Author: mlapworth

In support of parallel texts

Published on by mlapworth1 Comment

Plenty has been written about the benefits for motivated language learners of using parallel texts to help learn a language. (Do a quick google search and you’ll see.)

Much of what is written in support of parallel texts is along the following lines:

  • They allow users to access texts beyond their level.
    Readers can read an L2 text and have constant recourse to an L1 equivalent so that they can check that they are understanding what they are reading.
  • They allow users to directly compare the L1 and the L2, which helps promote ‘noticing’.
    The ability to compare the way vocab and structures are formed and combined in the L2 with reference to the L1 equivalent promotes this noticing of differences which may not happen if students only had access to the L2 text.

Parallel texts can indeed be a powerful tool, if used by motivated language learners who really are using the time with the texts to understand how the Continue reading “In support of parallel texts” →

“Activity mode” in TeachVid

Published on by mlapworth5 Comments

You may have already come across our blog post introducing “Learn mode” in TeachVid, in which we describe how TeachVid’s unique interactive player + captions + transcript / translation + various other tools combine to help students to engage with the video content even before they embark on any of the activities. (If not, here it is…)

Well, this blog post is all about “Activity mode”, which is arguably where the learning really begins…

Continue reading ““Activity mode” in TeachVid” →

Sharing links to resources & activities

Published on by mlapworthLeave a comment

Every TeachVid resource page has a share button (at the top-right of the resource image preview), which allows users to share a link to that particular resource page via Facebook or Twitter (as shown in the image above).

That’s fine if you only want to share a link to the resource page. But we thought it might be a nice idea to allow users to do a bit more than that…

Continue reading “Sharing links to resources & activities” →

YouTube Channel page on TeachVid

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We recently added a YouTube Channel feature on TeachVid.

If you open any resource page on TeachVid – this one, for example – and you scroll down to below the “Printables” and the “Transcript” section, you’ll see a YouTube Info section.

This section is automatically generated and shows:

  • the “about” information for the YouTube channel to which the video used for the resource belongs (as long as the “about” text is not blank / empty).
  • a Video URL, linking to the video on YouTube.
  • a “More from this channel” button.
  • a button to access the YouTube Channel on YouTube.

Continue reading “YouTube Channel page on TeachVid” →

All registered users can now create TeachVid resources

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It was previously the case that only those with Teacher subscriptions to TeachVid were able to create resources on TeachVid…

Not any more 🙂

All registered users can now create their own TeachVid resources!!

If you go to the resources section of TeachVid (you’ll need to register – FREE – or log in if you’ve already registered), you’ll see that you now have a “My resources” tab which looks something like the image below:

Continue reading “All registered users can now create TeachVid resources” →

Example classroom

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Classrooms on TeachVid are set up by teachers, and users normally need to be sent an invitation to join these classrooms along with a password.

But we’ve now added an example classroom that anyone can visit.

The example classroom allows you to see what a classroom looks like – and what assignments and Live Sessions look like – from a student’s perspective. (The only difference here is that none of the assignments have a due date, and the Live Sessions are auto-generated roughly every hour.)

Continue reading “Example classroom” →

GCSE Spanish Picture Description

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One of the simplest ways of creating YouTube video content that you can use with your students on TeachVid is to add a voice-over track to a still image.

Describing a picture is a common assessment method for language learners, so why not make simple video content based on a still image plus your own scripted description of the image content?

Try to include vocabulary and structures that would be useful in as many contexts as possible, and bear in mind that the content should be vocabulary and structures that you would ideally like your students to be able to produce.

Have a look at the examples below. (Click on the links in blue to open the resources.)

Before you look, however, let me quickly explain what you’re looking at…

Continue reading “GCSE Spanish Picture Description” →

“Learn mode” in TeachVid

Published on by mlapworth7 Comments

Every TeachVid resource has its own resource page, which includes things such as printable pdfs, the video transcript, information about the resource, information about the YouTube channel, a link to the video on YouTube, and, at the top of the page, an “Open resource” button which is how you Continue reading ““Learn mode” in TeachVid” →

Video times: create resources from cropped videos

Published on by mlapworthLeave a comment

We’ve added an extra (optional) step into the TeachVid resource creation process: “Video times”.

Even relatively short videos – just a couple of minutes long – can actually involve quite a lot of text if you are making a resource based on the video transcript.

One way of exploiting a longer video is to essentially split it up into smaller sections, Continue reading “Video times: create resources from cropped videos” →

Setting assignments

Published on by mlapworth4 Comments

For teachers, TeachVid classrooms are a place where they can assign activities and assessments for their students to complete. Any TeachVid user with a teacher subscription can create their own classrooms, add students, set assignments and assessments.

As a teacher subscriber on TeachVid, you will see a “Set Assignment” button at the top of the Assignments tab. Click this to Continue reading “Setting assignments” →