Hi everyone! I'm Josh Bloom, and I'm from the United States. In my free time, my favorite thing to do is play lacrosse and go out with my friends.  I started learning Mandarin in 8th grade at The Haverford School. In 10th grade, I did a two week immersive exchange program where I lived with a family in Taiwan.  Through this experience, I learned you can learn a new language much better when speaking with friends.  That is where I met Oliver.  Oliver came back and lived with family outside of Philadelphia a few months later.  To stay in touch and keep helping to learn each others languages, we decided to come up with a free tutoring/communication platform.  We called it the East West Language Exchange—a free program where students can practice English and Mandarin together on zoom. We created this website to match American students up with Taiwanese students, where they can reach out to schedule free zoom sessions to just converse with other kids their age in other culture.  It is not just a chance to improve your language skills, but it helps kids network and learn about a completely different culture.  Whether you’re learning English or Mandarin, we’d love for you to join us. Sign up via calendly to get started—we can't wait to meet you!