With the introduction of these additional levels, our educational team aims to bring a new level of nuance and depth to the BOOKR Class Library, creating a more tailored and comprehensive learning journey for each and every student.

So, why the switch to 9 levels, and how will it benefit you as an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher? Let’s delve into the advantages and possibilities that this expansion brings to the classroom.

During the past 2 years since BOOKR Class 2.0 came out, we have learnt and experienced a lot about the functioning of the library, the habits of our users and the teaching practices. 

To better nuance the BOOKR Class Library, our educational team decided to extend the currently available 6 levels to 9 levels, introducing new “transition levels”.

The target age group will remain 4-14, and the proficiency level from pre-beginner to intermediate (pre-A1 to B2), but with more nuance and transition between levels.

Why switch to 9 levels and how does it benefit your work as an EFL teacher? 

With 9 levels instead of 6, teachers can provide a more nuanced and differentiated learning experience for their students. Different students have different levels of proficiency and progress at different rates, so having more levels allows teachers to better tailor the content to each student’s needs and abilities.

By increasing the levels, the content can cover a wider range of language skills, such as vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension. This can help students develop their English language skills in a more comprehensive and structured manner, building a solid foundation for their language development.

More levels provide teachers with greater flexibility in lesson planning. They can easily adjust the content and difficulty level based on their students’ progress and needs, allowing for a more adaptive and personalized approach to English language instruction.

Having more levels allows for more accurate assessment and monitoring of students’ progress. Teachers can easily track students’ performance across different levels, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted feedback, which can support effective assessment and monitoring of student learning outcomes.

How should you image the CEFR levels aligning with BOOKR Class’s classification of levels? Here’s a cheat sheat, save it, copy it, print it and have it handy if needed. 

Levels one by one

Level 1 was created for young learners who are encountering the English language for the first time. It aims to familiarize learners with the target language and establish basic skills. Some of the Level 1 books are recommended for ages 0-8 and are tailored to young learners who may not yet have reading skills.

The books

The games

Level 2 is designed for beginner learners to get familiar and comfortable with the basics of the English.

The books

The games

Level 3 for beginner learners to improve their confidence with the basics of the English language. 

The books

The games

Level 4 is designed for beginner learners who seek to improve their language skills.

The books

The games

Level 5 is designed for pre-intermediate learners to expand their basic knowledge and improve their language skills

The books

The games

Level 6 is designed for pre-intermediate learners to venture beyond their immediate surroundings.

The books

The games

Level 7 for intermediate learners who want to confidently engage with topics beyond their immediate environment.

The books

The games

Level 8 is designed for intermediate learners to broaden their vocabulary and familiarity with different genres and registers of the language.

The books

The games

Level 9 is designed for upper-intermediate learners to dive deeper into various topics.

The books

The games

Mental health, however, by nature, is like improving one’s flexibility. You can increase it as an adult, work hard and consistently to master the perfect split but you most likely won’t be able to compete with athletes who have been working on their flexibility since they were four.

It is very similar to habits and practices of mental health – start working on it in time, and your students or children have a much easier task managing their emotions as an adult.

What do we mean exactly, when we say mental health? Well, mental health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

It affects how we think, feel, and act, and also determines how we handle stress, build and keep relationships, and make decisions in life. 

Throughout all stages of life, mental health holds significant importance, ranging from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. Any mental health issues experienced during your lifetime could potentially impact your behavior, mood and thinking.

Childhood mental health awareness is inevitable to talk about in any 21st-century institution. Why? 

First, mental health issues can arise in childhood and can have a significant impact on a child’s development and well-being. However, early identification and treatment of mental health problems can prevent them from becoming more severe and having long-term effects.

Raising awareness of childhood mental health issues can also help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and promote more understanding and support for children and families dealing with these issues.

It all starts at home, but teaching mental health in school cannot be avoided.

Because improving the mental health of students is not ‘only’ crucial for their overall well-being, but for their academic success as well.

If you are an educator looking for ideas to pay more attention to mental health awareness, this quick guideline was made for you.

Teachers should make sure their classroom is a safe and welcoming space for all students.

As an educator, you can encourage students to express themselves and their feelings without fear of judgment. Promote inclusivity and respect for diversity in their classrooms! 

Teachers can teach their students coping skills such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive self-talk. These skills can help students manage stress and anxiety and improve their overall mental health.

So many books are available that can help you introduce these topics, read on for the full list.

Physical activity is known to improve mental health by reducing stress and anxiety. Teachers can encourage their students to participate in physical activities such as sports, dancing, or yoga.

It’s okay if you’re not a dance teacher – it’s all about creativity and fun. Find ways to bring these playful elements into your English or Maths classes and do a favor to your kinesthetic learners by creating a little routine to memorize vocabulary or maths theories. 

Teachers can create a supportive network for their students by connecting them with school counselors, mental health professionals, or community resources.

You can also encourage students to build positive relationships with their peers, there are great resources available in form of books or worksheets.

While as an educator you are not required to possess the abilities and knowledge of a professional psychiatrist, you should be aware of mental health issues that can affect students, such as anxiety, depression, and ADHD.

Your role here is to recognize the signs and symptoms of these conditions and provide appropriate support and resources. 

High academic pressure can have a negative impact on students’ mental health. You can reduce academic pressure by setting realistic expectations, providing support, and encouraging students to take breaks and practice self-care.

In addition to these tips and tricks, it is essential to have mental health programs in schools.

These can help students with mental health issues by providing them with the necessary support and resources, and they can include counseling services, mental health education, and support groups.

Consult your school about the programs available and the policy to follow. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Suggest starting mental health programs in school!

Seek out your school’s counsel and be prepared to notice if a student shows early signs of any issues. We’ve gathered some of the most common disorders children could face and the most basic early symptoms that could raise suspicion: 

An exciting term that we must touch upon when talking about mental health awareness in school.

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

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. This is what mental health awareness month aims to achieve. Get more tips for SEL at home from this article.

Teaching mental health in schools is an essential component of SEL programs. 

Mental health education in schools can take many forms, such as classroom lessons, workshops, guest speakers or other events unwrapping the topic. These programs can help students – and teachers! – learn about mental health in a safe and supportive environment.

If you don’t have the means to make these a reality in your school just yet, there are baby steps you can take, and they are threefold:

Read.
Listen and discuss.
Be the role model. 

While it is often thought of as a leisurely activity, mental health benefits of reading could surprise you.

How does reading help your mental health?

 Reading can help reduce stress by allowing the reader to escape into a different world and forget about their problems for a while.

Research has shown that just six minutes of reading can reduce stress levels by up to 68%. Well sign me up!

Reading can improve cognitive function by keeping the brain active and engaged. It can also improve memory, focus, and concentration.

Reading can enhance empathy by allowing the reader to experience the lives and perspectives of different characters. This can help develop emotional intelligence and increase understanding and compassion for others.

Reading can provide a sense of community by allowing readers to connect with others who share their interests. This can help reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Reading before bed can improve sleep by relaxing the mind and reducing stress levels. This can lead to better quality sleep and improved overall well-being.

Reading can be beneficial for those struggling with mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. It can provide a healthy distraction and escape negative thoughts and emotions.

Read more about making reading a habit on this detailed article tackling each and every question you may have regarding.

There are many stories specifically designed to introduce and discuss some of the mental health topics in an age-appropriate way. 

At BOOKR Class stories and hand picked and selected by educiational experts and psychologist to ensure children become familiar with concept such as relaxation for example. 

The collection of our book recommendations

As easy and obvious as it may seem – talking is the key. 

Regular check-ins with students is a great practical implementation of mental health awareness support. 

It can foster a sense of solidarity among students, as they realize that not all of their peers are as flawless and they might not be doing as great themselves, as they may seem. This realization could provide a sense of relief for students and hopefully encourage them to seek assistance if necessary.

Introduce Feeling Fridays once a month, and let your students share what’s going on in their lives in a playful way. Try this printable worksheet on one of your Friday sessions and talk about what the little ones can do to support each other on a bad day.

Your students look at you as role models. Whether you are an educator or a school administrator, students’ faith is quite literally in your hands. Although you want your students to respect you and your work, you can be genuine and humane with them at times.

Introduce the topics through stories, or just by hanging this visual in the classroom and discussing the topic. Students might share their experiences, the times they made a mistake. What a great way to create a classroom environment full of acceptance, sense of community and love.

Students like rules. They like routines and structure, as it’s easier to function in them. The trick is to strike a happy medium – give them enough freedom to express their creativity during activities but in an organized framework with boundaries. It’s quite a fun topic, actually. Let me show you why in this next blog post.

Routine is important because: 

Class routines are going to be different in preschool, elementary school, and in high school. Depending on culture and age, students will react differently to certain routines; that’s why we gathered as many examples as we could. Find your favorite one! 

But remember, no matter which ones you implement, rules and routines need to be consistent, predictable and clearly articulated to work. 

Let’s take a look at the different types of routines. We collected some of the best examples, tips, and printable activities for you to try.

Effective classroom management tips are the backbone, so we start at the basics.

Transitions can be challenging for many young learners. It’s important to give students a clear idea of when you all will move on to the next activity and what that requires them to do. Setting a timer for transitions is a very tangible way to let them know we’re moving on to a new topic or activity. Songs work just as well: “By the time the music stops, everyone back in their seats with the book open at page 15”.

It will add variety and predictability to schooldays and something to look forward to every day. Be creative here and include chores or tasks that need to be done – make it playful and see that even collecting trash in the classroom becomes fun.

Some examples to spark your creativity:

Assign one or two students each week to look for acts of kindness during the week. Have them report their observations to the class at the end of the day – it’s a wonderful way of practicing not only kindness put public speaking and presentation skills. If your students are of a more advanced level, this game can be in English. 

An active body activates the mind, too – of course, we’re not saying you need to become a gym teacher all of a sudden. Check out a couple of easy movements you can easily complete in the classroom and have the little ones release some stress and fatigue. 

It’s a great idea to try out when they feel tired or in between activities to free their minds and start fresh for the next challenge.

Daily routines start at the very first moment students enter your classroom – so why not start with the simple habit of paying a little bit of attention to all your students every day? 

Decide with your learners if it’s a wave, a hug, or a high-five that suits them best.

Classroom routines examples help to set the tone for the entire learning environment.

Teach the little ones about praising each other and give them a framework of a healthy feedback culture. Make it a habit to congratulate each other when something goes right, and not judge if a classmate makes a mistake. 

A funny way to praise and learn English at the same time is by using Praising Cards.

If you’d like to read more about the importance of social-emotional learning at an early age and find out what it really means, check out our article about it written by psychologists and educational experts. 

There are no two teachers and two classes that are the same – and that’s one of the reasons we love this profession so much. Depending on age group, nationality, number of students, and the group dynamic in general, you’ll find that something that works like a charm on one student or class does nothing for the other. 

Try to enjoy the process of finding why routine is important in your classroom, in your particular case, and take the time to figure out what works best. And remember, you’re planting seeds today that could become part of a beautiful forest in the future, giving them techniques that might become part of their daily routines and even personality as an adult. That is pretty exciting on its own. 

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. 

BOOKR Class was designed for colleagues, who enjoy novelty and have high hopes and expectations when it comes to language teaching. The app offers high-quality graded texts with stunning visuals and authentic narration in a digital format and within the storytelling method – a unique combination on the market. 

To help with the implementation of this app and guarantee success in the classroom, we have gathered some ideas on how to use our digital multimedia books to their fullest potential. But diving teachers might alter these guidelines according to their students’ needs  

You can use the BOOKR Class books as huge books without narration. Simply project the app and read the story with your students at their ideal pace. This way, you can adjust the reading process for your students, add comments, provide explanations or turn the book into a dialogic reading activity.

Check the global comprehension skills of the class using a BOOKR story as a listening activity. Instead of projecting the book, students simply listen to the story and then play the follow-up games.

Combine the features of the interactive multimedia books and first, have your students listen to the beginning of the story. What characters do they imagine as protagonists?

Turn on the projector, and allow them to see the visuals. Were they right? Now have them enjoy the multimedia experience.

Next, turn off the narration. Can they imitate the characters’ voices well? Alter the input as much as possible and challenge your students’ skills!

Share your screen with your students and ask them to think about the story they are reading. Start the book, then stop every once in a while and ask questions to generate discussion, recall vocabulary, encourage prediction or personalize your questioning. Adapt your questions for each student and address them individually. 

With good planning time, you can build a three-tiered lesson plan. Think about your students who are below their expected level (A), the ones at their expected level (B), and the advanced level group (C). Open the Activity Tips and the Teacher’s Handbook to combine the tasks. 

• For group A, use small steps and simple activities. Include pre-teaching and construct the lesson in such a way that you can actively support them throughout.  
• For group B, give more autonomy, making sure they work together and rely on each other. They can play the follow-up games after the story and add various extra activities. 
• For group C, omit the smaller steps and include a wide variety of activities, project work, or research. 

Allow your students to pick one of the three options based on their skills, motivation, emotional state, and on-the-spot personal preference.  

One of the best ways to differentiate instruction is to let the students decide how the classroom is organized during the lesson. Do they prefer to work on their own, in pairs, in smaller groups, or frontally? Have them vote or simply let them pick for themselves.

In many cases, enthusiastic students are able to work on their own, prove their potential and challenge themselves so the teacher can spend more time with students who need additional support.

There are always students who finish activities faster than others and tend to start activities often not appreciated by diving teachers. In these trying times, let these students use BOOKR Class, pick a book or flashcard set they are interested in, and read and play while you work with other students.

You can use stories as picture books and encourage students to come up with alternative scenarios and endings. Have them change the place, time, personality traits of the characters, and optionally the solution. Provide an opportunity for their imagination and sense of humor to fly. 

Start your lesson with a listening activity without projecting the visual aids. Ask your students to imagine what the characters are like after listening to the first few pages. Can they describe them? How do they imagine the plot will unfold (based solely on the characters)? How biased are they? Start up a conversation on prejudices, biases, and openness.

Set up a competition between the students. Pair them up and ask them to work together on the games. Student A asks Student B about the first item. If the answer is correct, a point is awarded. If the student passes or their answer is incorrect, it becomes Student B’s turn. Student B asks Student A about the next word, question, or item. Who wins more points?

BOOKR Class books can be the basis for an exhibition of still pictures. Assign different pages/books to various groups of students and ask them to create a still picture. Can the other students guess which scene/story the group is trying to recreate?

How well do they use body language? How good are their interpretative skills? Who has the greatest aptitude for this artistic project?

Time management and self-principle are important skills that teachers can nurture at school. Help your students form the great habit of daily reading.

• Who has the longest strike?
• What is their secret?
• Who is the first on the leader board?
• What motivates them?

Use BOOKR Class books for role play to improve emotional intelligence. First, students choose their character and then assign them a character that might be more of a challenge for them to identify with. In books where there are several characters, you might want your students to focus on a minor character and ask them to retell the story from their perspective.

Does the exercise spark any empathy?

 How critical are your students? How logically or creatively do they think?  Ask them to speculate and guess what comes next while reading the book. Stop the story once in a while and ask questions about upcoming events.

What are their predictions?

How well can your students summarize content? Do they find the most important information easily?

Ask your students to tell the story by themselves as briefly as they can. Summarizing the plot might be challenging at first, but if they rely on the pictures, they will be able to organize their thoughts and sentences more easily.

When it comes to the games and flashcards, allocate enough time to allow your students to think and guess instead of attempting to solve the tasks as fast as they can.

Before tapping on the words and listening to them in the vocabulary-building games, ask students to guess the words.

After listening to the words, encourage your students to repeat them. Who can imitate the narrator best? In the case of flashcard sets the built-in voice recognition AI system will tell!

Pick an illustration from one of the books for the warm-up activity and project the paused page.

• Where is it set?
• Who are the characters?
• What is the relationship between them?
• Why are they there?
• What are they thinking about?
• What happened before?
• What will happen next?

Guide your students from concrete visible information to personal ideas and hypotheses. Encourage discussion, arguments, and fictitious scenarios!

Our dream as teachers is to listen to our students talk with each other genuinely, yet the road to achieving this is long and full of challenges. The best way to guide your students is with role plays. 

• Step 0 is a read-aloud session simultaneously with the narration of the BOOKR Class book. 
• Step 1 is a simple read-aloud session of a conversation frontally or in smaller groups. 
• Step 2 is adding some emotion to their reading. For fun, you can hand out pictures of different emojis (angry, scared, sad, happy, tired…) and have your students use that voice while reading. The less it matches their role, the funnier it can get.
• Step 3 is encouraging free talk, rephrasing, shortening, and adding their own words or expressions to the conversation. 
• Step 4 is doing the role play on their own with the help of the pictures or a sketched flipchart. 
• Step 5 is going for alternative (sometimes even unexpected) choices and answers. At this point, your students might not even rely on visuals anymore. 

You can use memory games and flashcard sets to make up stories using given words or expressions. If they make a lot of mistakes in the memory game, the funnier the repetition can get in their own story. How much can they twist the original idea? How many linking words can they use? 

Let your students practice vocabulary by turning over a set of flashcards. Students can work in pairs and test each other, card by card.

• Student A has the chance to say the first word depicted by the first flashcard. If the correct word is said, a point is awarded to Student A. If not, no points are awarded.
• Student B turns over the second flashcard.

Who has a larger vocabulary range?

Encourage your students to have fun while improving their pronunciation with flashcards. Students can work in pairs and test each other.

• Student A has the chance to say the word depicted by the picture on the first flashcard. If the correct word is said and the score of Student A is over 90%, a point is awarded to him or her.
• Student A has 3 more chances to reach 90% before it is Student B’s turn.

Whose pronunciation is better?

Divide your students into two groups (or an even number of groups) and assign a different part of the book to each group. Let them read their part and then mix and match them with new partners:

• What are their ideas for the missing parts?
• What are their hypotheses?
• After the first round of guessing, allow them to ask questions.
• Can they reconstruct the story with the newly-acquired information or do their partners need to tell them what was missing from their part?

You can assign books to your students as homework in the Teacher’s Dashboard. It can serve as an introduction to a topic or a practice after a lesson. They can read at home, play the games, you can monitor their progress and results, or even turn it into a competition with rewards.

You can assign flashcard sets as homework and encourage your students to practice words. Listening to the flashcards and pronouncing the words or expressions help the acquisition and make students more knowledgeable and confident in the long run.

You can ask your students to work in pairs or in small groups (maximum of 4) in class and read the stories together on their smartphones. This can be a pleasant shared experience, especially if they turn off the narration and read to each other or turn it into a roleplay.

You can open the app on your computer and project a book for the whole class. Then you can read for the students or have them read to each other and to you. As a reward, you can play the games or compete with the help of a flashcard set.

You can start your lesson with a BOOKR Class story and then build the activities and exercises from the story. Make use of the follow-up games and the Activity Tips document with extra ideas and materials. Vocabulary building, grammar practice or project work…the opportunities are endless.

Check out the Teacher’s Handbook for examples.

You can start your lesson with a story that introduces the topic of the lesson to generate discussion, recall knowledge, motivate and engage students.

Then you can advance to the planned textbook material, work on those exercises and assign the book with games as homework for additional revision and practice.

You can choose to finish your lesson with a nice book as a reward. It’s short pleasure reading that you can enjoy together and proves that books are not only for teaching content in the classroom. 

Congrats! You have read all of our 39 tips on how to use BOOKR Class!

BOOKR Class books are invaluable tools for differentiated instruction, to improve 21st century skills, higher-order thinking skills as well as communication skills liketraditional books, but with more opportunities thanks to their digitized format. However, most of these activities only need the app, some motivation and a lot of encouragement on your part as the teacher. 

As a diving teacher, I’m sure you already have at least one activity in mind from the 39 that you would like to bring into the classroom over the next few days. I also hope you found these tips inspiring and that you came up with your own ideas too! Can you add the 40th to the list?
Share your ideas in our Teacher Community! 

Can you pick your favorite activity? If so, try it with your students and share your experience with us on Facebook. 

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.

The word ‘traditional’ can refer to both methodology and the materials used in the classroom; and in order to put all these changes in context, this article will focus on the importance of reading skills in English and how this – supposedly – traditional skill can be turned into something ‘cool’ for our digital-native students.

Today, teaching is becoming an ever more complex activity that goes way beyond teaching a subject to students. Consequently, a teacher often assumes a host of roles, depending on the needs of their learners. Most typically, we refer to teachers as educators, agents of change, facilitators (of learning experiences), or even trendy ‘influencers’ at school. In terms of classroom management, the shift from the teacher to a more student-centred view was inevitable as English evolved from a school subject into a life-skill that is best learnt ‘by doing’ (through experimenting and gaining experience).

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has been on the agenda of the European Union for about three decades (Marsh, 2002 in Bailey, 2015) and is being recommended as a methodological base among its member states to design language courses.

As a result, a more complex and dynamic language system is likely to develop in the minds of our learners, aided by a richer and better-established vocabulary in both their first language and the chosen target language. The linguistic and intercultural competence they gain, complemented by a host of social, cognitive, and additional ‘soft skills’, are inevitable for achieving success in learning a foreign language as well as in life itself (Thompson & Mckinley, 2018).

When it comes to these so-called soft skills, we must acknowledge the fact that having gone back to school after a prolonged lockdown period, our classrooms have become an even more crucial part of our students’ social life, providing an environment for personal interaction while learning with each other and about one another. Thus, we, teachers, have to take the responsibility to build an interpersonal, flexible, and dynamic community inside our classrooms (Holden & Nobre, 2019).

Choosing our materials wisely is key as it must happen in a way that reflects our students’ interests and everyday (life) experiences (Németh, 2019). It goes without saying that every student is different, so it is highly recommended to conduct needs analysis right at the beginning of your ‘shared career’. Besides language skills, learners can differ in terms of motivation, self-confidence and other factors that impact how they acquire the language. Research has shown that languages are inherently dynamic and so is their representation in our minds. Altering one component of this system will trigger change in all other sections that interact and influence each other (Németh, 2020).

As an added benefit, analysing your students’ needs will help you better capitalise on their strengths, and make differentiation more seamless. In turn, establishing group dynamics for your class will also become less excruciating.

To make sure the above listed educational and social needs are satisfied, all we need is a simple yet effective tool that is entertaining and, most importantly, meaningful to the whole classroom community. Believe it or not, storytelling as a methodology seems to be just right.

Jumping on this train of thought, it would be almost impossible to ignore stories in the language classroom.

Our mind needs narratives like our body needs food – this is especially true for young children who use stories to discover and understand the world around them. It is a less commonly known fact that children can easily be helped to understand rather complex stories in a foreign language well above their own active command, and as language learners, this is what should first and foremost be expected of them.

Stories can provide a rich source of language input and exposure, all the while being motivating and – comparably – inexpensive. Going beyond motivation, the challenge to subtract the essence of a text will offer countless opportunities for children to awaken a genuine interest and a hunger for learning more (Wright, 1995).

Nonetheless, we should not assume that all the above are enough. Developing language skills can be a time-consuming and challenging process, and may as well require occasional reinforcements to help students find their own voice, gain skills and adopt attitudes in the target language.

Aristotle once said that “the soul never thinks without an image.” Our imagination can soar when we find ourselves in a safe and welcoming environment that allows students to boldly fabricate and share their stories while freely reflecting on them. As everyone differs in terms of life experiences, you can never tell the exact same story twice – it all depends on how one tells and perceives it (Heathfield, 2014).

There has been a recent resurgence and legitimate interest for story-based approaches to English Language Teaching (ELT), which has created a wider appreciation and a reemerging demand for storytelling in the classroom as a teaching strategy.

In order to comply with the changes brought along by the 21st century, education is getting more and more technology-oriented, with EdTech companies trying to find the right niche to reach both learners and teachers with solutions to improve the quality of learning. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that in a classroom setting, technology means nothing without a teacher with a well-structured plan underpinned by pedagogical considerations in order to make learning as meaningful as possible (Lewis, 2017).

Here is a brief list of why digital educational technologies could become the new standard in education: well-tailored digital technologies (1) are interactive, creative, and authentic; (2) can deepen learning in a collaborative and motivational way; (3) provide quick access to the target language and support (digital) literacy; and (4) are more environmentally-friendly than paper-based resources (Lewis, 2017).

Educators, when planning to implement digital technologies, should consider the following questions (Strasser, 2018):

In summary, when implementing technologies, we need to be mindful of their purpose. Slowly transitioning back to this article’s primary focus, there has been a recent surge in digital storytelling tools ranging from an online version of the classic board-game Story Cubes to gamified library applications such as BOOKR Class, – both of which enable educators to enjoy the advantages of storytelling in the classroom.

Among the arsenal of digital storytelling tools available, BOOKR Class is one that truly stands out. The application’s methodology mainly draws on CLIL and storytelling with a communicative approach of language learning. Available on smartphones, tablets and desktops, the 3-in-1 platform provides a safe, ad-free, and easy-to-use gamified platform with 600+ e-books and 1200+ games and flashcards available for students by the end of the year. This platform is coupled with a teacher’s dashboard for real-time statistics and a desktop app for online or classroom teaching.

The content is organised into 6 different levels that correspond to the European Union’s CEFR scale (pre-A1-B2+). With the aim to help you find the appropriate reading level for students, BOOKR Class also uses Lexile placement tests.

The Teacher’s Dashboard allows teachers to recommend books to pupils, assign homework and examine data regarding student performance. Teachers can also browse the Library based on level, age group, grammar or vocabulary, and find complementary materials, such as activity tips, book previews, book statistics, etc.

Having conducted a preliminary study with teacher-trainees to gain an insight into their assumptions and attitudes towards EdTech, we collected valuable research data regarding edutainment and BOOKR Class as a digital tool for language learning.

In the table below, trainees’ responses to questions about the app presented according to four key aspects.

Almost every participant mentioned that learning via an app like BOOKR Class would be less tedious. The consensus was unanimous regarding the question whether the app would have a future in EdTech. As for methodology, they also emphasised the significance of having a Teacher’s Dashboard, which further facilitates individualised learning. As for the design, the friendly-looking illustrations and animations were chosen as the number one feature that also help children visualise and understand the stories.

When it came to user experience, it was made clear that our technologically-oriented children will find this application definitely useful, but it can also serve as an awareness-raising platform for them not to neglect reading as a skill. As for special educational needs, the application tries to find ways for dyslexic readers to make their experience with the application even smoother. For example, apart from being narrated, texts are broken down into shorter chunks for easier processing. On another note, even though the target group is made up of (very) young learners and primary-school pupils, older students may find joy and a relaxing time reading the stories in BOOKR Class.

Summarising the key takeaways of this article, it is clear that the importance of learning a second language is without a doubt. What is more, English has become a basic life-skill that is no longer an advantage but rather a must.

With reference to Lewis’ (2017) claims about digital tools (being interactive, creative and authentic, having the ability to induce deep learning while being highly collaborative and motivational, supporting (digital) literacy, and being environmentally-friendly), should you be considering to begin your EdTech journey today, look no further –  BOOKR Class has got you covered on all bases.