Insights:
- IMMERSE's warm community and gentle approach to immersion helps even the shyest learners lose their anxiety about speaking English and actually enjoy themselves
- Speaking skills develop naturally and without stress when the environment is supportive and not stressful
- IMMERSE VR English classes, conversation events, Ai-powered practice, and social learning games can all be accessed via Quest headset or desktop computer browser
We love hearing success stories from our users about how learning a language in IMMERSE has impacted their lives. English learner Claudia Roberge says that thanks to the authentic speaking skills she developed in IMMERSE, she was able to get the job of her dreams in customer service.
Why Claudia decided to learn English in IMMERSE
Claudia’s job required her to spend a lot of time on the road. When a health condition meant she could no longer continue, she hoped to transfer to a customer service position in the same company. It was the perfect job opportunity for her, but there was a catch - one of the requirements was the ability to speak English fluently.
At first, Claudia was discouraged. She had already tried learning English and while she had developed some reading and writing skills, speaking was simply too difficult. She needed to learn to speak English, and she needed to do it fast.
When Claudia saw an ad claiming IMMERSE gets learners speaking English 4x faster than other methods, she was skeptical. Then she saw that an IMMERSE subscription would give her unlimited access so she could take as many classes as she wanted, and she decided it was worth a try.
How Claudia’s English learning experience went in IMMERSE
Claudia was pretty anxious when she started. She was worried about her low English speaking skills and was afraid no one would understand her. She was also shy about speaking in front of others and scared she would embarrass herself by making a lot of mistakes.
Claudia eased herself into speaking by starting with AI Guided Conversations, a feature that lets IMMERSE learners hone their speaking skills through conversations with AI-powered conversation partners. The conversations were so realistic that at first Claudia wondered if she was really talking with an AI - she suspected there was a real person behind the conversation!
The Guided Conversations were fun, and soon Claudia was feeling confident enough for a live lesson.
When she took her first lesson, Claudia immediately realized she had worried for nothing. The teachers were positive and encouraging, and the in-class activities were really fun. Appearing in the form of an avatar alleviated her shyness because everyone was looking at her avatar instead of at her. And her classmates were wonderful, eager to meet her and learn together. The virtual scenes were so immersive that she genuinely felt like she was in the same space as them even though she knew they were hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away.
Claudia has since become an active member of the community, meeting up with other learners in IMMERSE’s community spaces to hang out and socialize in English. “There are really connections that are like those in real life, so it really helps me.”
She finds it so easy and natural to interact with people from around the world now that she’s developed a desire to travel.
“I’ve started to know a lot of people in a lot of places,” she says. “I will be more confident, less anxious, less stressed to be in another country where I don’t know anything. So IMMERSE is really opening doors.”
How IMMERSE helped Claudia get a job
After a month in IMMERSE, Claudia was fluent enough to land the customer service job. When her new boss called to offer the job, he mentioned how impressed the hiring team had been with the quality of her English.
Now, Claudia credits IMMERSE with helping her get her dream job. Not only did it provide the practice and instruction she needed, it also gave her the confidence to speak English fluently. Even if she doesn’t know a particular word, she just explains what she wants to say in a different way. “I’m not stressed anymore,” she says. “I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t know the word.’”
Curriculum Director Christina Cavage and Research Director Dr. Tricia Thrasher have compared the IMMERSE learning experience to the way that kids naturally learn English. Claudia thinks it’s a good comparison. “It’s really this experience that I’ve lived,” she agrees. “That’s why I didn’t have difficulty!”
What it’s like learning in virtual reality
Claudia says she appreciates the 40+ virtual scenes in IMMERSE. “I really wanted to be fluent, so I really wanted to experience everything.”
Taking classes in different scenes allowed Claudia to use English in a wide variety of situations. It also helped solidify the language skills she learned in her lessons. She says this type of contextualization helps make new concepts clear. “The fact that I can work with things like I would work with them in real life really changed my learning possibilities.”
