Taiwan entrepreneur plans to unite with Midwest teachers through new business
by Lindsay Hoeppner · November 19, 2009

Shin-Shin (Athena) Yeh is battling the national economic downturn head-on.

Yeh, a native of Taiwan, has created a unique business proposal that would unite certified teachers in the United States with Taiwanese students wanting to learn English.

Yeh doesn’t want the students and teachers to meet face-to-face, though.

Rather, she has plans to conduct learning via Skype, a downloadable software that allows users to make free voice calls over the internet.

“I want to set up programs for learners and teachers in a way that can save a lot of money,” Yeh said at the Rotary Club of West Liberty meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

And, Yeh wants her home office to be right here in the Midwest.

“I’ve been to LA, and I’ve been to Dallas, but I like the Midwest,” she said. “You have pure accents.”

By January 2010, Yeh has plans to open an office in Des Moines. In the meantime, she’s looking for certified teachers that could connect with at least one Taiwanese student before or after school via Skype. The teachers, which would be paid $15 an hour, would only be required to take on one English-learning student at a time.

“The economy is a problem, so I’m looking for more opportunities to gather income for teachers,” Yeh said. “At the same time, it would save the students money by learning English from quality teachers in the U.S. over the internet.”

Starting out as one-on-one learning, Yeh hopes by June or July, the classes can manifest into a group setting, where Taiwan students will travel to the United States and stay with host families.

“It would be like a summer camp,” Yeh said.

In Taiwan, Yeh said students generally start studying English in elementary school, depending on location, but learning the language from teachers in the United States would take it one step further, allowing the students greater opportunities and better jobs after graduation.

“It’s a common language that everybody in the world needs to speak,” Yeh said.