TEEI Language · A TEEI programme
The speaking half of a language.
Courses teach the words. Speaking them is a separate skill, and it only comes from practice with a real person. TEEI Language is the practice half of TEEI’s language offering: free one‑to‑one video conversations between learners and volunteers.
The platform
What a learner sees when she signs in: the next session, the goal, and the note from last time.
Learner home on language.theeducationalequalityinstitute.org, as the public tour shows it. The people are sample profiles. Take the tour
„Erzählen Sie mir von sich.“
Tell me about yourself.
Olena has a pharmacy degree and nine years behind a counter. Her licensing interview is in German. She can translate every word of this sentence. Saying it in the room is the harder half.
Olena is a composite drawn from programme records.
Why practice
Built around practice, on purpose.
Reflex
From translating to answering
In regular conversation, learners stop translating in their heads and start answering. That reflex only builds against a live listener.
Speed
From knowing to using
Study builds knowledge. Speaking builds the ability to use it at speed, under pressure, with a stranger.
Confidence
From one session to the next
Confidence compounds: every session makes the next one easier.
Practice is the engine. So we built the place to practise.
The programme
A volunteer, a video call, 30, 45 or 60 minutes.
A learner books a free video session with a volunteer who speaks the language they are learning. No curriculum, no grades: practice for the life the learner is about to live.
The materialA licensing interview. A landlord. The small talk at work.
It gives them an opportunity to speak to a native English speaker, and they practice their English and it builds their confidence.
English helped me at work... Before, for me, needs a translator. Now, I don't use it.
When you have been speaking with someone for a long period of time, it feels like your friend or maybe a family member.
Charmaine, Iryna, and Iryna are real, in their own words.
Teach + practise
Half of learning a language is a classroom.
The other half is a conversation.
The teaching half
Structured Language Courses
A teacher, a group and a programme: two or three classes a week for two or three months, with the materials and tasks in itslearning between them.
The practice half
TEEI Language
One volunteer, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, at an hour she books herself. No programme: the sentence she needs this week.
Monday and Wednesday she learns it.
Thursday she says it.
- Class with a teacher
- Tasks in itslearning
- Conversation with a volunteer
The platform
Built by TEEI, for exactly this.
Matching, booking, video, records: we built and run the platform ourselves, so the programme depends on nobody else’s product. This is one learner’s week on it.
Find
Pick the hour you are free.
The Times view shows every open hour this week in Olena’s own time zone, and how many volunteers are free at each. She filters by language, by topic, or by nothing at all.
The Times view: a week of open hours from 07:00 to 21:00, with how many volunteers are free at each hour in the learner’s own time zone, and her held session on Thursday at 19:00. Sample data.
Ask
Say what you need, to a person.
A request is a line to one volunteer: what she wants to practise, and when. The volunteer can accept, or answer with another time.
A request to one volunteer, Jonas: what the learner wants to practise and when, answered with another time, Thursday 19:00, and two buttons, accept or another time. Sample data.
Book
One ticket, two clocks.
30, 45 or 60 minutes, once or at a weekly time of her own choosing. The ticket shows the hour in both time zones, so nobody does the arithmetic.
The booking: Thursday 9 October at 19:00 with Jonas, shown in the learner’s time zone and in his, 45 minutes chosen of 30, 45 or 60, repeating every Thursday. Sample data.
Speak
The room is ours.
Video runs on TEEI’s own platform. Captions are on when both agree, and Olena keeps the transcript for herself. The sentence she came for gets said out loud.
The video room on the platform: two tiles, Jonas and Olena, the live caption of his question, and the control row for microphone, camera, captions, screen sharing, a raised hand and chat. Sample data.
Keep
Every session leaves a note.
After the call the volunteer writes what went well and what to bring next time. It waits on her home page until the next session is booked.
The volunteer’s note after the session: what went well and what to bring next time, with the date, the length and the next session. Sample data.
Groups
Six seats, one topic, one host.
Speaking Clubs are small groups on video, hosted by a volunteer, with six seats by default. Olena takes one when she wants other voices in the room.
A Speaking Club seat: the topic, the hour, the volunteer host, three of six seats taken, the learner’s own seat held. Sample data.
Between sessions
Practise the line before you say it.
The writing room, in English: Olena types her answer, the companion replies and marks what to fix. What she keeps goes on one shelf, and she brings it to her next session.
The writing room: the learner’s typed answer, the companion’s reply with one phrase marked to fix and a tip, and the line to write the next answer. Sample data.
Learners use the platform in English, Ukrainian, Norwegian or Polish. Names and times in the drawings are sample data.
The shape of the programme
More learners are waiting than the volunteer pool can carry.
Demand has never been the constraint; volunteers are.
For TEEI Language and TEEI Mentorship, the record includes completed sessions and conversation hours, with measurement dates alongside the figures. The methodology explains what is counted and how.
GETlanguage.theeducationalequalityinstitute.org
The endpoint did not answer just now. Open the endpoint to read the record directly.
Credentials
Every completed conversation counts toward a Language credential.
Completed sessions · log scale
A credential recognises participation; it is not a course certificate. Volunteers have a ladder of their own.
Each step comes with a title for LinkedIn, a printable hours statement and a public page anyone can check by its code.
Languages
Pick the language you need to speak.
The platform lists 71 languages, each with its own name beside the English one. You name yours when you sign up, then choose among the volunteers who offer it.
Seven have their own practice pages.
A volunteer card: Miguel in Valencia, his line to learners, the languages he speaks with the level of each and the one he offers, and the button to ask him for a session. Sample data.
You came for English. Miguel offers it, beside the Spanish he grew up with.
- EnglishEnglish practiceOne to one with volunteers, for work and daily life.
- DeutschGerman practiceEveryday life, the Integrationskurs and the DACH job market.
- EspañolSpanish practiceWork, hospitality and getting things done in Spain.
- FrançaisFrench practicePaperwork, interviews and conversation in France.
- ItalianoItalian practiceOffices, work and daily life in Italy.
- PolskiPolish practiceSchool, offices and everyday life in Poland.
Where it sits
One stage of a longer path.
- ConnectionBuddy ProgrammeA peer and a place to belong.
- Language · hereTEEI Language + Structured CoursesThe practice half and the teaching half.
- SkillsSkills AcademySelf-paced courses, live learning and professional experience.
- WorkTEEI MentorshipA mentor in the learner’s own field.
The same platform
TEEI Mentorship and Skills Academy run on it too, each its own programme.
TEEI Mentorship connects participants with volunteer professionals for practical career guidance. Conversations can focus on a CV, an upcoming interview, a job search, a career change or development within a particular field.
The same booking, the same room, the same notes, in the vertical’s own green.
Open times
Mentors with open times, in her own clock.
A mentee browses approved mentors by expertise and picks an open time of 30, 45 or 60 minutes. Some times confirm instantly; for the rest she sends a request with a short note.
The Times view under Browse mentors in TEEI Mentorship: a week of the mentors’ open hours from 07:00 to 21:00, filtered to one area of expertise, with how many mentors are free at each hour in the mentee’s own time zone, and her held session on Tuesday at 17:30. Sample data.
Mentor
A professional in the same field.
Mentors apply with a confirmed LinkedIn account and are approved by TEEI before they are listed. The platform counts their sessions; the badge says approved, nothing more.
A mentor card: Moira, a hospital pharmacist in Edinburgh, approved by TEEI, her sessions counted by the platform, what she talks about, her languages, and the button to ask her for a session. Sample data.
Goal
Say what the session is for.
A mentee picks one of six goals, then writes the line that matters: the role, the field, the country. The mentor reads it before the call.
The session goal: six choices, with Practise an interview chosen, and the mentee’s own line about the role, the field and the country. Sample data.
Session
The same ticket, 45 minutes.
A mentee books 30, 45 or 60 minutes, once or weekly. After the call, the mentor’s note carries the homework: the CV line to rewrite, the answer to rehearse.
The same booking ticket for mentoring: Tuesday 14 October at 17:30 with Moira, in both time zones, 45 minutes, every Tuesday. Sample data.
The mentor’s note after the session, with the homework: the answer to rehearse and the CV line to rewrite. Sample data.
Mentor levels
Eight steps, counted by the platform.
Each level comes with a title a mentor can add to LinkedIn from the certification page. Moira is at ten.
Its own programme
Skills Academy, on the same account.
Workshops, clinics, expert Q&A, webinars and classes led by professionals. A class runs two to six sessions with the same group, and ends in a certificate issued by TEEI.
Self-paced courses through DataCamp and Google Career Certificates on Coursera, requested from the same account.
Coming up in My Academy, the Skills Academy view on the same account: a class on Monday 13 October with the learner’s place confirmed, a workshop invitation waiting for Wednesday, and a clinic on Thursday with three of eight places left. Sample data.
Built by TEEI. Run by volunteers. Free for every learner.
A sample company’s Evenhall record: six volunteers at Nordheim AS held 14 conversations between 1 April and 30 June 2026; on the record, 14 completed sessions, 8.30 measured volunteer hours and 9 learners supported, measured on the platform TEEI runs. Sample data.
A company’s Evenhall: its people’s hours here, on the record. Sample data.What Evenhall is →