LAIX's English Course for Kids Go Live

SHANGHAI, April 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LAIX Inc., China's "Number One AI + Education Stock", announced today its English courses for kids -- "Kids Liulishuo", in response to the growing demand for English-learning resources for children. With LAIX's course offerings being one of the top choices for adult language learners in China, the Company has launched the new English courses for kids to continue in its commitment to providing "education for all, starting from English." 

LAIX launched its first phonics courses for children in early 2019, which garnered considerable popularity among hundreds of thousands of Chinese kids in its initial phase. After nearly one year of in-depth development and refining, the new program targets users aged 3-9 who wish to cultivate their core competencies in English listening, speaking, reading and writing. These courses designed for kids capitalize on LAIX's expertise in its proprietary AI teacher, allowing for AI customization by providing the appropriate content based on a learner's English proficiency. Such a personalized solution overcomes the inefficiencies of the traditional one-size-fits-all approach.

Tailored to the specific learning needs of children at different stages, LAIX has launched its Jump Start course for complete beginners aged 6-9, so as to ensure a smooth transition into primary school English. For young kids aged 3-6, an alternative beginner course designed for this pre-primary school demographic is also available. As learners make progress in their English learning, LAIX will continue to update and improve the entire course system.

Expertly crafted content delivered by state-of-the-art "AI-enabled foreign teachers" motivates learners

Thanks to the strength of its popular adult English programs, LAIX's "Kids Liulishuo" comes with high expectations. Designed with similar product development principles and fundamentals, the course draws on algorithms, data sets and AI capabilities that are currently available. In terms of content, an all-star team of developers, including a former director of ELT publishing at Oxford University Press, has worked closely to ensure the quality of the program.

"AI-enabled foreign teacher's class," the core part of the program, is based on a comprehensive study of children's motivations and characteristics in English learning, and is empowered by state-of-the-art AI technology. Video-taped mini-lessons are used to create an immersive one-on-one tutoring experience. Incorporating the characters and cartoon contexts from the phonics course, the core program provides kids with a virtual environment where they can explore and use their language skills in meaningful, interesting and multisensory contexts.

Aside from AI-enabled teaching, a special team is dedicated to the development and refining of course content. Although a single online class lasts for only 25 minutes, its content may have undergone multiple drafts and revisions. As a matter of fact, each and every word that was spoken by the foreign teachers have been carefully chosen for effective communication, and for stimulating kids' interest in learning. The team's extensive efforts are evident in every part of the course, from curriculum design, the range of contexts and stories chosen, to the high production values of every musical, animation, video and post-production element.

In addition, LAIX serves as an online platform where parents can oversee and keep up on their kids' progress.  

Online learning and AI-empowered assessment

LAIX's "Kids Liulishuo" provides a real-time, scientific, professional response to kids' pronunciation. Its proprietary speech recognition and scoring engine assesses learners' pronunciation and provides real-time personalized feedback at the sentence, word and phoneme levels, covering multiple areas: accuracy, fluency, integrity, elision, weak forms, and intonation. This makes English learning personalized and interesting. Previous reviews indicate that LAIX's scoring system is well-tailored to the needs of Chinese young learners, especially in areas of pronunciation, fluency, integrity, and prosody, exceeding the industry's other top technology providers.

AI technology makes personalized learning possible, and the online learning model provides unrestricted replay of classes for kids to learn English anywhere, any time. A fully immersive native language environment gives them a chance to speak English as native speakers do and to develop a better sense of the language. However, high efficiency does not necessarily translate to a high price. Compared with offline and other online teacher-led English classes, "Kids Liulishuo" is more cost-effective. Also, its subscription model provides an immersive English learning setting at minimal cost or effort from the parent.

Adult users account for approximately 60% of LAIX's active English Liulishuo app users, and strong brand recognition has successfully attracted users to the English-learning product for kids. As more adult users become parents, they will choose the app for their kids to learn English based on their trust in the brand and the positive, personalized experience they have benefitted from. With the AI + education capabilities that LAIX has established over the past eight years, the company's English learning products for both children and adults will benefit from a great synergy and work well in their respective areas.

Powered by the "AI + Education" approach, "Kids Liulishuo" is committed to helping more kids learn in a fun and effective way, and empowering everyone to achieve their full potential.

SOURCE LAIX Inc.