Itinerary of an English teacher in Taiwan
A computer science graduate hailing from Canada, Adam came to Taiwan in 2006 to teach English. In his free time, he developed an online Chinese learning website: Chinese Learn Online. Whilst teaching English when he first came to Taiwan, Adam was trying to learn Chinese on the side. Interested in language acquisition, most of the material available at the time for foreigners trying to learn Chinese was created by native Chinese speakers. Adam had a lot of ideas about how he’d teach Chinese differently. From there, Chinese Learn Online was born.
The vision precedes the success
Adam believes that timing plays a key role in success. In 2006, there were few competitors, and Chinese Learn Online was able to take a key foothold in the market. It was the same with the Chinese learning app he developed in 2008. At the time, there were few competitor apps.
Nowadays, Chinese Learn Online more-or-less runs itself. Hence, Adam is able to focus his time on other projects. One such project was developed whilst brushing up on his Chinese at Providence University in Taichung. Adam was commissioned by the University’s Chinese Language Education Center to build a site specifically designed for students learning Chinese at the University. More recently, Adam founded foodjing, a food start-up, also based in Taichung.
Get to know more about Adam
To learn more about Adam and his various projects, visit his website WinningStack. You’d also be well advised to listen to Adam’s interview on The Rise to the Top, Designing the Perfect Online Business: Insights From Chinese Learn Online’s Adarsh Menon.