Ringle offers real-time English tutoring

By Jung Da-min

Graduating from an exclusive university and working for an influential global consulting company did not mean he had good command of English, the co-founder of the English tutoring startup said.

"I was never confident with my English and avoided tasks requiring English skills," said Ringle co-founder Lee Seung-hoon, 37, who worked for the Boston Consulting Group for six years after graduating from Seoul National University.

To challenge himself, Lee quit the six-figure paying job and enrolled in the Master of Business Administration course at Stanford Graduate School in the U.S in 2014.

English, however, remains a big hurdle for young global leaders from all around the world. Lee began to wonder what had been the problem with his studying English for such a long time in Korea.

"It was not that I did not study English hard enough in Korea," Lee said. "There was a fundamental problem with the English education I received."

Most of the established English education courses in Korea are specialized for passing specific tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC).

There are speaking courses but speaking practice is often conducted among Korean students only. One-to-one English tutoring services are expensive and not customer-centered.

"Most of the native speaking tutors at schools or hagwon follow the stereotypical curriculum," Lee said. "Students cannot practice English discussion for current issues such as #Metoo movement or artificial intelligence-based autonomous cars."

After spending one semester at the Stanford Graduate School, Lee launched the English tutoring startup named Ringle, together with his fellow Korean student Lee Sung-pah.

The startup targets young Korean professionals and students who want to learn advanced English through one-to-one tutoring at a reasonable price.

It provides an online platform where users can get real-time video tutoring from Ivy League students.

Users can also ask the tutors to look at their resumes or professional writing with the interactive Google docs program being the teaching aid.

"These Ivy League students can be better tutors than those with the TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) degrees," Lee said. "They share the same concerns with young Koreans, like what they are going to do after graduation or what they think about social issues."

The platform can further serve as a place for debate between the young leaders who live in different countries, Lee added.

"English is one of the educational problems we want to solve,” Lee said. “In the long run, we want to connect global leaders through this platform where they can share their thoughts.”

One hour of tutoring with Ringle costs about 34,000 won ($30.8) to 55,000 won, depending on the package.