Entrada ESL

Problem: Low-income immigrants working want to develop English language skills, but have restraints on time and resources. Moreover, new learners often hesitate to speak in new situations for fear of ridicule or embarrassment. Workplace communication and community integration suffer as a result and communities remain divided.

Solution: Entrada ESL developed a retention program for entry-level staff to learn English through employers, starting in the service industry. The tech-enabled program teaches employees English through interactive audio lessons on wearable curriculum, builds confidence and risk-taking abilities through an engagement program, and involves supervisors with tools to support the learning process. This combination increases retention at work and changes mindsets through positive relationships.

Impact: When scaled globally, our solution positively changes the lives of millions of immigrants and refugees limited by language. No matter the location, the ability to communicate can lead to greater economic opportunity, community engagement, and more compassionate societies.  

Society has become too comfortable not speaking to one another. In the U.S. alone, over 19.2 million adults speak limited English - nearly one in 10 people. When individuals have the ability to communicate in their surroundings, we create meaningful conversations that collectively shape our future. Research points to the importance of relationship-building in community development, workplaces, access to healthcare, and even schools between teachers and parents. 

Unfortunately, low-income immigrants have limited resources or time to learn English outside of family and work demands. Language requires building upon basic foundations and committing public errors. Adults are conditioned to remain silent in new situations for fear of embarrassment or public rebuke. These unspoken conversations often result in misunderstandings or missed opportunities for deeper connection with coworkers and community members. While steps are taken to create diverse workforces, society is greatly limited by language barriers and workers are precluded from professional growth. 

Society has largely accepted that “language is hard” and expects immigrants to work numerous jobs in hopes of providing a better future for their families. But, what if we enabled connection through communication? Translation technology is advancing, but will never eliminate the need for authentic interactions between neighbors and colleagues.

Entrada serves low-income immigrants working in the service industry who have limited English proficiency and want to develop their language skills. We’ve designed a program that integrates into their lifestyles. Imagine a housekeeper in a routine physical task, like making a bed, while also wearing, listening to, and talking back to our wearable curriculum and being supported through engagement tools.

To understand the needs of our population, we piloted the program and incorporated feedback from our learners early on. One past participant, a housekeeper and former workplace psychologist from Cuba, saw our potential and worked with Entrada to create our robust engagement program. Entrada effectively addresses the complete needs of immigrant learners with different backgrounds while also accounting for adjustments needed for an effective employer-sponsored program. We integrated both core principles into the service industry setting. The result? A guaranteed program completion rate of over 70% (industry average for self-guided programs is 15%). Graduates increase language skills, on average 134%.

Our solution addresses the needs of working immigrants by incorporating flexible learning into the workday, empowering them with the confidence to take risks and speak, and involving supervisors and coworkers for a safe learning environment. 

Currently, we empower underserved immigrants with English skills through an employer-sponsored program. Our product is a four-month workplace English program that employers purchase as a retention tool and benefit for their limited English proficient (LEP) employees. Entrada takes principles that make people “naturally gifted at learning languages” and teaches these skills to our learners at scale. This provides the highest quality program to those who lack access.

Employees work and learn simultaneously with support from their employer and colleagues. 

Our inclusive, accessible design is flexible for all learning styles, and our robust engagement program with its user-friendly technology supports the adult immigrant population, many of whom are also digital immigrants born before the widespread use of technology. Spanish is the predominant language spoken by both immigrant and U.S.-born LEP individuals and is the first of many languages that we will offer.

Level 1 English for Spanish Speakers includes three core components: wearable curriculum, a cohort-based engagement program, and supervisor tools. 

Wearable Curriculum 

• Interactive, scientifically developed, audio lessons on wearable hardware that clips directly to an employee’s uniform, allowing for maximum safety and productivity

• Manageable 10-minute lessons give flexibility in the learning process (three daily lessons)

• Proprietary audio challenges guide adults to build muscles required to formulate new sounds while building confidence to take risks in their new language

Engagement Program

• Learner cohorts to share resources, build community, and stay motivated

• On-site review sessions to contextualize language lessons and incorporate vocational vocabulary

• Learning journals with strategies on overcoming emotional and psychological barriers adults face in speaking a new language.

• Automated text support program for daily reminders, questions, and learning challenges 

  • Future iterations will incorporate AI and Machine Learning techniques to provide personalized support to all learners at scale. This will focus on pronunciation and basic literacy.

Supervisor Tools

• Updates for supervisors with advice and questions that align with learners’ progress. 

• Pre, mid and post-testing tracks progress of language skills and identifies learners to recommend for promotions

• Employee surveys to gauge confidence levels in speaking, engaging with supervisors and coworkers, and completing new tasks independently at work. 

Graduates become conversational in the past, present, and future tenses. Due to three years of R&D, Entrada guarantees a 70 percent completion rate--compared to a 15 percent industry average of language learning programs. 

Entrada provides employers with a report of program results that demonstrate how upskilling limited-English employees can transform lives, better workplaces, and impact the broader community. 

Entrada redefines the Future of Work by changing the business model for the service industry by providing an incentive for employers to invest in workers of all levels. Our benefit program brings learning to the workplace, focuses on the confidence to speak, and builds relationships among coworkers. This combination increases retention and directly impacts the service industry’s bottom line, so there is mutual incentive. (We do this with a new application of existing technology, and we are creating new technology to achieve maximum impact).

We are creating a pathway for employers to invest in limited English speakers, an underserved demographic of their staff. Research shows that relationship-building and communication are critical to a team or organization’s success, but language gaps prevent meaningful relationships from forming. Though tasks are becoming automated, the need for human contact and physical labor will never be eliminated. 

The service industry is currently built on treating entry-level workers as expendable and not providing the same investment or training that is standard in corporate headquarters. By providing a benefit designed for workers to succeed both in and out of the workplace, we create a paradigm shift for equality.

Our solution is innovative because it changes people’s views about what is possible: For learners, it instills confidence and opens doors to new opportunities. For employers, it changes how they see, interact with, and view the potential of limited English staff. Within communities, it changes how we engage with others and not just with the people who speak like us. 

We rely on technology to create a more compassionate, empowered future at scale. We use audio language software, a wearable mp3 player, and a customized text support system. These existing tools began as our MVP and remain core after extensive learner feedback. We reach people where they are, which includes limited digital literacy. Technology allows providing custom programs to employer sponsors from afar. 

Our core innovation lies in our flexible, integrated engagement program, which is supportive of learner psychology. Future iterations of the engagement program will use AI to provide custom support and personal feedback to each learner. This will include basic literacy through chatbots and pronunciation tools. As we recognize the most common errors and questions we will provide correction to keep momentum and progress high. These tools will also enable us to rapidly expand to different languages.
 
Because the crux of learning takes place while learners are occupied with mundane tasks, we utilize in-person instruction as a support tool and not as the primary learning tool. The in-person support is designed for the gig economy, with tools that are easy to understand and implement.
 
Technology delivers our audio lessons to working immigrants, without the need for teachers or significant time spent in the classroom. This same model will become an app to scale throughout Latin America, where the need for English is high but the quality and availability of English teachers is low. This will provide governments with a path for preparing citizens for 21st century collaboration. 

After our founder became fluent in a foreign language in her early 20s, she recognized that global language barriers were not a result of potential, but of opportunity. Immigrants and refugees are expected to integrate into their new countries with very little support, and rely on courses that are not designed for their education levels, styles, or busy lifestyles. 

Language skills are among the most critical needed to advance from entry-level work into management roles. Through initial pilot testing, we have seen graduates continue to become U.S. citizens, be promoted in their place of work, receive advanced certifications, and even become entrepreneurs in their local communities. All of these require basic mastery of the English language, and was made possible through our program. Increasing earning potential not only opens doors of economic possibility for the adults, but also changes the trajectory for their families. 

Through language, Entrada teaches cultural fluency and begins to bridge the digital divide. As learners become comfortable with our simple hardware, their comfort using new technology at work increases.

Our transformational learning program enables immigrant learners to see new possibilities not only for their children, but for themselves. Through confidence building tools, empowered graduates can learn not only during our program but to continue building upon the foundation that we lay. By teaching participants how to learn a language and overcome psychological barriers to speaking, we are creating a more compassionate future by increasing community interactions fueled by independence, dignity, and upward mobility. 

Learner numbers:

• Current: 120
• One year: 650
• Five years: 240,000

The mindsets we will change, including employers, colleagues, and community members, are uncountable. 

However, we already have stories of increased compassion. For example, we challenged our learners to ask for something simple in English. Giulia went to her regular supermarket and asked a grocer for bananas. He responded in Spanish, “You come here all the time! You know where they are,” and she smiled and told him in English, “Yes, but I am practicing my English. Please, where are the bananas?”

His entire outlook and disposition changed. Not only did he describe directions in English, but he walked and talked with Giulia, in English, throughout the rest of her time at the grocery store. 

While seemingly small, these interactions will continue to build compassion and expand mindsets in ways that we do not yet know how to quantify.

In five years, we envision a world moving rapidly toward eliminating basic language barriers and more recognizing of compassion and understanding for people who are different than ourselves.

Over the next year, we hope to better understand our product-market fit and to discover where our transformational product will make the most impact. During this year, we are also testing and building solutions that utilize AI and ML to continue providing personal support to millions of learners at one time. 

By revolutionizing the current business model in the service industry, we are working through decades of systemic decisions that measure value from entry level workers as exclusively tied to hourly output. This keeps myriad benefits of communication away from one item on a spreadsheet. A conversant staff increases morale, improves supervisor efficiency, improves workplace operations, and creates development opportunities. Common sense - and research! - shows that this combination leads to higher retention and a more functional, adaptable workforce. 

Learnings from the next year will bring us toward realizing our goal of being a primary tool used for assimilation and integration by immigrants and refugees around the world. Our confidence-building TalkBack® Method can be adapted for new languages and cultures. 

Physical entry level work around the world will continue to be done largely by immigrants who need to learn the language of their new country, and our delivery method and learning program leverages service industry challenges of retention and operations to create change at scale.

Market barriers: Demonstrating how access to language skills for low-income immigrants in the workplace, a group without a designated learning & development budget, can improve operations, increase retention, and transform lives outside of work.

The workers we serve are many layers away from the financial decision makers of large companies. Currently, they are evaluated on hourly output and workplace attendance, neither of which rely on language. 

The benefits that we provide include improved company culture, increased appreciation for managers, and more productive supervisors. As staff are able to resolve problems independently and communicate questions to supervisors, other staff are more able to focus on the roles they were hired to perform instead of translating or resolving language related issues. 

These clearly real benefits are currently seen as intangible, as they don’t track directly to the current budget line-item. Moreover, our biggest advocates and program champions remain far from the top decision makers, making it challenging to find influencers.

Technical barriers: Properly incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning so that learners receive customized support at scale is a challenge we are excited to tackle!

Cultural barriers: We've acquiesced to the idea that there is no solution to language barriers and take 'as is' as 'how it has to be' which is vastly different. We’re changing mindsets in communities, workforces, and homes. Entrada must also teach learners to interact in communities. Through increased conversations with speakers of other languages, we will break down barriers of racism and past assumptions. (Quite a tall order!)

For the first years of our company, we were focused on program design and consistent learner use. 

As we pivot to sales, we have uncovered - and are now resolving - additional layers of challenges that are built upon decades of misunderstandings. Here’s how:

Market barriers: We are establishing strategic partnerships with service industry employers, workforce development advocates, and unions. We are now exploring who will provide the most influential support to bring our program to scale. 

We are obtaining metrics on retention and other customer-centric benefits to demonstrate both tangible and intangible ROI. We are also evaluating strategic, influential partners to prove and track the benefit of investing in entry level workers. Our goal is to create robust case studies that will influence a movement. 

Technical barriers: We are consulting with experts in AI and ML for our product roadmap and are manually tracking data that will be put toward a future product build. We are researching universities that lead in Natural Language Processing to find interns and future hires.

Cultural barriers: Demonstrating, through our program, how language barriers can be eliminated and communities improved. Through case studies and partnering with local and national workforce development and immigration leaders, we will start a conversation around the behaviors and language barriers we’ve normalized. 

We are also filming video testimonials to bring our learner results, including citizenship and promotions, into the public eye so that our learners can share stories in English - reaching other communities where they are. 

4: two full-time and two part-time

Each Entrada team member brings his or her perspective on language learning and diversity to the conversation. 100 percent of the team has experience speaking and learning a language as an adult. 

Founder/CEO:
Erin Janklow has an MBA from Babson College and spent years at TripAdvisor working on product, brand, and responsible travel. Previously, she ran her own English business in Rome, Italy, where she developed Entrada’s TalkBack Method. She is a Halcyon Fellow (2.7% acceptance) and a Project Entrepreneur Grantee (0.7% acceptance). Entrada was listed as one of the Top 8 “Makers to Watch” in DC for 2019.

Business Development:
Aaron Catrett brings over 10 years of executive sales experience.. He has a keen analytical mind, provides valuable sales and marketing direction, and innovative strategic insight for program growth and diversification.

Operations:
Becky Holmes streamlines operations for Entrada, and brings a background in PR management and sales systems. She focuses on managing and growing client programs while keeping internal operations organized and timely. 

Program Manager:
Karely Duran has worked with for-profit and non-profit companies that focus on helping underrepresented residents in local communities. Karely is bilingual and draws upon her experience translating for her mother to guide learner engagement.  

Curriculum & Research: 
Abigail Bruhlmann is our curriculum lead and has a master’s in applied linguistics with a focus on second language adult learners. Geri Medina, a practiced researcher with Colombian roots, leads our research efforts by conducting our learner focus groups. 

We have support from key institutions for entrepreneurs, including the Halcyon Incubator for Social Enterprise and UBS through Project Entrepreneur. 

Through these networks, we receive valuable mentorship and a supportive community. We are working toward partnerships with the National Domestic Workers Alliance to expand opportunities for healthcare workers, and are in discussions with other language companies to expand our content and impact rapidly.

Our most influential groups of partners advise on strategy, test products, and discover new markets: 

• Halcyon: Washington D.C.-based nonprofit for social entrepreneurs committed to solving 21st century challenges in the U.S. and world 
• Encuentro: New Mexico-based nonprofit that supports Spanish-speaking immigrant communities with business and educational program 
• Young Americans Business Trust: A nonprofit international organization that works in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS), to promote social and economic development of young people around the world.

Entrada has a B2B model. We provide complete training packages directly to our customers, service industry employers. An employer pays a fee per learner (employee) for the 100-day program. Our pricing is affordable at $450 per learner, less than $5 per learner a day. 

This model allows us to reach the largest number of people in the fastest way possible. It also lets us reach numerous learners per account. Additionally, bringing English into the work environment in an integrated way, fulfilling requirements of both the employer and the employee, maximizes the positive effects of the program. We create an immersive environment wherein supervisors can assist their team in the learning process in an effective, low-touch way. The positive effects that come in the workplace and for the learner are numerous.

The learning package includes audio players and headphones, pre-loaded language software, workbooks, supervisor support tools, efficacy testing, and a dedicated program coordinator to lead review sessions. 

To scale the business, we will incorporate AI to provide personal attention to all learners. We will add advanced courses in management skills, negotiation, and customer service to further advance the abilities of our learners. As we grow we will add additional languages to add to reach a larger segment of the limited-English workforce, one day reaching refugees and immigrants around the world. 

At learner and supervisor request, we are exploring how to incorporate a subscription model rather than a one-time purchase in order to support learners for a longer period of time. 

Our anticipated entry market is hospitality, an industry with high turnover and ample guest/employee contact. We have pivoted to target hospitality management companies, and are seeking to establish relationships with HR and L&D directors to introduce Entrada and incorporate the cost into yearly budgets. Part of our hospitality strategy includes working with corporate hospitality brands to provide company-wide language training. 

In tandem, we are establishing partnerships with both national and local workforce development agencies and training partners to connect with advocates interested in assimilating and empowering adult immigrants in the workforce.

We project the following additional revenue opportunities:

• Public Partnerships: Partnering with city, state and federal governments to offer employer rebates for developing employee language skills. This would allow Entrada to expand into additional industries such as agriculture and transportation. Moreover, we will work with governments to provide language training for refugees.
• Language Partners: We plan to develop partnerships with other existing language programs for continued learning. Partners would pay Entrada a referral fee for new learners who have completed our initial program. 
• International Hospitality Markets: As we grow through hospitality channels in the U.S., there are opportunities to enter global hospitality markets, starting in Latin American and Caribbean countries, where countries have established national strategies to learn English. These countries have a growing tech scene and employees need English to interact with foreign companies.
• Audio Sponsorships: Our audio component could include sponsorships or advertising from select partners interested in supporting immigrants, workforce development, financial literacy, etc. 

A partnership with Solve would not only be immensely exciting, but it would also be strategically invaluable at this point of our company’s development and would undoubtedly enable us to create a more conversant and capable immigrant population. 

We believed that by unlocking challenges of consistent program use and acquiring compelling initial results, our product would be more widely used at this point. In our last round of pilots, we had buy-in from all levels of our partner organizations except for the top decision maker, often someone who has worked in the industry for years and anticipates language barriers as the status quo. Navigating the sales cycle and identifying strategic partners, and discussing updated potential strategies with experts and support will ensure that our ship is steered in the right direction.

The barriers are perplexing, and we are re-evaluating our strategy around strategic partnerships. 

We are excited to grow our network of global entrepreneurs and experts interested in creating more inclusive communities. Navigating challenges with a support system of compassionate change-makers is inspiring and necessary for collaboration. More inclusive communities and workplaces for underserved immigrants start with communication, and we believe Solve can help us start a broader conversation about immigration and assimilation. Through Solve’s global network, we would like to connect with business, academic, and nonprofit partners interested in furthering the economic opportunity for lower-income immigrants limited by language skills. Also, as we scale, access to Solve’s network would support the integration of AI and ML into our learning program.  

To scale, we would like to partner with the following types of organizations:

• Academic institutions researching immigrant and refugee assimilation and searching for solutions to address language barriers

• Nonprofits providing assistance in assimilation to refugees and immigrants

• Academic institutions leading to technology partnerships to guide and develop a strategic AI integration

• Labor unions interested in expanding access to language benefits to union service workers

• Public/Private partnerships interested in community development and workplace impact

• Business and leadership institutions studying the impact of communication, including language skills, on employee retention in the service industry 

• The Organization of American States to spread economic growth fueled by language through the Americas

• Non profit leaders, such as the National Domestic Workers Alliance, to bring our product to national scale with like minded organizations that focus on empowerment

Target companies:

• Marriott, Hilton, Disney

• Patagonia, Chobani, WeWork

The potential of AI, ML, and NLP is imperative to integrate into our success so that we are able to provide personalized instruction to learners at scale. Through chatbots, we can gently correct learner skills in real-time. This type of personalization is often delivered by our program coordinator, and is equivalent to texting a friend and receiving a response with the correct spelling and grammar. This allows mistakes to be corrected in nearly real time, and we teach learners to apply those skills then to their speaking abilities.

We will also incorporate text-to-speech and dictation so that learners can begin to read, recognize, and produce the words from the audio lessons and in their surroundings. Creating this base structure and teaching learners how to appropriately use the tools will go a long way into language efficacy.

Many learners first master speaking, as it gives a real window of opportunity into using the language. Once the basics are understood, writing helps to erase errors that would otherwise fossilize and remain in the learner’s vocabulary. While this is simple to do in classrooms, it is scalable with the incorporation of AI. While we know the possibilities and potential, we do not yet have a dedicated team member for the build. With additional support from SOLVE we would move faster in this area.

Our initial product focuses on conversation and confidence, and AI will help propel these tools into more advanced skills and a higher mastery of the language.

Immigration and assimilation is dire. Many organizations have a public interest in developing community members. With many potential opportunities and limited resources, we are excited by the potential the GM prize will offer and the impact we can make on communities around the country.

Entrada would utilize the GM Prize to distribute the product more widely and reach more citizens. The program in its current state has high costs and we have already proven strong results for a price. Our blended approach and long-term plan is affordable at scale, though before we reach scale we are paying market prices for many of our materials and tools. 

This grant would propel us to get the program in use, and would ensure that we could run a program at its maximum potential in order to demonstrate long-term results, leading to additional expansion through domestic and global networks. 

Support from SOLVE would open doors for partnerships and build credibility, which leads to incorporating all citizens in their community through language opportunities. 

Remaining funds would be used for customer research, and additional staffing. We would update our website and marketing to educate employers about the challenges immigrants face while learning a foreign language and assimilating into a new country with little resources. Additional customer research to understand the obstacles customers face in purchasing or dedicating budget to underserved immigrant employee will continue. Lastly, additional staffing would allow us to focus on future product developments and incorporating AI and ML into our product to scale. 

The majority of our learners to date are home health aides and housekeepers, skewing toward women of all ages. These women come from more gender-influenced households and often have husbands who learn English, keeping them in the shadows. However, these women run their households, care for their children, and are equal participants in the community. We open doors to increase earning potential and gain economic independence, leading to safer homes and more empowered women. With mastery of language, graduates model lifelong learning for their children, engage in community activities, and some have even started businesses with their newfound confidence.

Of course, the program works for men, too! However, empowering women with independence and confidence is at the crux of our mission. When women have language skills, they are able to be more equal partners in the household, not only for care but for economics.

As the #MeToo and Times Up movements continue to advance, there are finally conversations around worker rights and the dangers many of the women in our program face. With a voice, these women will be more empowered to report abuse or identify factors that may allow them to escape these scenarios before they escalate. 

Through language, these women will be promoted and will also have a stronger voice in their organizations. This long-term change will ensure that representation is equal in companies and in communities. Imagine the shift that comes when women are able to share their joy and wisdom with their colleagues and community members!

The Refugee Inclusion prize would allow us to test and expand in the Caribbean Islands, starting in places like Trinidad and Tobago with a large influx of Venezuelan refugees. The demographics of the island are shifting into a more bilingual need, as nearly ⅙ of the population now are Spanish speakers. We would use this prize to dedicate a team member to structuring a model for inclusion not only for Spanish speakers, but for English speakers as well to encourage cross cultural communication, and expand this model into the rest of the region and world. 

This is one example of the larger goal of creating more conversant and inclusive communities.

This prize would provide economic flexibility to partner with refugee organizations to create a path toward assimilation and integration into the U.S. Language is often seen as an intangible “soft skill” yet we know that it is the primary barrier toward inclusion. With conversant citizens, we can see more active voting, community participation, and understanding. 

We are actively exploring this model and approach. The prize would not only enable us to explore opportunities but would strategically position us for future global partnerships to enable refugees around the world to speak the language of their new home, feeling more welcomed and confident and more rapidly acquiring skills for economic independence. The grant would allow testing to identify necessary product adjustments to engage learners outside of the workplace and we are confident that our basic foundations are strong enough to support the pivot.  

Immigration and assimilation for immigrants is dire, and technology enables our innovative approach and the impact we can make on communities around the country.

Entrada would utilize the Morgridge Prize to distribute the product more widely and reach more citizens. The program in its current state has high costs and we have already proven strong results for a price. Our blended approach and long-term plan is affordable at scale, though before we reach scale we are paying market prices for many of our materials and tools. 

This grant would propel us to get the program in use, and would ensure that we could run a program at its maximum potential in order to demonstrate long-term results, leading to additional expansion through domestic and global networks. 

Our text program includes community assimilation tips ranging from voter registration information to explanations of holidays and complex cultural conversations.

Support from SOLVE would open doors for partnerships and build credibility, which leads to incorporating all citizens in their community through language opportunities. 

Remaining funds would be used for customer research, and additional staffing. We would update our website and marketing to educate employers about the challenges immigrants face while learning a foreign language and assimilating into a new country with little resources. Additional customer research to understand the obstacles customers face in purchasing or dedicating budget to underserved immigrant employee will continue. Lastly, additional staffing would allow us to focus on future product developments and incorporating AI and ML into our product to scale.