Our mission is to make learning English as easy as possible: Sonam and Raminder Sandhu

As two Punjabis proud of their language and heritage, Sonam and Raminder Sandhu had a rude awakening growing up in an India that prioritizes the English language for professional and educational communication. For the first it was the relentless teasing she endured when trying to speak English in a professional situation for the first time and for the second it was her experience at a prestigious engineering school where her classmates were fluent in English and excelled in the course. taught in this language, when he languished behind everyone. These life situations prompted them to devote time to learning and mastering the English language – both for educational and communication purposes. Once they reached a certain level, they started teaching the language to others by simplifying it. This is how the successful digital English teaching brand IELTS Made Easy was born, which they run together. The duo join the Sunday Guardian to discuss their work and the fascinating strides they’ve taken in this field so far. Excerpts from an edited interview:
Q. Why did you decide to enter this profession?
A. Raminder Sandhu (RS): Sonam studied in an English-speaking school but could not speak the language when she entered the workforce with a job in corporate gifts. She had lost her father at the age of 11 and felt responsible for getting by professionally from an early age. Learning the English language was necessary to achieve this. In my case, I studied in a Punjabi middle school, so when I got admitted to an engineering school where all subjects were taught in English, I really struggled compared to my classmates from class. However, with the help of my friends, I managed to succeed and get a good job in the corporate sector, but I was falling behind my colleagues because I didn’t speak English as well as them. That’s when I decided to learn the language too.
Sonam Sandhu (SS): While learning it, we also understood how to teach the language in an easy way and so in 2018 we launched IELTS Made Easy. Initially, we worked on the same offline lesson model as many others, but it was very difficult for us, as it was very difficult to find good, high quality teachers. Most of the teachers we met had a score of 6 or 6.5 according to the IELTS scoring system, but the basic requirement for most students to pass the exam is to achieve a 7+ band. This has led to intense competition to attract good teachers to the coaching field. So we quickly went online and it made a huge difference to our business and catapulted us to the top.
Q. What is the specialty of your platform?
A.RS: As Sonam said above, we discontinued our offline model and moved to a digital format. This model allowed us to change our hiring policy and now we only take 8777 band teachers, which means they must all have at least an 8 in the IELTS listening module and three 7s in more. We are proud to say that we have the best teachers from all over India as well as international countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK and others. We currently have 25 teachers.
Q. How has your growth been so far?
A.SS: The growth has been phenomenal so far! Besides our first-mover advantage in the digital space of English language coaching, we are also one of the only companies to offer one-to-one tuition at an affordable price. Most of the other coaching institutes play the game en masse, so in one batch they cover all the modules. But they forget that each child has different abilities and different levels, and therefore should not be forced to study with others of different levels. Our private lessons are our specialty. We also host daily live classes on our YouTube channel for free – at 8 p.m. These aim to help students who cannot afford the tuition but have a desire to learn. They can ask questions in the chat so there is always a level of interaction between student and teacher.
Raminder is the one who came up with their company name, and I completely agree with his philosophy. We want to convey the message that learning the English language is very easy when done correctly.
Q. How do you access your courses?
A.RS: Apart from our hugely popular and free YouTube coaching videos, people can contact us through our website www.ieltsmadeeasy.com as well as Whatsapp on +917347081010. Our team is very responsive and gets back to the interested person very quickly.
I am also happy to announce our latest venture – we are now offering access to pre-recorded lessons at a one-time price of Rs 499. There are very few recorded lessons available in India and we are proud to offer it to our students. Not only will the low price help us reach as many students as possible, it will also encourage students to learn on their own at their own pace, as these recordings come with planned homework schedules and study materials. .
SS: I believe it is our progressive practices and student-centered outlook that have made us so popular. In fact, I’m proud to say that we have students from all over the country, and many even come from overseas, because the quality of our teachers, our accessibility, and our unwavering commitment to delivering the highest scores possible are unmatched. I just hope that we can continue on this path and continue to serve deserving candidates who are either taken on a ride by others or who simply do not have access to learning opportunities. If you are also one of these students, visit our website at www.ieltsmadeeasy.com to enroll in a course that suits your pace and requirements.

Noor Anand Chawla writes lifestyle articles for various publications and his blog www.nooranandchawla.com.