iCard English: Daily Micro Lessons to Perfect Your Spoken English

Within a month of its official launch, iCard English has garnered a total of 70,000 users. As its name suggests, this iPhone app is designed to aid Chinese users in the English learning process.

Prior to the launch of iCard English, founder and CEO Yuang Peng was recognised as an English learning expert, and was often asked questions about studying English by followers on his Sina Weibo account, where he now has 280,000 fans. He was asked how they should go about improving their spoken English, what sort of materials are available, and how to motivate themselves to continuously learn and improve. Thus, the idea of iCard English was born.

Yuan Peng shared with us that it took him about a year to plan and design the concept, before launching into the development stage with a team of six in April this year. He saw a proliferation in the mobile app market and decided to tap into it by offering their services through the iOS platform.

On a sleek and futuristic-looking interface, users are able to receive daily mini lessons across different categories such as ‘Phrase of the Day’, ‘Modern Slang’, and ‘American Accent Tips’. Each lesson is kept short and concise, and fits perfectly into a mini card. There is also an audio guide that helps users to correct their pronunciation, and the duration of each is kept to one minute. The app is all free for now, and there’s an optional free registration; by signing up, users are able to unlock more features such as keeping a favourite lesson card collection and tracking their learning progress.

This learning app does not make learning a boring and mundane experience, as they have thoughtfully included relevant and beautiful images. There is also a daily learning footprint menu where users can track words that they have learned, and in chronological order, to facilitate effective revision. It is a pretty useful app for busy Chinese users, and with the iCard English’s micro lessons, users only need to spare a few minutes of their day to practice their spoken English.

iCard English aims to reach one million users within a year of the app launch and has future plans to introduce customized learning cards which can be purchased within the app.

iCard English is currently available free only on the Apple iTunes store.