Community Spotlight: Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation
Community is so much more than just a space with a group of people. The real magic lies in the connection and transformation of members.
This spotlight dives into the behind the scenes of the Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation community, by Leyla Shams.
Since its inception in 2010, Leyla has expanded her popular podcast into a super engaged platform offering courses in conversational Persian, Persian poetry, and reading and writing. Her community has naturally transformed into something that goes way beyond language learning, providing a space for fellow Iranians to connect and grow together.
The community breakdown
📍 Community: Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation
👋 Founder: Leyla Shams
🗓️ Launched in: June 2022
🌟 Size: 8,048+
🎯 Purpose: To offer a space not just for learning the Persian language, but also for connecting with fellow Iranians
💰Pricing model: Memberships start at $20/month for individual courses and $30/month for all access
Core community offering
Leyla offers a 30-day free trial on all of their courses, giving content up front to build trust and buy-in!
Starting a course offers access to the wider community space, which includes:
- Access to Courses: Leyla offers 3 types of courses to help people learn the Persian language, all of which are linked to from the community space, (depending on what course package is purchased).
- Live Bootcamps: There are 4 live bootcamps per year, which help onboard users to the language courses.
- Group Discussion: Not only can members practice their Persian in group channels, but they can also connect over the Iranian culture, building an even deeper sense of community.
Beyond the courses and core offerings, a big reason Leyla started her business is to help build connections within the Iranian community. Launching her community on Circle really opened up more ways to facilitate this.
How it’s organized
Leyla structures her community into a few main buckets/areas, within each are individual channels!
- Welcome: Start Here, and Say Salām!
- Course Exercises/Discussion: Speak Persian, Read/Write Persian, and Persian Poetry.
- Chai and Conversation: Questions/Discussion, LIVE Schedule, and Chai Chat.
- Bootcamps: 2023 Fall Bootcamp, 2024 New Years Bootcamp, etc.
- Poetry Videos: A collection of Persian poetry videos.
This community is private and can only be accessed through a course subscription. If you want to learn more about Leyla’s business, explore her website here!
And if you’re curious about creating your own online community, or reshaping an existing one—give Circle’s 14-day free trial a whirl! You’ll also gain access to our own thriving community of community builders, where you can ask questions, learn about how others have built their communities, explore exclusive resources, attend live workshops, and so much more.
How it’s monetized
Leyla’s community is positioned as an add on to her paid courses.
The 3 language courses:
- Speak Persian Course: Teaches people to actually speak the Persian language the way Iranians do in conversation. The course includes 90+ audio lessons, printable lesson guides and transcript, and audio vocabulary lists.
- Read and Write Persian Course: Offers a completely unique method of learning to read and write in the Persian language. The course consists of 30+ fun and engaging video lessons, and includes printable lesson guides and transcripts.
- Persian Poetry: In Iranian culture, poetry is help in the utmost esteem. For this reason, they created a poetry course designed to teach people the language through classical and modern Persial poetry. The course consists of 40+ audio lessons, printable lesson guides and transcripts, and audio vocabulary lists.
Leyla has been able to build up an audience through her podcast, which in turn helps to drive listeners to her course offering. Her podcast started off as mainly free Persian lessons, and has since shifted more towards interviews, and poetry readings. It’s a great acquisition channel, particularly for an educational language business!
Listen to one of her podcast episodes below:
The community team
The Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation team is made up of 5 people, all covering key areas of the community:
- Content: Leyla handles all of the content creation
- Tech: Her 50/50 business partner handles the tech and tool setup
- Live classes: Her aunt—who has been a Persian instructor for years—runs the live classes (12 per week)
- Member engagement: One super student acts as a community liaison, supporting with check-ins and driving member engagement
- Lesson reviews: Another super student helps with lesson reviews on the self-serve community bootcamps
When Leyla talks about “super students” she’s referring to long-time community members who expressed interest in playing a role in the community, and ultimately being a part of her team. Now that’s the power of community!
Leyla’s top community building tips & tricks
💡 Develop unique tracks for different learning levels: Leyla implemented a unique course structure to cater to different learning levels in her community. She developed a bootcamp model with tracks for complete beginners and 'not so beginners,' allowing members at various stages of learning to participate effectively. This approach provides a tailored learning experience, accommodating the pace and level of each member.
💡 Create engaging and interactive assignments: To keep the learning process interactive and engaging, Leyla integrated assignments that learners could submit within the community platform. These assignments vary from recording spoken language tasks to writing exercises, encouraging active participation and enabling members to showcase their learning progress.
💡 Maintain continuity and engagement between bootcamps: Leyla addressed the challenge of keeping the community active between bootcamps by organizing the community space in a way that allows continuous learning and interaction. This setup ensures that members remain engaged and enthusiastic about learning, even when not participating in a structured bootcamp.
If you want to learn more about Leyla’s community, watch the full video
below!
