The Science of Reading | Toby Johnson

Walkabout Elevations Podcast · Apr 30, 2026 · 1h 9m

In this episode of the Walkabout Elevations Podcast, I sit down with Toby Johnson, Founder and Director of Education at USA English, whose work spans over 16 years building English learning systems across China and now Vietnam.But this conversation is about what actually happens when people try to learn.Toby spent over a decade in Beijing working inside one of the most competitive private education markets in the world. What he saw there (and what most people miss) is a fundamental gap in how reading is taught.We break down why so many students spend years studying English but never become…