Want Your Students to be Exposed to English After School? 3 Useful Websites I Recommend to You!

Hi everyone, welcome to ICT Language Lab!😝 Language learning is a long-term process, and class time is not enough. As teachers, we should make good use of after-class time to help students learn with autonomy. So how can teachers get students to take responsibility for their own learning?😵 Today I’m going to introduce three English learning websites that help students learn language outside class. They are TubeQuizard, ELLLO (English Listening Lesson Library Online), and Simple English Videos.

1. Introduction

• TubeQuizard (http://tubequizard.com/)

TubeQuizard is an online quiz website📑that uses YouTube videos to help people learn English. It turns real video content into quizzes, so learners do tasks while watching the video. After you enter the site, you can see “Quiz collection”. You click it, then you will see quizzes, which are grouped by English level A2, B1, B2, C1, C2. There are also different topics you can choose such as news, music, and business and so on. Each video has a quiz, and learners can fill in the missing words based on the sentences they hear in the video.

In addition, Tubequizard also lets users edit or create a quiz based on their own needs. Now please make a quiz you are interested in by following the steps below.

First, click “Train with your video”.

 

Second, on this page type in a topic you like, or directly paste a video link.

Third, click “Search” or “Create quizzes”. Then you will get quizzes related to that topic. You can also choose to practise different grammar points such as singular and plural forms, past tense and so on.👍

If you are not happy with the search results, you can change them in the “Search in subtitles”. On this page, you need to follow the example carefully. This is very important because if the format is wrong, the quiz will not be created💥. Type the word or phrase you want to test and click “Create a quiz”, then you will get the result you want.

Teachers or students can design questions around a topic and share them with others, so it is interactive and can encourage students to learn on their own.👭It is very suitable for students to do targeted practice after class according to their own level. It’s just like you have a free personal question bank!

• ELLLO (https://elllo.org/)

ELLLO is a learning website👂that focuses on English listening practice. It offers many real conversation recordings and short videos. Learners can improve their understanding of English by listening again and again.

We can see all the courses are grounded by different levels, so you can find suitable courses easily.😺

Meanwhile, the materials on the site usually talk about everyday topics such as work, travel, and hobbies and so on. Each part includes audio or video, a transcript, a quiz and a puzzle, which help students check how well they understand the knowledge.

In addition, the site has a large number of resources, and the teachers come from different countries, which helps students experience different varieties of English.

Besides that, I strongly recommend the “One minute English” section👍. This section is very suitable for young learners. In this part, the teaching videos are all under one minute, and the speed of teachers’ talk is friendly for younger learners. When watching the videos, you can clearly feel the teachers’ motivation. It makes students want to interact with the teacher and encourages them to finish the quiz after watching the video.

• Simple English Videos (https://www.simpleenglishvideos.com/)

Simple English Videos is a website for learning English through watching videos👀. The way they do that is with conversations, stories and comedy sketches. In the videos, two teachers, Vicki and Jay, explain the language points, and then apply these into a context. So learners not only understand the rules but also see how they are used in real communication. What’s more, this site includes speaking practice, everyday English, pronunciation and so on.

Each video also has well chosen background music🎶, which helps students stay focused and feel more involved in the lesson, and it creates a relaxed learning atmosphere😃. In addition, learners can leave comments under the videos and interact with others. This website is suitable as extra learning outside the classroom and can help learners improve everyday communication skills.

 

2. Differences

Unlike the other two websites, TubeQuizard is a quiz website. Students can use it to check their learning outcomes. In addition, students can create their own quizzes for targeted practice based on the parts they have not mastered.

ELLLO and Simple English Videos focus more on giving students input and new knowledge. Both sites help students learn English through teaching videos. Most videos on ELLLO use inductive teaching. They first show a situation and a conversation and do not directly present the language point. Students need to listen and watch and then work out the rules by themselves. In contrast, most videos on Simple English Videos use deductive teaching. The teacher introduces the language point first and then practises it through a dialogue. Besides this, ELLLO has related quizzes and puzzles that help students check their progress in time, while Simple English Videos does not.

 (EOOOL👆)

 (Simple English Videos👆)

 

3. Limitations

There are many resources on TubeQuizard, which is a double edged sword for students. A large number of resources means it can meet the needs of learners at different levels, but it also means students will spend a lot of time finding materials that suit them. It’s not a effective way for students. What’s more, I think many students they don’t have the ability to choose suitable resources by themselves. In addition, the quiz type is single and only uses fill in the blanks, so students may easily feel bored.😵

The ELLLO website lacks speaking and writing output practice. Also, the teachers in the videos are not fixed, so students need to keep getting used to different teaching styles, which takes extra time and energy.😫

The Simple English Videos website only provides teaching videos and does not have matching quizzes, so it is hard for students to check their learning outcomes. In addition, I noticed a navigation problem on the site. For example, when you click “Elementary”, it shows videos for “Intermediate”.😕

There is a shared limitation between these three websites, which is that they have many advertising pop ups, which can affect students’ concentration. In conclusion, these websites have limitations, so the best way is to use them  flexibly together according to your needs.

Now, it’s your turn to explore these websites!😆