The e-learning market has experienced significant gains over the past 20 years. But nothing compares to the online explosion that occurred in 2020 after the coronavirus outbreak. According to one survey, over 1 billion children across the world moved towards online learning from the traditional classroom setup. This only goes to show the huge and growing market of online schools. 

We’ve put together the following article to shed light on five of the main factors worth considering before starting an online school.

Accreditation is the process an educational institution is evaluated using a set of standards to ensure that it provides quality education. There are many reasons why accreditation matters. 

Accreditation also serves as a way to protect students as the main consumers. Accrediting agencies provide oversight and hold institutions accountable for maintaining high-quality standards. All these measures ensure that a school offers valuable education with the resources to do so. 

So, if you’re thinking about starting an online school, it’s essential to go through a reputable agency that will accredit your school. 

Operating an online school brings with it several legal and regulatory compliance obligations. Failure to comply with them can lead to severe consequences, including fines and legal action. For this reason, it would be best to have a solid understanding of compliance laws before starting your school.

This information must be protected in accordance with laws based in your region. Your online school must have appropriate security measures to ensure data protection and privacy. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there; there are many other laws and regulations that your online school must comply with. 

Technology will play a massive role in the success of your online school. Without the right tools and solutions, it can be challenging for students and teachers to communicate. It also makes acquiring and distributing learning materials incredibly difficult. 

Online security also comes into the picture when starting an online school. It’s wise to consider the security of your students’ and teachers’ online activities. This means that you should seek technological solutions that deliver safety and security. Remember, online schools also face a multitude of threats from cyber criminals.

One way to improve the security of your online school is by investing in a good VPN. Investing in a VPN for your online school safeguards your school’s confidential information and your students’ and teachers’ personal data. 

It’s important to be on high alert when working with sensitive information like personal identification numbers and financial data. Fortunately, you can find affordable VPNs that help safeguard such sensitive data, especially when your teachers and students are browsing online. This effectively enhances your school’s online security. 

What is your educational philosophy? What kind of students are you targeting, and how many do you expect to enroll? You must ask yourself such questions as they are vitally important, especially from a technical standpoint. 

Not only that, but you’ll need to determine how you will measure success for your online school. Student success is a key factor for the school’s future sustainability. This can include graduation rates, test scores, and student satisfaction.

This process can be incredibly time-consuming. For this reason, we recommend seeking the help of experienced educators or curriculum developers.

Recruiting and retaining students can be more challenging for online schools than for traditional “in-person” schools. This means that you’ll need to market the school to potential students. Also, you will need to provide support services to help students succeed in an online learning environment.

One strategy that you could use when starting an online school is to focus on building a strong brand. This can include developing a clear value proposition for your school, creating a visually compelling logo and website, and establishing a consistent tone and message across all of your marketing channels.

You should also consider utilizing influencer marketing by reaching out to individuals who have a significant following in your niche and have them share their experiences and promote your school.

The points in the article above give you a rough idea of some of the most important factors to think about before starting an online school.

All in all, remember to take your time and research to become fully prepared for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Learning is not just for your students. 

It is a lifelong journey for everyone. Landing the dream job is a huge deal, but the challenges won’t stop coming at us, will they? It’s great to put into good use what you’ve learned so far – but never forget to improve yourself and have a plan for the future.

I suggest creating a little study calendar for yourself. List the things you want to improve at first. For example, if you teach adults but plan to work with children in the future, think about the courses that can help you learn the most about educating that age group. This can even mean a psychology course—think outside the box. 

If you haven’t already finished an English teaching course, you have plenty of options. It’s not all about the paper. You improve your teaching skills by learning from experienced educators who have been in your shoes one day. 

CELTA is a certificate to teach English as a second language to adults, however, the course does include the topic of teaching younger learners, so if your goal is to teach children, it could be a great option.

CELTA from Cambridge is a widely recognized English teaching qualification in the world and the most often requested by employers. It focuses on developing practical techniques and includes face-to-face or online teaching practice. It’s a tough ride, but one definitely worth taking.

TEFL courses (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)  can be used anywhere in the world to teach English to non-English speakers. The great thing about TEFL is that all you need to get qualified is a native-level ability of English!

TESOL courses (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) are very similar to TEFL courses, and the acronyms are frequently used to mean the same thing. TEFL is the acronym used primarily in the UK but TESOL is more often used in Australia or the USA. 

Music, drawings, even dancing – learning styles differ a lot and all students answer to different techniques.

Lesson planning can be a long process – but you will see that it’s worth mastering the art of it. The perfect lesson plan ensures that you’re prepared for any challenge and unexpected issues that may arise when giving your classes. What you spend hours on at the beginning will soon become automatic, as the system that you use to build your lessons quite literally becomes a mindset.

Let me share with you my favorite lesson plan structure for teaching English as a second language: 

You will need the following:

Technology just cannot be overlooked – the world is changing and so is education. As conventional educational materials are still essential, new methods and tools are proving to be more effective with the new generation of readers and generation Z learners especially.

Digital tools can help you in different ways:

We tend to overlook the importance of effective time management. Administrating, evaluating, grading tasks and keeping up with homework for all your groups and students seems like a small part of your job, but it can consume more time and energy than we realize.

There are amazing tools on the market with the main feature as being admin platforms, or as part of another tool. 

Learners today need a lot more to engage all their senses than before. This digital generation is used to sound effects, animation and even interactivity when learning – so why not find a tool that was made especially for their need.

If you’re struggling with keeping their attention, it’s not you, it’s just that education and learning styles have changed due to technological developments.

Learning a language is most effective using authentic context. And while we cannot take our students to live in English speaking countries yet, we can bring the native context to the classroom. Native narration, stories, songs and rhymes, all of these are important and can be found in educational apps nowadays.

BOOKR Class is a great example that combines all these advantages in one application.

Once you start teaching, you will want to keep those students. Today’s learners tend to have a higher need for interactive activities, it’s more of a challenge to keep their attention and motivation skyrocketing.

It’s a great idea to create a little reward system for your students – based on their age – and be consistent with it. Celebrating that milestone or giving a small prize when that happens.

This can look very different for a group of primary school students and an adult that you teach one-to-one. Take the time to get to know your audience, it will be worth it. 

No two children are the same – they all come with a unique set of characteristics and ways they display their emotions. While teachers and parents make an effort to prepare them for academic growth, it is just as important to create a higher awareness related to the social and emotional environment. 

Social-emotional learning (SEL) skills involve cultivating the ability to comprehend and manage our emotions, establish positive relationships, develop empathy for others, set and achieve goals, and just feel good about ourselves in general. 

Even though SEL is not a new concept, there are so many questions that are still left unanswered. 

Let’s dive a little deeper and see what experts have to say about the matter. 

Head of Education at BOOKR Kids and specialized psychologist for social and emotional learning, Dominika Gyanyi, emphasises how crucial it is for us to help our kids decode and manage their emotions. It truly has the potential to change our children´s lives and – at the risk of sounding dramatic – even impact the world as we know it. 

Dominika Gyanyi reveals “While you think that social-emotional learning is related to how we connect in our social sphere and manage and understand our emotions, it’s so much more. 5 components form the basis of SEL:

Amongst these five, Self-awareness is the core. This refers to the ability to recognize and comprehend emotions, thoughts, values and ultimately, how they affect behavior. As our behavior and the decisions that we make basically compose all aspects of our lives, this means that social-emotional learning can really change the world”

Some families find it hard to figure out how they can assist their children when it comes to emotional development. 

“First and Foremost —Being a Role Model for children- showing a great example and building their own social and emotional awareness is an expremely important task for a parent, yet it is hardly ever mentioned as a main responsibility.  Let’s start simple, using the often underrated power of storytelling. Try this at home:

She also added – ‘Apart from these, parents or grandparents can be more observant of their child’s feelings because they are also part of the learning process.’ Usually when kids are sad, we often try to encourage them to ignore the feeling, saying things like: ‘forget about it, don’t be sad’ and use similar phrases. While the intention might be good, we do not want them to sad, right? It actually does only harm. It teaches young kids to neglect and avoid their feelings – only problem is, that just can’t be done. It’s not how that works, those emotions will inevitably come out sooner or later. What we should do instead is address how it makes them feel. How?

By asking explicit questions like: 

How can I help you? 

Or saying, 

‘please, talk about your feelings’ or 

sharing our own personal experiences to make them understand that it can happen to anyone. 

This definitely offers more profound help to them”

You can find the interview in the Digital Journal as well.

Now that gives us a lot of useful information and tangible tips on how to act around the little ones when they experience sadness or difficulties. It sounds quite easy too – but let’s dig a little deeper to avoid potential pitfalls.  

BOOKR Kids has been working effectively to build a safer space for families and give parents an effective tool. Thus, with COPUBLICA, Learning Planet Institute, and HarperCollins, it has come forward to make social-emotional learning accessible with a set of innovative gamified digital and non-digital tools to create your family’s stories for your children to improve family SEL.

Considering how stories make sense of the world and can pass on social skills and values to children, we focused on social-emotional learning at home for children from age 0 by encouraging families to share their intergenerational stories with their children. Through playful digital and non-digital tools, built-in animations and narrations, this new project gives a chance for families to play together and create books about their own lives and stories, giving an amazing basis for conversation and deeper connections.  

Social emotional learning matters. We believe that storytelling alone gives children opportunities for a brighter future and can foster personal and collective growth as well as well-being. And yes, with that, it may as well change the world as we know it today. Sounds too good to be true? 

All we need to do is try to find out. 

The changing face and demands of present-day language learners now urge educators to take prompt action to cater for their students’ needs. As a result, the success of learning will greatly depend on the learning context. As a result, classrooms ought to become more inclusive and welcoming than before in order to provide learners with a platform for free interaction in a welcoming and supportive environment to achieve their goals.

Triggered by the varied needs of 21st-century learners, the implementation of more inclusive practices have become necessary in modern-day teaching. Before jumping into the topic, we must elaborate on a few key terms connected to various learning contexts in terms of human relationships.

In essence, inclusion is “a process that is concerned with the identification and removal of barriers to the presence, participation and achievement of all students”. The formerly mentioned and closely related notion of equity refers to a (learning) context where everyone receives fair treatment (according to individual needs).

Peripheral learner identities (related to gender or ethnic background), differences in socio-economic status, or physical, sensory, or cognitive challenges to overcome mean the most typical obstacles to class participation.

Moreover, research has shown that inclusion may not only be beneficial for the marginalised but can also provide an enriching learning experience for all who belong to diverse groups and “share the power of representation and presentation”.

“Students have special educational needs if they have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of students of the same age, and special educational provision has to be made for them”. The exact wording of the notion may vary across countries, depending on what the national core curriculum places an emphasis on. Note that exceptionally talented or gifted students should not go unnoticed either as they will also require a different approach (or special treatment) in the classroom.

The below list shows some common areas of special needs teachers may encounter in the classroom:

Regarding academic achievement, special educational needs (SEN) students are likely to exhibit (one of) the following types of learning difficulties to a certain extent:

A severe lack of confidence and self-esteem to cope with failure is often the root of the problem. The inability to keep up with peers may cause a feeling of worthlessness, stupidity, or even shame and lead to anxiety, demotivation, and listlessness.

Although drawing universal conclusions for learning difficulties would be extremely difficult, here are a few tips that may be applicable across a broader range of contexts.

Dyslexia is a widely researched area of special needs education, and it is probably the most relevant to talk about on the blog of BOOKR Class, the interactive library of English readers.

Yet, as mentioned earlier, if someone is challenged in reading in the first language, we can only imagine how intimidating it must be for dyslexic learners to do so in a foreign language.

For this article, I have conducted an interview with Dean Bragonier, founder and executive dyslexic of NoticeAbility, which is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping students with dyslexia identify their unique strengths and build self-esteem.

In their work, they incorporate the neuroscience of dyslexia, the best practices of special education, and the power of EdTech to construct curricula and educator training programmes for global distribution.

When asked about how NoticeAbility might help students and teachers in special education programmes, Dean answered that their pedagogy was based on the neuroscientific discoveries made by Eide & Eide in The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain.

The book pinpoints the cognitive and neurological assets of dyslexia, which NoticeAbility recognizes in order to boost student self-esteem and academic persistence in students through a strength-driven classroom approach. By re-contextualizing dyslexia, NoticeAbility’s holistic and comprehensive intervention enables teachers better to understand the potential of these often misunderstood students.

With reference to Hosking’s: 

The National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 report argues that the two predictors of long-term success for students with learning difficulties are 

1. supportive teachers who understand learning differences, and 
2. establishing close relationships with mentors

Consequently, building mutual understanding becomes inevitable as the unmet needs of SN students have far-reaching consequences for both the individual and society.

According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD), there are about 2.4 million American public school students identified with a learning disability. Nonetheless, in reality, this number may be even higher as many cases are undiagnosed due to a number of reasons ranging from reluctance from the family to shame.

Some negative outcomes may be as follows:

In order to advance further, decision-makers ought to build awareness on a systemic level, ideally by increasing staff capacity specialising in the field.

NoticeAbility designs project-based curricula centred around social-emotional learning (SEL) and executive functioning (EF) (i.e., a set of skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self control, used on a daily basis for learning, work, and navigating through life).

The aim is to empower educators to lead their students to success through a shift in classroom dynamics built on cooperation and authentic inquiry to replace doubt and fear of failure.

Students who complete SEL programs show a stronger sense of connection to the school, improved classroom behavior, and greater academic achievement. Similarly, improved EF skills have led to success in and outside of school, better mental and physical health, and positive cognitive, social, and psychological development.

Dean added that while it is undoubtedly a ‘reading’ disability, he opposes the categorization of dyslexia as a ‘learning’ disability.

No wonder that empowerment through education is crucial, and even at the world’s best engineering university, dyslexia is referred to as ‘the MIT disease’.

This just goes to show that dyslexia, and learning difficulties in general, need not be fundamentally disabling.

“[Dyslexic people] have an ability to look at a situation and identify seemingly disparate pieces of information and blend those into a narrative, or a tapestry, that makes sense to us that most people can’t see.”

Fortunately, many EdTech companies have been able to answer the call of experts in terms of providing opportunities for SEN students. For example, BOOKR Class aims to support learners with dyslexia by incorporating authentic narration and captivating illustrations in their books.

The reading texts are broken down into smaller, more digestible paragraphs and presented with text-highlighting and increased spacing between words.

The post-reading comprehension activities are also designed to strengthen the decoding and retention of information. Reading the tasks and certain answer options out loud facilitates the understanding of the instructions while the games provide instant constructive feedback for students, which contributes to a greater feeling of success.

As a result, detection, diagnosis, and the encouragement of a growth mindset are critical for students with learning differences. It is a general problem that students aware of their struggle will try to remain undetected at all costs.

This may be due to confusion, or the fear of being identified and labelled as ‘different’, ‘stupid’, or ‘lazy’. Most of them will adapt a persona to distance themselves from this narrative, e.g., by becoming the class clown, remaining unengaged in class, or acting rebellious.

Ultimately, they will likely be considered as having behavioural issues rather than a learning disability.

NoticeAbility’s Magellan Campaign strives to respond to the growing international demand for their courses in the global ‘dyslexia family’. Transcending gender, ethnic, and socio-economic inequities, they aim to ‘democratise access to dyslexic empowerment worldwide.

NoticeAbility provides students with curricula scaffolded by adult mentorship, helping to shift the traditional teaching paradigm to one that embraces the traits of the individual.

In this new setting, the dynamics of the classroom shift, replacing doubt and isolation with comradeship and empowerment.

Even though there are different types of inclusive education, in order to truly value our learners, we must embrace diversity by working towards a curriculum accessible to and representative of all.

Thus, the ultimate goal should be the creation of a respectful and safe learning environment for all.

If students go beyond their typical social circles, they can develop interpersonal and socio-emotional skills while broadening their horizons. Eventually, they become more tolerant and willing to cooperate with people outside their daily encounters.

Designing or adapting materials for mixed-ability groups largely depends on how relevant the content is for the learners.

Tomlinson emphasises that learners’ confidence and affective engagement should be prioritised when selecting, adapting, and designing materials with pedagogical content.

Respect plays a crucial role in creating a positive learning environment. It is universally accepted that learning becomes the most effortless when students feel safe and their contributions are welcome and appreciated.

Below, you can see some ideas as how to model respectful behaviour and being mindful of others in class:

Cooperation in the classroom is built on two main cornerstones as follows:

1. positive interdependence (the ability to collaborate with others to reach a shared goal), and 
2. individual accountability (where the success of the group depends on the contributions individual members make). 

Eventually, every student will take charge of their own learning while also affecting others around them.

Let us take a closer look at assigning project work.

Have you ever tried establishing certain roles and responsibilities that students will have to take up in order to integrate the above two principles? Of course, these roles may be customized according to the context of the project work and the students in the class, but below are some general ideas for you to try.

What is more, as a teacher, you may also take part in the project by giving yourself a role that will make students interact with you (e.g. by becoming a bank clerk with whom they will have to negotiate to receive funding for their project). Getting actively involved will also help the monitoring process.

Further advice for efficiency:

1. It is important to keep instructions clear and concise so that all students can easily get what the task is. 
2. It is worth designing tasks that incorporate different levels of difficulty so that students can choose the ones that suit their needs and are comfortable with.
3. Incorporating movement through mingling tasks may also prove helpful in establishing group dynamics and creating an atmosphere of free self-expression.

Regarding projects, the adaptation of a problem-based curriculum is highly advised, as it focuses on real-life problems from the students’ perspective, leading to a “constructive, self-directed, collaborative and contextual activity” that develops a critical mind, communication skills, autonomy, as well as transferable skills.

Should you want to try implementing cooperative learning practices, Anderson (2019) recommends considering the following points to get started:

Try the Think » Pair » Share approach when working with mixed-ability groups to get the more reserved learners to participate in the classwork.

First, allow all learners some time to think individually about their answers to the questions (and write them down). Then, pair them up with someone to share their ideas so that they have more opinions about the same issue.

When everyone has completed their notes, start a class discussion and ask for all to contribute.

When introducing a new topic, the KWL grid may come in handy. Before active learning begins, students should complete the first two columns of the table. Once the new material has been covered, they can reflect on their learning by completing the third remaining column of the chart.

It is never easy to uncover learning difficulties as, oftentimes, they are not medically diagnosed.

When researching your classroom, you may consider the following general indicators to identify special educational needs:

Does my student…

Answer these questions to start exploring what the underlying reasons for challenging student behaviour might be, and do not be afraid to consult a SEN professional for further advice.

In its most common sense, alternative education is often defined as a non-traditional, or non-mainstream, way of teaching and learning based on the social, emotional, behavioural, academic, etc. needs of students taking part in it. Thus, alternative pedagogies, as opposed to viewing children as ‘miniature adults’, are centred around building healthy classroom relationships, drawing on children’s individual strengths and weaknesses, talents, and needs in an academically and culturally appropriate yet challenging setting.

Going back to its origins, the turn of the 20th century was characterised by a wave of reform movements to improve the established education systems.

Apart from pedagogical considerations, the era was also dominated by various student movements, the main ideas of which these merely new alternative pedagogies would also try to incorporate.

It is worth noting that today, alternative education has gained new connotations, and besides catering for special needs, learning difficulties, or prodigious students, it should be further regarded as a means to enable all kinds of students to unlock their full potential in society. Such programmes are not only feasible in completely independent schools but can, in fact, be designed for any kind of school setting so that no student is labelled as a ‘special case’ in any sense. In turn, an alternative study programme may open new doors and enrich the portfolio of more traditionally-orientated institutions.

Some recommendations by Parker for alternative-education design are listed below:

As the old adage says, students will not care about what you know until they are made aware that you care about them.

In an ideal situation, they should not be afraid to make mistakes and to fail since we all learn from our mistakes, and a F.A.I.L. is only the First Attempt At Learning.

So far, it has been reported that students in alternative education will make greater strides in areas such as:

Last but not least, let us consider some of the key-differences of alternative and mainstream schools. The below chart summarises information gained from the website of Sands School.

It is widely known now that working in smaller groups is much easier and will lead to more meaningful (academic and social) learning experiences. Being involved in decision-making will result in student-student and student-teacher relationships built on mutual trust and respect instead of fear. An individualised lesson plan also means that you learn what you actually need at a given time and not something “useless” or less likely to ever appear useful later in life.

Concerning discipline issues, alternative schools have often been criticised for being too lenient with kids; however, being actively involved in decision-making and having a platform to freely express the self may yield great results in the long-run, as exhibited by students who are more aware and less dependent on other members of society.

Going back to the distinction made by Sands School between alternative and mainstream schools, it is clear to see that the four cornerstones of alternative education, i.e., small-scaling, joint decision-making, emphasising learner needs, and free self-expression, are all present in the pedagogical-methodological base of each school type featured in Table 2.

To further explain these differences, we can say that reflective practices, projects, and the incorporation of arts in the school curriculum are all vital for nurturing students capable of expressing themselves across a range of contexts on various problems and questions. It is also clear to see that these educational programmes are tailored to light a creative spark in children while paying close attention to their needs and the peculiarities of students’ (individual) learning style.

The emergence of student-centred approaches is believed to be a fairly recent phenomenon; however, they have been, in fact, present in education for more than a century now.

As a result, it will inevitably become more welcoming, inclusive, and less formal.

In the next part of the article, you will read about a global language-school franchise that offers alternative language education to kids and teenagers, ranging from infancy to late adolescence, i.e., 19 years of age. Read our in-depth articles about Montessori method here.

When it comes to private education, decision-makers in language schools and other educational institutions have long been looking for the perfect methodology that is capable of responding to the needs of 21st-century learners. The truth is that there is no universal, one-size-fits-all methodology to cater for the various needs of present-day students.

From among the vast portfolio of private language-education programmes, let us focus on one particular example, namely Helen Doron.  With regard to the formerly mentioned alternative pedagogies, we can see that the Helen Doron methodology pays close attention to the age-specific attributes and needs of children, while creativity, collaboration, and play remain as key elements in their methods. As mentioned earlier, Helen Doron is a language-school franchise that offers alternative education to infants, pupils, and even teenagers.

Their distinct approach stresses the importance of child’s play in a stress-free, emotionally and socially supportive English-language environment where kids can naturally acquire the language via active involvement in various critical thinking and collaborative tasks and activities.

Their methodology draws on the science of how children learn, complemented by a pedagogy built on mutual respect, self-appreciation, and being engaged with the language/content as well as each other. In Helen Doron schools, learners work in small groups following a pre-structured syllabus that is still flexible enough to make room for working with emergent language and to activate students’ pre-existing knowledge about the subject matter and the world in general.

All resources are well-tailored to the learning context and mostly involve original chants and songs, animated videos, as well as applications written and developed by Helen Doron to support learning even beyond class, thus exploiting the openness and enthusiasm about learning with technology.

The overarching aim of the method is to make language acquisition effortless, following similar patterns to how kids acquire their mother tongue. The classroom materials are topic-based and closely linked to each other to progressively develop vocabulary and grammar, with the application of spaced repetition to continuously revise previously learnt language elements, expressions, and structures.

Helen Doron provides teacher training to all interested parties. They train professionals who are capable of supporting language development by giving positive feedback and constant reinforcement to learners. 

Developed by linguists and trained teaching professionals, apart from acquiring English, Helen Doron students are taught life skills and a unique worldview that focuses on showing them how to make the world a better place.

Now that we have looked at what makes education alternative, let us consider a few practices that you can easily implement in your own classroom to offer your learners a broader and more colourful range of opportunities for growth.

Have you ever heard about problem-based learning?

It is an educational approach that brings real-life issues into the classroom but considers these from the perspective of the students. The emphasis here should fall on ‘inquiry’ in order to make learning a constructive, self-directed, collaborative, and contextual activity.

For instance, when talking about entertainment, why don’t you let your students take control and organise a class party where they could decide what they want to do and arrange everything for themselves on a fixed budget? If their proposal is really convincing, you may even make the party happen for them. A fun time will be guaranteed either way.

Having mentioned autonomy, it may be extremely beneficial to teach your students how to learn by discussing what effective study skills and practices they can apply in their own language learning. In turn, learners will develop organisational, analytical, and other study skills necessary to work proactively and independently of others. An added bonus of applying more of these practices is to be found in the skills they learn communally through sharing ideas and strategies with their peers. You might want to ask them the following questions:

Following this train of thought involving life skills, task-based learning (TBL) is another method worth trying. TBL is centred around meaning-focused communication that begins in the very first minute of your class. Based on the conversations you have with your students, you will be able to decide what to dedicate your (next) class to.

Thus, instead of following a pre-written, rigid syllabus, you will be able to better understand your learners’ needs and possible difficulties they might have in learning.

Generally, the application of TBL is about satisfying the communicative needs of learners. To put it simply, you should always allow yourself the space and time to analyse, reflect on, and respond to your students’ demands by custom-tailoring the content of your course.

Thus, when talking about some more serious topics, such as politics, why don’t you start small and have a discussion on the importance of human rights, freedom of speech, and democracy from their perspective by answering questions such as:

Each student will have a different idea about these issues, all you need to do is just find the right questions to ask so that they can actually relate to these. Before wrapping up our discussion on alternative pedagogy, we still have one crucial teaching element to talk about: assessment. The Assessment Reform Group laid down the following guidelines to reform how students are assessed in schools as follows:

In the 21st century, effective feedback should feed forward, meaning that when you assess a student’s writing, instead of marking and correcting errors with a red pen, you can highlight examples of appropriate language use.

Moreover, to take this one step further, you can ‘feedforward’ by offering alternatives or suggestions so that students can compare their ideas with yours and analyse and reflect on their own writing more critically.

All non-test forms of assessment are evaluated by humans, some of which have been included in the below table.

To better comprehend what you have read in this article, consider the below questions and think critically about your own teaching practice.

The above, however, is a truly 21st-century phenomenon and was not always the case for language teaching. There were times when language skills were not seen as an asset but rather an obstacle to assimilation and conforming to the norms of society. People say, ‘old habits die hard’, and this is why it is crucial for us teachers to keep in mind what changes have shaped today’s language teaching practices. This article will highlight some of the key teaching approaches that have shaped and steered language education in the course it is going today.

Living in the era of a global pandemic crisis makes this quote truly relatable, yet even prior to that, change would dominate every walk of life. As for language teaching, it is universally accepted that languages (and even learners) change, which may be triggered by different socio-economic as well as geo-political factors, or a shift in priorities, as societies develop.

Looking at the historical underpinnings of language policy, we can say that the evolution of humanity has affected our perception of and attached value to language as a social construct. This evolutionary timeline may be divided into three distinct phases, i.e., premodern, modern, and postmodern (Graddol, 2006), as detailed in the below chart.

Language learning became institutionalised in ‘linguistic modernity’, yet it also became less incidental and a less natural process. This process accelerated in the 20th century when various language teaching approaches were invented in order to fulfil a certain language-learning purpose. Owing to the fact that paradigms take a long time to shift, ample approaches and views of language govern language teaching, depending on our geographical location and the education system we are a part of.

In the following chart (Table 2), three different contexts have been outlined with regard to the focus of learning and the social embeddedness of English. Some of these principles have had a profound effect on education policy at a(n inter)national level.

Having emerged back in the 1950s, methodologies based on EFL dominated the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry for a long time. Currently, these older approaches seem to be giving way to a merely new orthodoxy that better corresponds with global trends.

CLIL, or Content and Language Integrated Learning, has been on the European Union’s agenda for a few decades aiming to promote multilingualism and the development of 21st-century skills (e.g., communication, critical thinking, creative thinking, and collaboration) among its member states. It is undeniably true that these skills and the ability to speak foreign languages will be inevitable for future generations, thus, by drawing on real-life experiences, CLIL seems to be just the right approach to learning.

The methodological foundations of CLIL derive from English-Medium Instruction (EMI) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) practices, thus allowing for a more holistic approach to teaching.

Right at its inception, CLIL meant a novel approach to foreign-language teaching that is rooted in language immersion and content-based instruction (CBI). What distinguishes CLIL from EMI is the integration of certain mother-tongue and target-language practices that facilitates the emergence of a more dynamic language system, as well as the use of a more extensive and varied vocabulary in the classroom.

We must, however, distinguish between particular CLIL types in certain cases according to the aims of the course and the students’ needs. Consequently, the terms ‘hard CLIL’ and ‘soft CLIL’ have been coined, with the former one referring to target-language content classes (e.g., the instruction of biology in bilingual education), while the latter one integrates elements of CLIL (especially the ‘content’ segment) in the foreign-language classroom. Thus, students would have a language lesson on genetics doing various activities (Kelly at al., 2011; Clegg et al., 2015). In summary, we can say that hard CLIL is content-driven as compared to soft CLIL, which appears to be more language-driven.

Regarding the role of the teacher, CLIL teachers, in an ideal situation, are capable of utilising a confident level of English of at least level B2(+), yet in bilingual education, the requirements may be well above that (at levels C1/C2).

As intricate it may seem, lesson planning is actually a really simple process, regardless of the language, subject, or type of lesson (e.g., EFL, or CLIL). Below, you can read a few – more or less universal – statements to bear in mind when designing lessons of any kind:

In reality, the ‘art’ of lesson planning becomes a really simple procedure once you get acquainted with your teaching context and the needs of the learners you are working with.

From a language point of view, lessons can easily be broken down into three key phases. In the ‘Introduction’ part, teachers draw on students’ previous knowledge regarding the problem in question (i.e., a speaking topic, a new grammatical structure, recently learnt vocabulary items, etc.). In other words, this is the stage where you activate schemata.

What makes this approach a tad different from the well-established PPP (present-practice-produce) pattern is that students become the centre of attention right at the beginning of the class, as well as active participants in the learning process. In the PPP framework, production (thus activation) typically happens at the end of the lesson.

The next two steps involve practice: ideally, in the second (‘Interaction’) phase, students target (or ‘drill’) the new content directly through activities. (It is imperative that your learners not only interact with the language through various exercises but also with each other. As language itself is a social construct, it all comes down to how they use it to communicate with their peers, or even the teacher! This is also what most PPP-based classes lack.)

What follows in the final (‘Internalisation’) segment is the facilitation of free practice so that students can have a contextualised (CLIL) experience working with what they have learnt. This way, their brains will start to create synapses more easily and new information gets retained quicker and in the long run.

To illustrate the above with an example, let us take a look at how the past form of modal verbs could be taught within this framework in an English class:

give students some problem statements and try to elicit modal verbs by asking them to give advice, suggestions, or establish rules. Then, write some of the examples on the board.

As a class, discuss what these verbs mean and what purpose they serve. Once you have done this, write examples of sentences with past modals and elicit how we can put the modal verbs into the past (by adding the verb ‘have’ and the past participle [V3] form of the main verb).

hand your students some drill exercises (requiring either writing or speaking) to complete in pairs for more focused practice.

contextualise this new grammar by playing Agony Aunt (based on the famous newspaper column), where students are given a problem (i.e., letters to the columnist) to which they need to find solutions, offer suggestions, or explain what they could/would have done differently if they were the reader.

Contextualising learning is inevitable for your students to see language ‘in action’. CLIL is an approach that can easily lead to the emergence of meaningful, lifelike communication in the classroom. As for the formerly mentioned Introduce-Interact-Internalise framework, it can be stated that it is flexible enough to come in handy in all sorts of language-learning situations.

In our rapidly changing world, it almost feels as if we were expected to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of our lessons. In order to do so, I can recommend you two strategies to implement:

you may find flipped classrooms beneficial to save time for in-class discussions.

Flipped classrooms have been criticised for increased teacher preparation time and for not offering viable solutions as to what happens when a student, out of negligence, does not prepare for the next lesson.

This is why it may require caution when and how to flip your classes, as well as what exact tasks should be set for self-study at home to benefit the next session with your group (Hertz, 2021). Consequently, making at-home learning interactive is crucial, and this is where applications like BOOKR Class may come in handy.

After assigning a book to your students, the application and its teacher dashboard will allow you to track their individual progress and anticipate possible challenges they may have faced while reading at home. When you next meet in class, you can start by discussing some problem areas based on your observations.

in contrast to PPP, TBL hinges on meaning-focused communication starting right at the beginning of your lesson (as opposed to the final minutes of it).

Based on how effective the initial communication is, you can later decide what to dedicate your class to. Thus, instead of structure, the emphasis will fall on meaningful communication, drawing on the exact communicative needs of your learners.

A task can be as simple as a paired activity where students discuss and agree on something, e.g., In pairs, look at the list of 10 possible birthday presents and agree on the TOP 5. You may wish to add further examples on your own. The essence is in meaningful communication.

Instead of repeating what has already been said, I encourage you to reflect on the article by answering the following questions and engaging with the issues raised more actively. I hope you will find the presented strategies and the below reflection questions useful for your professional development.

You can use the books as a well-earned reward after a particular topic or material, to close your lesson, or simply for reading for pleasure. In fact, some of the ideas for these quick activities are in the last part of the introductory chapter.

The introductory part of the handbook was written by the educational team, while the unit plans are the masterpiece from the combined work of 6 teachers from different backgrounds, who were willing to share their expertise with us about how to use the app in lessons. The lesson plans were reviewed and edited by the educational team, so it was a group effort between 6 teachers and us, who have come together with one goal in mind – to provide you with educationally rich material! 

There is an introduction to the handbook for those who would like to understand the concept and app better, unit plans for 12 BOOKR Class books and the appendix. The first part of the document includes:

On every level there are 2 unit plans, so a total of 12 unit plans altogether. That gives you 36 lessons + the condensed 3 in 1s which are extracts of the three-lesson-long unit plans. 

We picked two books from each BOOKR Class level. This list of 12 books vary in genre,  have different topics and improve the students in different ways besides language teaching (literature, biology, history, soft skills, finances…).

We created the unit plans in the approach principled eclecticism. This means that we combined various approaches and methodologies to teach language depending on the aims of the lesson and the needs of the learners. And of course the communicative approach, which helps to increase student talking time.

There is always a warm-up activity, to recall the students’ previous knowledge and we raise interest, then we make the students work and think to deepen their understanding and improve their language skills. It is followed by a wrap-up exercise and there are also planned activities for evaluation. Here the students mainly evaluate each other or their own work during the lesson. 

A unit is a 3 lesson long complex session which guides the students and the teacher through a BOOKR book. Relying on the students’ language level we planned a lesson to introduce the book. Then comes a lesson with a chosen focus (comprehension, grammar…) and the last one is centered around language production. 

We also take into account those who don’t have the opportunity to work with a book for three lessons. A condensed lesson is a plan for one lesson, which gives a shorter but the same quality experience with the topic and the book.  

To satisfy individual preferences, there are cross-curricular activities that teach other subject matters, such as biology, geography, history. There are many content and language integrated activities that use language as a tool to teach about a historical period, the parts of animals or a recipe, for example

Yes, for sure! All the extra materials needed to bring these lesson plans to life are included in the Appendix. There are flashcards, coloring pages, cutout puppets, thought-provoking printable questions, role play cards and much more.

All the books are accessible in the BOOKR Class app, so one might think that the Teacher’s Handbook is not that useful for those who haven’t started using the app yet.

However, some of the stories that we chose can often be found in most school libraries, such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the Stone Soup or the Yellow Wallpaper. If you would like to compare what you’ve been doing so far when you wanted to work with Itsy Bitsy’s story, you can check our suggestions and see how you and your students could benefit from using the application or the desktop app.

If your class or your school is already a BOOKR Class subscriber, we’re sending you a digital copy via email soon. If your school hasn’t subscribed yet, don’t worry. Subscribe now on our website or access the handbook through our webpage. The only thing you need to do is to click on the following link, subscribe with your email address and you can have it for free.

The BOOKR Class Teacher’s handbook is designed for innovative educators looking for ideas how to implement digital interactive books in their curriculum. 

One thing is for sure: this Teacher’s Handbook is a unique, quality resource with valuable advice from experienced professionals. If you’re just getting started with BOOKR Class or longing for fresh ideas, the BOOKR Class Teacher’s handbook is just for you!

If you’re interested in more, join our teacher community on facebook. Feedback is always appreciated, and feel free to share your comments in the group.

Beginning on the 1st of July, BOOKR Class implemented a new Lexile tool to help teachers identify students’ reading levels, so that they can assign the best books for them – narrowing options without limiting choices.

Lexile was developed by MetaMetrics®, an educational assessment and research company in Durham, North Carolina. The initial research for Lexiles was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The company identified a significant difference in how traditional readability formulas assess text difficulty compared to how words are actually read and comprehended by children at different ages and stages of development.

Lexiles represent what readers can comprehend based on their actual reading abilities rather than on arbitrary judgments about their grade-level or age. Lexile measures are not predicted probabilities of future reading performance, nor should they be viewed as limitations on what readers can learn.

Lexiles are always shown as a number followed by the letter “L.”The Lexile Frameworkis a developmental scale ranging from beginning learner measures below 0L (at most BR 400L) to above 1600L for advanced abilities. The higher the learner’s Lexile measure, the greater their ability to read  and comprehend text in English.

If the student’s measure or level (we recommend not to use the word ‘score’, so students get motivated to level up) is 150L, it means that the student is possibly capable of reading and understanding a text with a 150L measure. It doesn’t mean that the student will only be able to understand texts marked with 150L though. The Lexile measures shown for titles are approximations that reflect typical Lexile levels of students who will enjoy them most.

The BOOKR Class Library app is aligned with the Lexile Framework for Reading. In order to determine a student’s Lexile Measure, BOOKR Class app now features a free Lexile test for students as a placement test.

Upon first opening the library app, students have the option to fill out this Lexile assessment consisting of 30 short tasks that depict their level of English proficiency. Based on their score, the app will allocate them a corresponding BOOKR level. You can also find a note of the level in the Teacher’s Dashboard so you can use it as a guide for further assignments.

Placement test results are one of the factors that determine the book recommendations in the Library ( alongside interests and assigned books by the teachers) . Educators can also use Lexile® as a way to measure student progress because Lexile leveling gives an objective measure that can be repeated any time in the app.

Lexile Assessment is also a great tool for differentiation, as you can assign books with similar topics and vocabulary at different levels – a huge support for educators. 

We all know it is not always easy to find reading materials for students (especially language learners) that provide sufficient challenge to advance their reading skill development, but are also not so difficult that they discourage reading.

Starting with a student’s Lexile measure is a great tool for finding the Lexile of the book and forecasting the comprehension rate – see the example below –

 Lexile measures provide a scientific approach for matching students with ability-appropriate texts.

When a student measure and a book measure are the same, the match is estimated to be ideal for the learner. The target range that is suggested for a learner is 100L below the student measure and 50L above, so learners with 500L would probably be able to comprehend and enjoy a book measured between 400L and 550L.

If the Lexile measure of the student is much higher than that of the book, this might suggest that it will be too difficult for the learner. If the Lexile measure is much lower than that of the book, it might not help them further develop their reading ability or get bored while reading it. 

If you’re wondering how to find the Lexile level of a book, it’s a straightforward process in the BOOKR Class Library app. You can easily discover a book’s measure by navigating to the Books tab, where you have the option to filter and order the books by Lexile Measure.

This feature allows you to efficiently select books that align with your students’ individual Lexile Measures and assign them directly to the appropriate students.

By tailoring the reading materials to their specific levels, you can effectively support their reading skill development and ensure they are presented with engaging and suitable content.

The benefits of this system are numerous and include the ability to provide an accurate assessment based on what readers comprehend rather than relying on arbitrary judgments about grade-level or age. If you want your learners to have better access to quality materials at appropriate reading levels but don’t know where to start, contact us! We’ll be happy to walk you through how our app works and show you why using Lexiles makes it easier for educators like yourself.

First of all, a good admin platform helps to track students, understand their learning path and enables teachers to optimise and personalise the content for improved achievement. On the other hand, these tools also facilitate lesson preparation, not only because they give you valuable insight into the  needs of students, but also thanks to the easy-to-use browsing tools. 

As an example, we are going to use the Teacher’s Dashboard of the BOOKR Class app as a reference. BOOKR Class is a digital interactive library app for language learners accompanied by an extra platform for educators – the  Teacher’s Dashboard. The examples for the features and options are focused on the interactive books, yet the description of the most important aspects can be applicable to other educational technology solutions as well. 

Seeing how active students are is key for a teacher, as our aim is to enhance the learning process and motivation. This is unlikely to happen without the proper use of the technology. 

Student activity  can be tracked in many different ways, using their log in and log out dates, completed tasks  or results. The amount of information gained varies on the platform. Based on this, 

• You can identify students who have technical problems with the tool, such as the inability to log in or the lack of a device. Therefore, you can identify the problem even if the student is too embarrassed to tell you. In the case of the BOOKR Class app, you can check their names, codes and licenses in the Teacher Dashboard 
• You can identify the students who lack motivation and who need encouragement and support in their learning process. In most if not all cases, these students try to avoid revealing their inactivity by hiding their problems – educational or personal alike.

If students work, but their processes are not satisfactory, the teacher is able to immediately deduce what the problem might be.

• Their home environment is not conducive to learning.  They need to optimise their surroundings to create the most effective learning environment possible. Some very simple tips, such as a  discussion on multitasking or the option of learning at school with friends might be effective. 
• They might need a motivational environment, such as some company to start working. Working in pairs or in small groups can be just as efficient as working individually and it has many positive side effects, such as improving cooperation, problem-solving skills and even humour. With group work, their academic and soft skills improve at the same time. 
• It is also possible that some students are not motivated enough because they For example they  need something else than what you, as a teacher, thought would be the best material. 
  • A task, activity, or in the case of BOOKR Class, a book is too difficult and the student needs a pre-teaching activity before embarking on  the task. Based on the students’ needs, you can use an easier warm-up, such as a book from a lower level or a flashcard set before reading. 
  • Other students might find the activity too easy, and not challenging enough. For them, you could suggest another activity, difficulty level, or an additional twist or activity to make the assignment more sophisticated. With BOOKR Class, you might  prefer to recommend another book beyond the assumed and assigned level of the student. 

First of all, take a deep breath and praise yourself for creating such a productive and motivational  learning environment where your students want to work. Then, observe and analyse their choice of activities, games or exercises they complete. With BOOKR Class, you can seecansee the students’ choice of books and topics, which helps differentiation and the personalisation of activities and assignments. You can get to know your class better. Let’s look at some examples: 

• You can build further activities on some of the content or topics students are interested in. If you see that many students completed a given task in time and successfully, it is an indicator that the assignment engaged them and they enjoyed that type of activity. 
• You can make an introverted or underachieving student feel good about themselves in front of the class by casually eliciting information about a topic they are particularly interested in. For example, if your student chooses BOOKR Class books about nature and animals, you could concentrate a little on that and involve the student in classroom discussion. Creating opportunities for students to shine is always rewarding. 

Then, take a closer look at their achievements, such as their streak, scores or time spent reading with the BOOKR Class app. Teacher appreciation is extremely powerful for students, so praising them, giving awards, a good grade or any motivating feedback, even a smile (or a ‘not bad’ Obama face meme) is a must in the language classroom. A competition can also be generated that keeps them excited and exposed to quality language input. 

• Catch up with your students if you can see their results and achievements in more detail. 
  • In the BOOKR Class app for example, you can see how much time they spent on reading a particular book. This information reflects the reading skills and literacy of the students, or the distractions that might interrupt their reading. 
  • You can see how many points your students earned for each activity, so you can compare results. It is a great tool for diagnostic evaluation:  using that information, you may conclude that they need your attention and extra help. 

A teacher dashboard is a well-organised  platform that gives teachers valuable insight into the students’ learning process and activity as well as the structure of the system itself. In the BOOKR Class Teacher Dashboard you can see the content of the whole library with every book and flashcard. The search bar helps you can easily find what your students need. 

In the case of educational technology solutions for English language learners, you can search for items, e.g. worksheets, games, flashcard sets, books, activity tips, according to their difficulty level. In most cases, just like with BOOKR Class, they rely on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) or use classic terminology that can be aligned with the CEFR (elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced). 

Another very useful feature is the dropdown list where you can pick a topic or grammar structure that you would like to work with. These topics are usually the umbrella terms that are easy to  interpret, and not abstract expressions fueled by the fantasy of the authors. Simplicity is the key when it comes to admin websites. 

With BOOKR Class, you can pick from several dropdown lists (BOOKR Class level, genre, topic, grammar, accent) and you can type in what you need in the search field, e.g.: ‘will’ or ‘countries’. 

When clicking on the search results, valuable information pops up regarding the content of the item, and whether it is a worksheet, book or flashcard set.

Later on, children who have developed strong reading skills perform better in school and are more confident. They are more likely to become lifelong learners and sought-after employees. Reading also expands children’s understanding of the world and how they can cope with difficulties, challenges, as well as differences between people, ideas, and cultures.

This is why it’s crucial to include reading in our everyday lives in all stages of childhood: when children are provided with enjoyable texts and related activities, reading will be seen as a treat, not a chore. 

Kids read less than ever before. Therefore, studies have shown that they are likely to have more text interpretation and reading comprehension problems. It is the creators’, publishers’, developers’, researchers’, and education experts’ responsibility to identify and develop new potential 21st century educational strategies that support better reading education.

BOOKR Kids’ reading apps help achieve this goal by presenting storybooks in a new, more engaging format while also building on contemporary children’s literature and illustration trends.

Interactive e-books facilitate the connection between the reader and the story, which results in a deeper and more profound experience. Displaying stories with still and moving images, BOOKR apps aim to teach reading and inspire even the youngest users to learn different types and levels of both verbal and visual language.

BOOKR is designed for teachers by teachers. To help children reach their full potential, BOOKR follows a methodology proven effective through research. We design the texts and activities to be used both for individual use or instructed learning in a classroom setting or beyond.  Besides the text itself and the narration, the illustrations and animations support the understanding of the texts, but they don’t distract the readers from it.

Empirical research conducted in 2019 by the Ministry of Education in Hungary in partnership with Eötvös Loránd University, University of Szeged, and Corvinus University has shown that BOOKR Kids’ interactive books that offer new language, visual, communication and performative qualities, among others, can sustain the attention of the recipient in the long run and can be successfully incorporated into the process of child-rearing, education, and self-improvement.

The studies were conducted with kindergarten-aged children with average abilities and hard of hearing children and their educators who mediated the tales. 

Storytelling for kids in English is more important than ever, which is why we at BOOKR Kids have created the new generation of graded readers. BOOKR Class is the ultimate tool to teach and improve English language learning: an easy-to-use gamified library application for students, coupled with a teacher’s dashboard displaying real-time statistics. The following paragraphs will present the most important features of the BOOKR solution.

Ad-free application with thoroughly researched content by educators, children literature experts and psychologists. Accessible on mobile devices, computers, online and offline.

Improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and social-emotional skills – thanks to 1000+ beautifully animated books, interactive games and flashcards.

where teachers can

BOOKR is aware that vision is our most important sense, particularly in one’s childhood, and that the skill of “reading” pictures develops from the very beginning of our lives.

Understanding images and connecting them to words that we hear helps the development of comprehension as well as language-production skills. Therefore, to facilitate the development of our readers, the provision of high-quality input is one of our major concerns.

At these levels, illustrations are designed according to a concept-based approach. The characters have distinctive features which are often symbolic and composed of larger, contrasting elements. As the skills of the learners develop, the graphics become richer, more detailed, more complex and sometimes even metaphoric.

These features are in line with the descriptive features of the literature illustrated besides offering authentic cultural and historical depictions.

Our young and talented illustrators were raised on traditional illustrations while with their modern approach they are part of the contemporary graphic world. They are able to attract the young generation while respecting the well-established principles of illustrating.

The movement of some of the images in our interactive books catches the eye of the reader and develops comprehension skills without drawing too much attention away from the linguistic features of the story. There is a great balance between entertainment and scaffolding, meaning that the illustration, animation and sound effects make the book more engaging and more easily comprehensible at the same time.

The animation is synchronized with the narration, therefore facilitates understanding due to their close temporal contiguity. The presence of the animation, the text and its narration rely on the theory of dual coding – comprehension occurs more easily than with one single input and some kind of decoration. Zooming highlights the main elements mentioned in the narration which helps in the identification process. It draws the readers’ attention and helps make sense of the text. 

Narration by professional voice-over artists facilitates the improvement of oral language comprehension skills and the acquisition of pronunciation. The presentation of different accents, especially in the books which are about a particular area or country help – improve listening skills and intercultural communicative skills.

ext highlighting draws the reader’s attention to the expressions and clauses being read and helps the reader follow along at the same pace as the narrator. The highlighting helps the understanding of sentences as it divides the longer structures into more comprehensible units.

Text highlighting can be turned off in case the division of sentences is disturbing or unnecessary.

The accompanying age-relevant and fun-to-do games are created by teachers with a playful layout and encouraging feedback to motivate learners. Besides global comprehension checks, many activities are included to improve reading for specific information and games to make sure students understand stylistically different elements.

Grammar- and vocabulary-focused games provide practice of specific topics and structures, but there are activities that support the improvement of communicative skills, pronunciation, logic and a wide variety of other 21st century soft and cognitive skills, as well. 

The online library is divided into six proficiency levels which are adapted to specific age groups. Therefore, each category is based on the interests and preferences of the given age group as well as their needs as language learners.

The linguistic needs were established based on the linguistic proficiency levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), but other aspects (for example Lexile Measure) and classroom experiences were also taken into account.

The app allows several ways of organizing teaching and learning techniques (paired work, small group work, cooperative learning organizing procedures), and also offers a wide range of content, so the teacher is able to assign books on different levels with similar language focus.

Interactive books allow the educator to incorporate the differences in learning abilities in the classroom and mitigate socioeconomic and socio-cultural disadvantages. Simultaneously, the still images and motion pictures inspire them to implement visual reading as a part of their literature lessons.

BOOKR Kids’ app allows for making even abstract parts of the classes entertaining and activity-oriented for children, determining learning outcomes based on psychological development.

We use assessment tools (like Lexile Leveling in BOOKR Class) in order to make learners move from one learning level to the next higher level based on their demonstration of knowledge rather than based on time spent on a specific level.