Our latest celebrity English teacher is one of my favorite musicians: Sheryl Crow.

I went to Sheryl Crow’s concert to write about it for our local newspaper, The Oregonian. It was an incredible performance. She had so much energy that all 6,000 people there were standing and many were singing. Read my review if you’d like to hear more about it.

Backstage, Sheryl agreed to do an interview for English, baby! I tried to explain it to her beforehand as best I could, but she looked a little surprised when I mentioned her teaching English once we started recording! She was a great English teacher though. She’s very mellow and down to Earth. She seems like such a nice person.

The video was a hit with our members. Many of them are big fans of Sheryl Crow. When I teased them with one of her lyrics on our facebook page, a lot of them guessed correctly which artist I was talking about. But I was surprised to see some comments on the English lesson from members who hadn’t heard of Sheryl Crow before. I guess there are some corners of the world she hasn’t rocked yet!

I was happy to see that some Sheryl Crow’s longtime fans here in the US were into the video too, even though they’re high level or native English speakers and don’t need the English tip. My/be Angels, a Sheryl Crow fan site that has been around for more than 14 years, added us to their video page. Probably the most unexpected place to pick up the video so far was this Argentine Rolling Stones fan site. They picked it up because Sheryl talks about playing with Keith Richards in the interview.

We’ve got more famous English teachers lined up so stay tuned!

If English, baby! were a country and English lessons made at the Olympics were medals, with 14 different English lessons from this year’s winter Olympics in Vancouver, we would be in 7th place in the medal count, right between Korea and China.

Among our gold medal victories, you could count the two lessons we created with gold medalist figure skaters Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue, who helped us teach “lift” and “head over heels.” The Willamette Week newspaper took note of these lessons. But China is completely head over heels for them. One of these got more than 60,000 views on 56.com in the first week, and the other was just posted on the learning homepage at china.org.cn!

Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue are Olympic legends. But we also had the pleasure of meeting some young athletes at their first games. Half pipe snowboarder Liu Jiayu taught our members what it means to ride “goofy” and along with her teammates Sun Zhifeng and Cai Xuetong, what it means to “drop in.” I’d say these count as gold medals as well if only because CCTV (Chinese state television) was there for the lessons as well and did a story about the athletes testing their English skills upon arriving in Canada.

Without a doubt, our funniest lesson of the Games was “cold as ice” which we filmed at the men’s luge competition. “Pass the torch” was also a standout because we got to interview someone who carried the Olympic torch. These must be worth silver.

So in the bronze category are all the lessons we created without the help of a competition or athlete, but on our own with the people we met in Vancouver. These Olympics were such an incredible party–the streets were always packed with people from all over the world. We met a lot of them in our lesson on “break the ice,” when we went shopping for ice skates in “cheapskate,” and when we raced them on the ice at Robson Square to illustrate what it means to “fly by.”

Our local NBC affiliate even did a story about our Olympic victories. It’s a great clip, and it was so cool to see our logo in the center of the NBC Olympic Zone!

Of course, there were times when we took some spills, had to smooth over problems, and got distracted with our heads in the clouds. But in the end, I succeeded in saving my friends, which was the goal all along! It’s cool that everyone from NBC to CCTV and EducationNews.org to our local paper took note!

And we can’t forget, that like any good Olympic team, we had a great sponsor. Thanks ETS! TOEFL – go anywhere from here.

2010 is still a few weeks away, but English, baby! has already got its first award of the year! Top Ten Reviews put together a list of the best ESL sites and we got the silver award. Yeah, I know, where was the gold? Well, you know what? Silver looks better with our orange and blue colors anyway. So there.

Seriously though, the review Wanda Richards wrote is the most in-depth analysis of the website put together by any journalist so far. She touched on every aspect of the site, from member submitted lessons to the chat room. It’s clear that she signed up for an account and spent some time–long enough to get our weekly newsletter which she wrote about too!

I especially love that Wanda came up with ways that English, baby! could be used by native speakers of English, such as finding pen pals overseas. But the best quote has to be this one:

English, baby! could be the poster child for social media integration for online English learning.

Thanks! That’s exactly what we strive to be. It’s nice to be understood.

When’s the last time you changed your look? Doesn’t it feel great to get a new haircut or wear some new clothes?

It’s been a while since English, baby! had a makeover or changed its appearance. But on Monday we launched a brand new site! We’re really proud of the way it looks. Like everything else, the Internet has trends and you have to stay up to date if you want to look cool.

But the changes aren’t just on the surface. We’ve introduced some new features for Super Members and made the site easier for everyone to use so you can focus on learning English and having fun.

You may have noticed that when you’re logged in to your account, your MyEbaby page is now merged with the homepage. This way if you’re checking out the lesson of the day you can also see if you have any new messages or friend requests at the same time.

Super Members now see a special Super Tool Bar at the top of the home page where you can download the full audio of the lesson of the day in one click, go straight to the Ask Ebaby! forum and keep track of the lessons and vocab you’ve saved to learn.

Have you ever logged on to Ebaby! and not quite known where to start? Well, now Super Members also have a My Exercises section on their home page which reminds you of cool stuff you can do like guess the definition of the next slang lesson or take an audio quiz.

Audio quiz? Say what? You asked for it and you got it. In order to help you improve your spoken English, we now have listening exercises for each of the thousands of lessons on the site!

Of course, you have to be a Super Member to take audio quizzes, and it is free to try it out. But all members are now enjoying notifications that let you know when someone comments on or likes your profile, blog, photos or lessons. And last but not least, you can now edit your profile right on your profile page so that you can look at the changes you’ve made more easily. So why not give your profile a makeover to match the site?

Let us know if you have any comments about the new site or notice anything that isn’t working quite right. We’re so glad you choose English, baby! as your place to have fun and learn English on the Web and we’re thrilled to bring you a better, more stylish version of it.

ENGLISH, BABY! BRINGS SCHOOLS INTO ITS SOCIAL NETWORK

Largest online ESL network now connects its more than one million students with English programs

Portland, O.R. – August 12, 2009

For the more than a billion people learning English around the world, to study abroad is the ultimate fantasy. And for those who do complete an English program in a foreign country, the experience is one to be proud of and recall frequently.

This summer, English, baby! (englishbaby.com), the world’s largest social network for people learning English, is launching new interactive school pages to make it easier than ever for students around the world to find an English program in the US and to keep in touch with their school after they graduate.

Versation, the parent company of English, baby!, built and manages the websites for the English school consortiums, American Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP) and University and College Intensive English Programs (UCIEP), each of which includes hundreds of programs all across the states.

“Our new school pages combine these great resources with the social networking features that keep our members coming back and keep our site growing,” says John Hayden, CEO and co-founder of English, baby!.

Ebaby! members can currently find any AAIEP or UCIEP program on English, baby!, and schools that register and pay $75 per month can customize their ad-free pages with text and photos, and can have “fans” among Ebaby! members who have attended the school or would like to. The “fans” are shown on the school’s page, virtually representing its community.

“It’s a great way for our members to stay connected with English programs in the US and experience the communities around those schools from their home countries,” says Hayden, who plans to offer school pages for programs outside the US by the end of the year.

About English, baby!

Founded in 2000, English, baby!, set out to teach English to the world in an innovative MTV-style manner, virtually immersing students in American culture and conversational English. Social networking features were introduced in 2006 and growth surged. Englishbaby.com is now the largest social network for English learners.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Jason Daniel – English, baby! Public Relations
Email: jason@versation.com
Tel: (888) 418-8021 x5#

The CBS-affiliate from Eugene, Oregon, which is where English, baby! CEO and co-founder John Hayden grew up and went to school, recently met with John at one of our client schools, Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, to talk about how Iranians have been using English, baby! to express themselves following the disputed election in their country last month.

The segment included information about other sites that have been used to disseminate information in Iran recently, so John spoke as an expert in social media in Iran and around the world. It’s a story we’ve heard a lot these weeks, but this one had an unusual and particularly positive spin, spending some time on “the Iran we don’t see,” with its long and rich history.

Enjoy the video. As I understand it, Chemeketa closed off a large and stately room for John and the reporter, Elissa Harrington, to talk.

Sites like twitter have a played a big role in helping protesters organize in Iran. But it’s hard to carry on a conversation and analyze the situation with so many urgent posts that pertain to people on the ground in Tehran in the #IranElection topic.

That’s where sites like English, baby! come in. Beth Arnold, a Paris-based writer I’ve been writing and twittering back and forth with about Ebaby! for a while, featured the conversation about Iran on Ebaby! in a piece for the Huffington Post. It focuses on how the Chinese–who don’t vote–are reacting to claims that the vote was stolen in Iran.

We’re honored that our site and our members are part of the discussion about the events in Iran on one of the first sites we look to for political news and commentary, and we couldn’t think of a better place to have our contribution go than Beth’s “Letter From Paris” column.

All last week, the world watched the news unfold about Iran’s election and the subsequent protests over the results. But with traditional reporters on lock down in hotel rooms, social media sites have become the main source on this story. With more than 10,000 of our one million members based in Iran, Ebaby! has seen several forums pop up complete with Iranian voices from all sides of the issue.

Kristian Foden-Vencil, a reporter for Oregon’s NPR affiliate, OPB, took interest in the increased political activity on our site and stopped by the office on Thursday for about an hour. He spoke with Ebaby! CEO John Hayden as well as our resident English teacher, Alexis Nelson, about how the site work helps people learn English and is home to some very unique dialog on Iran. The four-minute piece (which contains a clip from our latest episode of EXTREME English, baby!) aired several times yesterday.

To join the discussion about the Iranian election or see what our global user base has to say, take a look at the forum mentioned in the story as well this one, the longest one on the topic on our site. English, baby! is glad to provide a place where people from all countries can share their thoughts on the situation in Iran in a common language.

With both free and Super Memberships, user generated lessons and celebrity lessons, social networking and direct help from a live Ebaby! teacher, English, baby! does a lot of things for a lot of people.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been working with Ryan Fleming at Willamette Week, our hometown, Pulitzer Prize-winning newsweekly, on a story that hit the streets of the Portland area this week. Often when Ebaby! gets mentioned in the press, it’s for a specific thing we do (like when the LA Times featured one of our celebrity lessons). And that’s great! But Ryan did a wonderful job of exploring many aspects of our site.

The article features quotes from one of the members we met in Beijing and one of the most active teachers on our site, as well as an excursion into our archives of more than 3000 lessons. And the illustration by Jonathan Hill that accompanies the article is probably the best visual representation of the Ebaby! mission created to date. So head over to wweek.com and leave a comment!

Portland’s NBC affiliate, KGW, recently opened a Today Show-style studio in Pioneer Square, right in the center of town. Every night at 7 local news rock star Stephanie Stricklen broadcast’s live in a show called Studio on the Square, and since Ebaby! hit a million members, Ebaby! CEO John Hayden was one of her guests last week. Watch the video here.

It was really fun to see what goes on behind the scenes of a broadcast from the Studio on the Square. We were amazed that it took so few people to run the studio–only Stephanie and one crew member were on site! They communicated with people at other locations through headsets.

Since one of the main things John and Stephanie talked about was our celebrity English lessons, John decided to demonstrate the concept by asking Stephanie to give a lesson. She’s pregnant, so John had her define “bun in the oven” on the air! We’re going to make a full lesson out of it and post it on English, baby! so stay tuned.

Here’s a photo of John getting his microphone before the broadcast.

And here’s a view of the studio you don’t see on TV.