The story behind two apps

O.G. — Original · Authentic · Old Glory

Years of 1:1 lessons taught me one thing: practice beats lectures.

I'm Dale — a TESOL-certified teacher who spent 7 years coaching English by the hour. That work taught me pronunciation doesn't improve in a weekly class. It improves through repetition and instant feedback. So I built OG Speak and OG Speak Kids to make that kind of practice available to anyone, anytime.

Try OG Speak Why self-learning works better
Illustrated portrait of Dale, the OG English teacher
Hi, I'm OG! 👋

Where this started

What years of one-on-one lessons sounded like.

★★★★★

"Dale is a good teacher. He listens to your needs, points your weaknesses and helps you evolve. We are having good debates and I'm enjoying classes while practicing."

R

Rajae

★★★★★

"Dale is a dedicated teacher. His careful attention to my pronunciation is particularly noteworthy... he goes the extra mile by recording videos for me to practice after class. My daughter said my pronunciation has improved after only 5 classes."

L

Linh

★★★★★

"I have had the pleasure of working with Dale as my English tutor for the past five weeks, and I am incredibly impressed with their teaching skills and dedication. His expertise, personalized approach, and dedication to student success make him an outstanding educator."

R

Ram

★★★★★

"Dale is the best teacher I have ever met if you want to improve your English and have the real American pronunciation — Dale is the number one."

C

Chris

★★★★★

"He is very excellent in teaching English pronunciation."

D

Donghyeon

★★★★★

"Dale is an excellent tutor. Following Dale's advice and you'll really improve your pronunciation. He helped me on my pronunciation and how to speak like a native speaker. Best teacher!"

A

Arthur

★★★★★

"He is best teacher."

P

Paniz

★★★★★

"Excellent tutor and person! He is open to every type of teaching, you will never get bored in a class with him. He also is helping me to prepare for my master's degree admission exams, TOEFL is one of them. I can highly recommend Dale!"

M

Martin

★★★★★

"Dale is exactly the person I was looking for. He gave me the perspective needed from an English native speaker to improve my pronunciation. With patience and dedication his classes were very enjoyable. He definitely loves teaching!"

D

Diego

★★★★★

"Dale is a great teacher who gives a lot of energy to every class. I appreciate his strict attitude — he wants to teach you, not just spend time with you. So far I've had 6 lessons with him and I can already see results!"

O

Ondřej

★★★★★

"Great tutor! It is always nice to talk with him and I do feel that my English skills are improving. His background in IT is very helpful so I can practice work conversations."

V

Victor

★★★★★

"Dale's classes are very engaging and motivating. I like it."

R

Ralf

★★★★★

"Dale is a very inspiring teacher with the ability to listen to your wishes and tailor lessons for your needs."

P

Petri

★★★★★

"Dale is a great tutor. He helped me on my pronunciation and how to speak like a native speaker. Best teacher ever."

I

Iris

★★★★★

"Anthony is a great teacher — he takes notes, lets you do the talk, corrects you, he teaches according to your goals and needs. Totally recommend him!"

K

Kartika

5.0 average across 16 reviews on Preply, where I taught for years before building these apps — swipe to see more →

Some students know me as Dale, others as Anthony — same teacher.

The story

Why I stopped selling hours and started building tools.

Illustrated portrait of Dale, the original OG English teacher

"I'm the original, authentic English teacher — I started teaching in a classroom in Ho Chi Minh City back in 2016."

Over the next few years, teaching across HCMC and Da Nang, I worked with hundreds of students face to face. Then I moved back to the U.S. and kept teaching — this time online, to students in 40+ countries.

Working online is where I started hearing the same story, over and over: "I learned pronunciation from a teacher back home who couldn't speak clearly either." These students had spent real time and real money and still weren't being understood. That stuck with me.

So since 2022, I've been working on turning everything I learned — in the classroom and online — into something affordable and effective: OG Speak, and OG Speak Kids for the youngest learners.

Why self-taught pronunciation actually works better

Here's what all those years actually taught me: pronunciation doesn't improve because someone explains a sound to you once a week. It improves because you say the word, hear how close you got, adjust, and say it again — dozens of times, on your own schedule, without anyone waiting their turn or judging your accent. A live lesson is still the best way to learn grammar, vocabulary, and how to hold a real conversation — but for pronunciation specifically, the classroom model was working against the thing that actually helps.

🔁

Repetition beats a once-a-week lesson for pronunciation

⚡

Instant feedback — hear your score the second you speak

🕐

Practice at 11pm or on a lunch break — no appointment needed

💸

A few dollars, not $35/hour, for unlimited practice

Dale, the OG English teacher OG, the mascot for OG Speak and OG Speak Kids

Passing the baton

Meet OG.

I can't be in the room for every student's practice session. So I built OG — same standards, same attention to the sounds that trip people up, just available the moment you want to practice instead of once a week.

For adults & teens

OG Speak

Hundreds of words, real pronunciation scoring, and mouth-shape videos for the sounds that trip up learners most.

Try OG Speak →

For young learners

OG Speak Kids

The same instant-feedback practice, rebuilt for kids — colorful, simple, and encouraging from their very first words.

Try OG Speak Kids →

Try it live

Practice your pronunciation right now.

Tap "Hear it" to listen, then tap the microphone and say the word out loud.

example

Works best in Chrome, with microphone access allowed. This try-listen-adjust-try-again loop is exactly what OG Speak is built around.

Practice hundreds more words on OG Speak →

This takes you to OG Speak (ogspeak.com), our dedicated pronunciation-practice app. Teaching a child their first words? Try OG Speak Kids.

The person behind OG English, OG Speak & OG Speak Kids

OG English — original, authentic American English, with a nod to Old Glory. Before teaching, I spent 25 years working in finance, tax, and technology — the exact world my business English students were trying to navigate. I know what a confusing client email looks like, what a tense budget meeting sounds like, and what it takes to sound clear and confident in both.

I hold a TESOL certificate and a bachelor's degree in business, and I've taught English for 7 years total: 4 years in the classroom in Vietnam, and 3 years teaching online to students in 40 different countries. Across hundreds of classroom students in Vietnam, the feedback I heard most often was that structured, patient correction — not just conversation practice — is what actually moved the needle on their English.

That same attention to specific sounds and specific mistakes — the stuff a good teacher listens for — is what I tried to build into OG Speak's feedback engine, so you don't need to book an hour with anyone to get it.

25

Years in finance, tax & technology

7

Years teaching English

40+

Countries represented among students

TESOL

Certified, plus a bachelor's in business

Questions or feedback?

Have a question about OG Speak or OG Speak Kids, spot a bug, or just want to say hi? Send a note and I'll get back to you.

hello@ogenglish.com

Z