you’re happy with your achievements and advance you to the next language proficiency level.
Find out more
Fill in the form below and we’ll contact you to discuss your learning options and answer any questions you may have.