Search English

In Bangladesh, students in Bangla medium schools and Madrassa study English for twelve years. Still, most of these students are very weak in English. Every year, large number of students fails to clear secondary and higher secondary board exams. This weakness haunts them in higher studies and careers.  

Search English is a community-based learning platform.  At Search English, we encourage ordinary people to communicate in English thus enabling them to develop their English skill which they can employ in their studies and professions.

Though Bangladesh has made impressive strides one in ten of the country’s 44 million youth are unemployed. Our policy makers are now emphasizing on “Demographic Dividend.” In order to reap the benefits of this large young population, we have to make sure that they have proper skill sets necessary for better jobs. English is one such skill.

In Bangladesh, majority of the students study in Bengali medium schools and Madrassas. In these institutions they study English for 12 years. Still, most of them have poor English skill. They cannot read, write or speak in English. In 2018, many students failed in Mathematics and English in the Secondary School Certificate exam. In Dhaka board, the success rate in English came down to 91.18 percent from 95.46 percent 2017.

According to a recent study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), 38.6% of university graduates are unemployed in Bangladesh. One of the main reasons behind this unemployment is that they lack skills and knowledge employers look for in an employee. English is one such skill. Migrant workers, job-holders, students suffer a lot due to their poor English skills.

The main reason behind this poor performance is rote learning. Most of the students only focus on memorizing essays, translation and grammar rules. Their main focus is passing the exam. They do not learn how to communicate in English. So they cannot use the language. This weakness stays with them. They face serious problems when they go to study in universities, careers, or higher studies in abroad.

In schools and colleges, people mainly memorize English essays and grammars to pass class examination and board examinations. They never use English to communicate in their daily lives. Eventually, when they finish their university education and start their career, they find out that they have not learned anything. Out of fear of being ridiculed, they do not even dare use English. As a result, these people cannot advance in their careers and feel miserable.

Seeing this gap between teaching of English and real-life implications of English language, we designed this community-based solution where people practice any time they feel convenient and at their own pace.   

Search English’s target audience is people within 18 to 35 year age range. This age group account for majority of the job-holders and students of our country. They are well-educated and tech-savvy. They have smartphones and are active in Facebook. Observing this popularity Facebook in this age group, we opened Search English Facebook group.

In the group, they practice all the four skills- reading, writing, listening and speaking. By practicing English language, they develop a habit of communicating in English. 

Our product has four solutions-

• Facebook Group: The group contains more than 2.1 million members. This is open for all. People can join this group and practice English reading, writing, speaking and listening for free.  
• Website: Search English website contains reading materials. People can visit the website and read the reading materials to further improve their reading skills. 
• Webinars: We offer two webinars per week. Participants pay to attend these webinars.  

We focus on developing four language skills- Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. 

Reading:

To improve English reading skill, a person can join Search English group and read English posts and comments regularly. 

Writing: 

If a person wants to improve his writing, he can join Search English Facebook Group. He can read other members’ posts and write English comments and posts. For best results-  

• members must practice regularly.
• write at least 30 comments every day for one month.
• Write long posts.
• Do not worry about grammatical errors.

Speaking & Listening:

Members of Search English group make videos of their reading. They also speak on different topics in front of camera. 

They make videos with their smartphones and upload them in the group. Other members listen to their videos and write comments. This in turn also improves their listening capability.

In addition, selected Search English members participate in the online webinars and practice speaking with each other. 

Unique features:

To create a relaxing environment in the group, we implement few rules-

Members can write about any topic except- politics, religion, sexual or any controversial matter. Any such post is deleted immediately. 

Members are not allowed to correct grammatical mistakes in posts and comments. Members who try to correct others or point out mistakes in other members’ writings are removed from the group without further notice. They must read posts and write comments in the group every day. 

Members must behave politely and gently with fellow members. They must not derogatory comments or posts. Members who violate this rule are banned immediately from the group. 

For this reason, members, especially female members, feel very safe and relaxed while practicing English in this group. There are many female members who practice seriously in this group. 

Members do not have to buy expensive books or other study materials. We tell them to buy English text books read by students in public schools and colleges. 

Search English does not follow traditional method that involves memorizing grammar rules and unending practice drills. In this platform, member develop their English language skills by reading English posts, comments and reading materials from Search English website, writing English posts and comments, and uploading English speaking videos in the group.  

Search English addresses the biggest obstacle Bangladeshi people face when it comes to English language; fear and shyness. Many people are afraid to speak, read or write in English for fear of making mistakes and being ridiculed by their colleagues. At Search English Facebook Group, we encourage our members to read, write, and speak in English without worrying about making mistakes. 

Search English is dedicated to improving English skills that will serve you in real life such as job interviews, academic studies, careers etc. People who seriously practice English in our platform see major improvements within a short time. 

At Search English, we created a very safe and comfortable environment for every person. We have zero tolerance policy about abusing or attacking members, especially female members. For this reason, many females practice in our platform. 

Search English is an open platform. People of any age group, any professional background can join this platform for free and practice at their own pace. 

Last year, Bangladesh was ranked 63rd among 88 countries in the ‘English Proficiency Index.’ Among the South Asian nations, only Afghanistan has a lower ranking than Bangladesh in the index. Despite the fact that Bangladeshi students study English, along with Bengali, in schools for 12 years, this is the real condition of English language skill-level of Bangladesh. 

From the colonial time, English language teaching in this subcontinent was mainly based on Grammar Translation Method (GTM). Government of Bangladesh, reformed English language teaching system and introduced Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 1997. More than two decades have passed since then but the situation did not improve. Some of the challenges of CLT implementation are-

• Exam oriented educational system gives more emphasis on passing examinations than developing communicative skill. 
• Classroom sizes in schools are big which makes it difficult for teachers to implement CLT.
• CLT requires teachers to develop lots of materials and activities. 
• Acute shortage of quality English teachers especially in schools located in small towns and villages.  

Search English’s approach is firmly founded on the ideologies of CLT and it successfully addresses the shortcomings of Bangladesh’s English language education system. 

CLT’s main goal is to enable people to successfully communicate in English language. At Search English, we tell our members to practice English language as much as possible without worrying about mistakes.     

Search English is a small startup with limited manpower and resources. If we want to scale up further and bring more people to our platform we need consistent financial support. 

Currently, Search English is a Facebook-centric platform. This is our biggest weakness. We must not remain dependent on one single platform if we want to scale our business. 

For future growth, we have to develop our own website and mobile application. We need to develop more contents for our learners. In order to do so, we require skilled persons and financial support.

Secondly, Search English’s approach is very new and unique. We challenge the established ideas about English language skill development in our society. We do not give emphasis on grammar or passing examinations. Instead, we tell our members to read, write, speak and listen to English as much as possible without worrying about grammatical mistakes. ELT in Bangladesh gives huge emphasis on grammar. Students memorize grammar rules and do lots of translations and exercises. They strongly believe that without grammatical correctness it is impossible to become proficient in English. Many people do not feel comfortable with this approach. This is our biggest challenge and it will take a long time to change people’s attitude.

In the next one year, we shall further develop our website's reading portal section. This section will be open to all.

As mentioned earlier, in the next one year we shall continue to attract more people from rural parts of Bangladesh. Because they are the one's who will reap the real benefits from this platform.

In addition, we shall focus on migrant Bangladeshi workers who are working abroad. Already, many migrant Bangladeshi workers are practicing English in our platform. In the next one year, we shall work to attract at least 5000 migrant Bangladeshi workers.

In the next five years, our goals are-
To turn Search English into a fully functional web-based community discussion platform.

Develop a new grammar practice section within Search English portal.

Develop digital contents showcasing success stories of our members and recognize our outstanding members.

Introduce a new self-learning portal where members will be able to subscribe for further improvement.

Search English is a small startup with limited manpower and resources. If we want to scale up further and bring more people to our platform we need consistent financial support. 

Currently, Search English is a Facebook-centric platform. This is our biggest weakness. We must not remain dependent on one single platform if we want to scale our business. 

For future growth, we have to develop our own website and mobile application. We need to develop more contents for our learners. In order to do so, we require skilled persons and financial support.

Secondly, Search English’s approach is very new and unique. We challenge the established ideas about English language skill development in our society. We do not give emphasis on grammar or passing examinations. Instead, we tell our members to read, write, speak and listen to English as much as possible without worrying about grammatical mistakes. ELT in Bangladesh gives huge emphasis on grammar. Students memorize grammar rules and do lots of translations and exercises. They strongly believe that without grammatical correctness it is impossible to become proficient in English. Many people do not feel comfortable with this approach. This is our biggest challenge and it will take a long time to change people’s attitude.

To overcome our financial barrier, we are currently applying to various public and private organizations for grants. We already received grants from the Government of Bangladesh and Facebook. 

Last year, Search English had been selected by GP Accelerator, one of the leading startup incubation programs in Bangladesh. 

We are also applying for Venture Capital Funds. The fund will be used to increase our manpower, improve our website, develop various online English courses based on the needs of our customers. 

As soon as we raise another series of fund,  we shall start developing our own web-based application, train our team for further skill development. 

The cultural barrier is the biggest barrier we are facing at present. Most of the people think that learning grammar rule is the best way to become proficient in English. The best way to change people’s perception is to attract more people to our platform, let them try our approach and create as many success stories as possible.  

At present, we have 9 full-time employees, 2 part-time employees, and 3 contract employees.

Founder, Razib Ahmed did his M.A in English Language Teaching from The University of Dhaka. He has three years of teaching experience in some of the top-rated private universities in Bangladesh. 

He published more than 500 reports, interviews and features in more than 20 daily newspapers and magazines. He served at the Editorial Board of one of the top ICT magazines of Bangladesh. Since 2002, he has been writing in Internet. He worked for Know More Media Network, Blog Republic and Cosmofair Network. 

He also served as the Founding President of  e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB). The official trade association for e-Commerce companies in Bangladesh.  

Another Co-founder, S. M. Mehdi Hassan completed his M.A in Linguistics from North South University. He delivered keynote speeches in several workshops in reputed private universities. He also served as the Founding Executive Director at e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB).

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Rest of the team members holds graduate and post-graduate degrees from different disciplines. They started as volunteers in the early stage of Search English. Due to their extensive skill and experience with Search English we started onboarding them as our team members. 

At present, Search English does not any serious business partnership with any organization. 

However, we have affiliation with Startup Bangladesh, GP Accelerator, and Facebook. 

In May 2018, Search English, along with four other startups, had been selected in the 5th batch of GP Accelerator Program, a well-known business incubation program in Bangladesh. 

In August 2018, Search English had been selected by Startup Bangladesh iDEA Project, another well-known incubator program created by the Government of Bangladesh. 

 In November 2018, Facebook has selected Razib as a fellow for its “Community Leadership Program” for his group "Search English." Out of 6,000 applicants 115 candidates had been shortlisted which included Search English. 

• Search English group serves as our potential customer base.  
• Job-holders, migrant workers, business persons, university or school students and house wives join the group. 
• If they want to further develop their English skills then we direct them to our webinar service. We offer two webinars per week.

Step-1. Collecting leads with problem statement

Publish post in Search English Facebook Group asking members if they are facing problems in English reading and speaking. Interested members respond by filling up a general form.  

Step-2. Sending SMS to the leads informing them about our solution

Filterning through the leads, we select potential customers and SMS them. The message contains details of our solution and how they can avail themselves of it.    

Step-3. Make phone calls to potential leads 

Our sales team contacts the customers by phone asking them whether or not they would use our solution. 

Step-4. Customer Confirms the reservation

Interested customer completes their payments via Bkash.  

Step-5. Follow up the confirmed list with necessary steps to use the solution

Send SMS to confirmed customers informing them the date and time of the webinar and how they can join it. 

Step-6. Satisfied users return back and the process repeats from Step-4

If the customer is satisfied with the webinar and wants to join further webinar sessions, then he or she pays for the upcoming session. 

Search English’s approach is very unique in Bangladesh. Hence, we are not getting large number of customers. Hence, we divided our business development in two phases. 

Phase-1 

Time limit: 2019-2022.  

Goals:

• Reach break-even point. 
• Support our operation through a combination of grants, revenue earned from our products, and VC Funding (if we receive).
• Scale current revenue sources. 
  • Product:
    • Webinar  
  • Grant
  • VC Funding 
• Train people. 
• Pilot new products. 
  • Online course: Monthly subscription-based online courses. 
  • Content Monetization: Monetizing contents on Search English website and other social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube). 
  • Mobile Application: In app purchase/subscription.  

Phase-2

Time limit: 2023-2024.  

Goals: 

• Raise new series of funds for growth stage.
• Scale all the existing products/service.  
  • Webinar: 4x sales.   
  • Online course:  3x subscription.  
  • Content Monetization: Increase impression by 2x.  
  • Mobile Application: 4x subscribers.   
• Expand our team size. 
• Prepare for market expansion. 

Search English is trying an approach that is totally unique in Bangladesh. Hence, we need financial support as well as backings of different national and international organizations to popularize our concept. 

We are an impact focused organization. We believe that Tiger Challenge has connection to organizations that will understand and appreciate our vision. They will provide us the necessary financial support and various opportunities to further scale our business. 

We need to upskill our team members enabling them to run a bigger organization. We believe that the mentors of Tiger Challenge will help us to achieve this. 

We want to partner with the following types of organizations- 

• Universities: We want to start an online certification courses in association with universities. 
• British Council 
• The American Center Dhaka 
• Ministry of Education Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET)