“At Gymglish, a course is first and foremost a universe.” Eloïse, Head of Pedagogy

Gymglish’s content team is made up of 9 people of 8 different nationalities, and creates both the content as well as the pedagogy behind our lessons.

Eloïse, Head of Pedagogy at Gymglish since 2012, manages and guides internal and external experts in the development of ambitious online courses.

To celebrate the launch of our brand new German and Spanish course Wunderbla and Hotel Borbollón, we interviewed her to know more about her role at Gymglish.

Hi Eloïse! Could you tell us a bit more about your professional background?

Before joining Gymglish, I worked as an editor at XO éditions and Michel Lafon (French publishing houses). My job was to track the progress of novels from A to Z. I worked alongside writers and I supported them in structuring their manuscripts. I was in charge of submitting their manuscripts for proofreading, I ensured that prototyping and printing ran smoothly, and I worked alongside the marketing and communication team to help them create selling points for the books.

A few years ago, I applied for a job at Gymglish; I was drawn to the company’s fun and engaging courses and since then, I’ve become Head of Pedagogy.

How would you define your role at Gymglish today?

In practical terms, I run a “factory” of content production. I make sure that our courses meet our quality standards and that they are delivered on time. I work with a team of writers and pedagogical experts.

I coordinate two types of projects: our language course and those developed by the Gymglish Studio (which cover social entrepreneurship, general knowledge, finance) created in collaboration with our partners (MySezame, Le Monde, Nouvelles Donnes, etc).

What are the steps to creating a Gymglish course?

At Gymglish, a course is first and foremost a universe. Nobody can learn a language without context. The stories we tell through our lessons have to be interesting and funny in order to foster user participation.

Once the script is approved, we give our characters life by hiring actors for our media content (audio recordings and videos). We then move on to pedagogical treatment by creating questions, pedagogical grains/elements and corrections. The cultural aspects of our lessons are also very important for us. We strive to include authentic cultural references in our lessons as well as in our “desserts” (extracts from films, series, songs and literature included at the end of each lesson) and linked to the story of the day.

The content team is also in charge of editing videos and drawing illustrations for our courses. It goes without saying that we work with a number of freelancers who help us see through this complex workflow.

In order to create a Gymglish course, embracing teamwork is a must!

That sounds like a lot of work! How would you describe a typical working day for the Gymglish content team?

I would say a typical working day involves a lot of brainstorming sessions. Needless to say that writing is an essential component for our team. We write our characters’ stories ourselves, and we create questions and corrections for all our lessons – it’s hard work! If a learner has just begun his or her Gymglish lessons, they will receive different content and original stories each day for roughly 5 years!

We also spend a lot of time in recording studios supporting and coaching actors and actresses who perform our characters’ voices.

What is the most challenging part of creating a Gymglish lesson?

A major challenge is to be as original and funny as possible so that our users never get bored! We want them to want to finish their lesson and to move on to the next one, even if that implies learning tough grammar rules! Making someone laugh while they learn and avoiding traditional and boring textbook approaches is key.

What skills are needed to join the content team?

You must have a sense of humor and above all, you must be creative. We value versatile profiles and people who wish to spread knowledge and make it accessible to all. Basically, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of our learners!

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