Our Mission
To create accessible, enjoyable and practical English-language content that makes learning personal and fun.
Who We Are
We are game developers, business specialists and educators; coming together to develop a platform that focuses on human-to-human learning through a mix of active practice, passive study, and learning through play.
EnglishQuest developed from a shared vision that current language-learning apps have generalized the learning experience to the point that the enjoyment of learning a new language is no longer a top priority.
How We’re Changing the Educational Game
Learning should focus on overcoming Practical Challenges
Many English learning applications focus on rote memorization and repetition to teach users. Our belief is that learning should be a dynamic road of self-discovery and improvement by helping English learners conquer everyday conversations.
Learning should be fun and engaging
While other apps gamify the learning process, they don’t bring over the core gameplay that makes games fun to engage with. We want to combine learning and play in a seamless manner that makes players keep up with their studies because they genuinely enjoy learning again.
Learning should be targeted to the learner’s needs.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning a new language: everyone has their own unique comfort level and learning style. We’ve developed tools to help personalize your English Quest through speech assessment, interactive lessons, and an huge variety of learning content at your fingertips!
Our Team
EnglishQuest is the product of HitGrab Inc., a multi-national and multi-disciplined development studio based out of Toronto, Ontario. We bring decades of game development and data analytics to the table, alongside qualified educators to build our learning curriculums.
Jonathan Stanton-Humphreys
Founder & CEO
Jonathan joined HitGrab Game Labs in 2018 as VP Business Development, advancing into his current role as HitGrab CEO in 2019 with the goal of leveraging the company’s past successes while opening new opportunities and pushing the frontier of interactive digital media. Jonathan is experienced in identifying new business opportunities and developing and implementing growth strategies, with a skill for creating agile teams that deliver excellent results. Based on market experiences he conceptualized English Quest in late 2018 and officially launched it in early 2020, and has built an incredible team dedicated to changing the landscape of English education.
You Chang (Robert) Song
Project Manager
Robert has over 12 years of experience in game and software development, project management, and team leadership. Testament to his abilities is the Game of The Year award he received for the ground-breaking title ‘Tower Defence Lost Earth’. Robert is fully fluent in both Korean and Japanese, and has significant experience working in and releasing products into those markets.. As a product manager and Project Lead, Robert obsessed about building the best possible products for our customers, tailoring everything to meet the needs of specific end users resulting in positive customer experiences.
Sigrid Johnson
Specialist ESL Advisor
Sigrid Johnson has an MA in Education from OISE and a TESL Certificate from the Canadian Cooperation for Language and Cultural Studies. She has been teaching English as a Foreign Language since 1998 at various institutions including private schools, LINC schools, The University of Toronto, and Humber College. She has taught Adult ESL classes, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Academic Prep (EAP), and ESL classes for children and adults in Canada, the United States, and in Europe. A published writer, and a passionate advocate for exemplary ESL education, Sigrid lends her expertise to the EnglishQuest curriculum creation team.
Alexandra Nicholson
English Education
Alexandra joined the team in April 2020 to oversee the role of English Curriculum Design. Since then, she has worked steadfastly to create a curriculum that aligns with internationally recognized ESL institutions such as the TOEIC, TOEFL and CEFR. Alexandra taught English at the university level in China; she has leveraged this experience to bring a solid academic and real-life English focus to the project.
Paolo Ortega
Lead Developer
Paolo joined the team in mid 2020 as Lead Developer immediately bringing his more than 10 years of full-stack game development experience to bear.
Paolo has several years of lead developer experience handling large teams, and three years experience in teaching game development courses on C++ and mentored interns in his company, London Sports Game Studios.
Ryan Wook Song
Senior Developer
Ryan graduated with a Computer Science degree from the prestigious Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea in 2004. Ryan has a diverse range of experience within PC and mobile gaming, having worked within startups and AAA studio Nexon. His expertise is generalist/gameplay programming and he has been lead programmer on sizeable projects. He is an enthusiastic gamer and an expert programmer, constantly pushing to develop fresh, innovative, and fun experiences for players.
Joël Lavigne
Game Designer
Joël joined the team in early 2020 to drive all aspects of game design. A lifelong creative, Joël has been making games, writing, and playing music since his high school years. Joël’s passion for game development, keen mind, and strong work ethic lead him to deeply assisting with all facets of the project, from coding prototypes to creating the game’s audio; his expertise and impact is evident across the entire project.
Marvin
Art Director
Marvin is the team’s Lead Artist and Art Director. He is a versatile artist with a traditional 2D animation background and over ten years of experience in art production for multiple projects. His experience includes concept, background, and character art for video games, comic book illustrations for several clients and sculpting character models for multimedia productions. His art passion is character design and background development. As Art Director his obsessive focus is on producing a visually delightful product that is a perfect fit for each culture that interacts with it.
Kayleen Wu
UI/UX Specialist
Kayleen joined the team in 2020 as the resident UI/UX specialist. Her design focus is to simplify and enhance the entire user experience resulting in a cohesive learning journey. Kayleen comes from an advertising and design background, working as a marketing graphic designer in a cross-Canada English education institution. Her work successfully enhanced the school’s online image and helped students have a smoother transition to online studying.
Making a digital product experience valuable and enjoyable for users and delivering product content by innovative means have always been the objectives that motivate Kayleen as a UX/UI designer.
Vishaal Gupta
Product Manager
Vishaal joined the team as a product manager at the beginning of 2020. He has been central to ramping up the company’s analytics capabilities across the entire product lifecycle. His legal training in the art of dispassionate, logical, observation has enabled him to distinguish himself as a deeply proficient product manager.
Craig Orser
Marketing Manager