CC English: The Road to Launch

While 2020 was a year of upheaval, your continued support meant Intercambio could thrive – and come up with an entirely new way to build bridges across cultures.

Born out of the 2020 shift to online classes and launched in July 2021, CC English connects students and volunteer teachers from all over the country The Intercambio Way®. “It helps address imbalances in communities with many teachers but few learners, or communities with many learners but few teachers,” says Johnny Dejeas, CC English Manager at Intercambio.

Taking CC English from an idea to reality was a tall order. It couldn’t have been done without support from so many, including you, our donors.

In summer 2020, 30 student/teacher pairs from 20 different states volunteered to be part of the pilot program, which was a testing ground for the program’s feasibility and logistics. Their feedback was overwhelmingly positive and helped shape the program.

The CC English platform was built by Juan Pelaez, the Board Chair of Intercambio, and his tech company 3 Metas. Juan and his team took pilot participant and Intercambio staff feedback and built a new platform entirely from scratch.

Once the platform was ready for testing, Johnny and two interns, CU Boulder students Jennifer Carillo and Maria Martinez, got to work improving the experience. “We were given the opportunity to express our opinions and give constant feedback,” Maria says.

The CC English platform has everything a teacher and student pair needs for virtual classes in one place, including video chat, messaging, homework and assignment tracking, online resources. The classes are based on our Confidence and Connections curriculum, so it is focused and structured.

After launching to the public in July 2021, the CC English team’s priorities shifted from building the platform to supporting students and teachers. “The debut of the program was a thrilling experience,” Jennifer says. “We learned the platform inside and out to assist students and teachers when they needed it.”

Now, CC English is up and running, and growing by the day. If you are interested in learning more about CC English, visit CCEnglish.org.

This is one of the many awesome stories in our 2021 Gratitude Report! Read the whole report by clicking the button below.

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