51Talk Attends the 2017 GET (Global Education Technology) Summit and Expo in Beijing

Jack Huang, founder and CEO of 51Talk, delivered a keynote speech at the K-12 education section about the landscape of K-12 online English education in China, and what 51Talk has been doing to stay ahead among the ferocious competition.

On this topic, Jack stated that "...the dazzling increase of the K-12 market has pushed China's online education market from era 1.0 to era 2.0".

His opinion is that in era 1.0, the business model of most online education companies can be characterized as scale-oriented, less profitable, and dependent on streaming technologies provided by a third party. Whereas in era 2.0, only the companies with a sustainable business model, upgraded service and self-developed technologies will survive and thrive.

In order to embrace era 2.0, 51Talk has made a series of efforts in curriculum R&D and integrating educational resources from online to offline.

As shown in financial reports of 2017 Q2, the cash revenue generated from K-12 business took up 71.9% of 51Talk's total cash revenue, which represented a 165.2% year-over-year growth. New demands emerge as the market snowballs. One-to-one individual lessons cannot be a one-for-all solution for all young learners, hence a small-sized group class mode in which one teacher teaches four students was launched by 51Talk over a year ago to test the water.

Jack explained that the group class developed by 51Talk is targeted towards young learners aging from 6 to 12 years old. The teachers, students, and lesson timing slots of the group class are fixed.

"The better cost performance of the products is essential to infiltrate second or third-tier cities. The price advantage and upgrade in user experience of our group class will enable us to enhance the product profitability", Jack said. 

As for the cooperation with offline educational institutions, Jack stated that 51Talk has collaborated with hundreds of training institutions and private schools. During the speech, Jack for the first time disclosed the "Dual Teacher Lesson", an online-to-offline lesson mode which combines the online video lessons provided by a foreign teacher and offline on-site teaching provided by a Chinese teacher.

"It has enabled a great number of schools in economically disadvantageous areas to have access to online educational resources. 51Talk's mission is to empower more kids with quality foreign teacher resources and systematic curriculum," Jack commented on this project.

In achieving this goal, 51Talk has appointed Michael Farley as Head of North American Operations recently, who served as the Founder and Superintendent of American International School of Utah ("AISU") and led the formation of a strategic partnership between 51Talk and AISU in October 2016.

"51Talk has developed an innovative strategy to address the growing need in second and third-tier cities in China, where they cannot get many quality native English speakers to teach the kids English. Now with 51Talk, kids in any part of the country can enjoy face-to-face online English courses." Michael shared his view on the role of 51Talk in connecting the educational resources abroad with the young learners in China.

Suffice to say, this Uber-style online education is reciprocal for China and the world. "In the U.S., there's a growing interest in China. There are many people who are either former teachers or current teachers, who want to work part-time at home to teach kids in China. 51Talk is one of the first companies to recruit teachers from America, and we position ourselves as the first choice for the prospective teachers."

About 51Talk:

51Talk, or China Online Education Group (NYSE: COE), is a leading online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The Company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. The company's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live one-on-one interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Company connects its students with a large pool of highly qualified foreign teachers that it assembled using a shared economy approach, and employs student and teacher feedback and data analytics to deliver a personalized learning experience to its students.

SOURCE 51Talk