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Teaching, Language & ReferenceBalloon English
a SCORM-compliant language course
by James Bean, Gillian Flaherty
Balloon English is a set of interactive lessons enriched with attractive digital assets and exercises: animations, games and personalised feedback. These digital supplementary ELT materials are for grades 1-6 mainstream education and are in line with the Communicative Approach to Language Teaching. There are 312 lessons containing 2,300+ interactive screens with 5,000+ activities, animations, games and songs. Balloon English is supplied with AI-aided Grammar and Vocabulary tools that follow the students' progress and provide language content on the basis of their results. Our AI technology supports teachers and students giving essential feedback concerning areas which need revision or focus. Balloon English is filled with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction graded texts that cover a range of interesting but familiar topics. This approach allows students to gradually develop their reading and listening skills and not be overwhelmed by the text. Following the presentation, practice, production approach, comprehension of the texts is developed through a range of simple and clear exercises supported by a feedback and reward system that motivates and attracts students to language learning. Balloon English provides a truly interactive and digital experience that engages students. Method 1. ProductBalloon English 2. MaterialsBased on a series of ELT course books published by ILTS ltd, a UK publisher, and written by Gillian Flaherty and James Bean. 3. LanguageAmerican English 4. Age group and levelPrimary Education, Grades 1-6, CEFR A15. Methodologya) Communicative Language Teaching where the focus is on meaning and texts appropriate to the context. Balloon English is a perfect tool for building students’ communication skills. It is filled with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction graded texts that cover many interesting and familiar topics. This approach allows students to gradually develop their reading and listening skills and to not be overwhelmed by the text. The series follows the acclaimed presentation-practice-production method of teaching, and comprehension of the texts is developed through a range of simple and clear exercises supported by a feedback and reward system that motivates and attracts students to language learning. b) The Presentation, Practice and Production approach is used so that the language is presented in the form of videos, slideshows, meaningful illustrations with texts, and followed by controlled practice activities, and finally used in pairs or groups more freely, in the production stage. The practice activities relate to the main topic of the lesson and enable students to build their confidence and carry out the learning tasks successfully. At the end of each lesson students have an opportunity to use the English that they have learnt and to develop fluency. Students are encouraged to work in pairs or groups, and even walk around the classroom as part of the learning process. Each Talk and play activity is accompanied by a game which on the one hand grabs students’ attention, and on the other hand encourages pair-work or group-work, and leads to the spontaneous use of learnt language. Each game is closely related to the context of the lesson. Gamification is more likely to be successful these days because students are more willing to be active participants in its implementation. They enjoy playing computer games and immediately understand and appreciate their mechanics and rules. Educational games help teachers to manage, motivate, and engage their students. c) Personalized learning is essential in communicative language teaching. Balloon English provides a rich source of material which can be personalized by the students in the more creative parts of the lesson (Talk and play), where learners are encouraged to practice what they have learnt in pairs or small groups, and in a uniquely personal way. Personalization is strongly supported by artificial intelligence (AI) which has been built into the Balloon English tools. The Grammar tool provides suggestions for individual learning paths based on the students’ results. The Vocabulary tool is a perfect drill for playing with new words and where the learning path is built on the fly. The results of each screen determine if the students receive a more easy or more difficult set of activities within a given topic. Student performance data can be easily tracked and assessed. This data provides the teacher with a range of flexible course options best suited to the learners’ needs, either for remedial teaching or for a particular focus on the relevant areas of language knowledge and skills. d) Balloon English can easily be used in a blended learning environment. It is the perfect tool to combine technology and classroom-based learning. With blended learning, Balloon English supports students’ autonomy and helps them to work independently on areas that interest them, as well as on areas that they find difficult. It also provides the possibility of undertaking additional practice. The automatic marking function gives instant feedback and encourages students to repeat exercises as needed. Students are also given hints when they face problems with activity solving and they are rewarded for correct answers which can be very motivating.
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Teaching, Language & ReferenceBusiness Update
a SCORM-compliant course of Business English
by Hans Mol, Joanne Collie
Key features: Business English for adults and teens English-language communication in authentic company settings based on Business update published by Garnet Publishing Ltd 2 levels: pre-intermediate and intermediate 1 level = 12 units; 4 lessons per unit; 3 progress checks approximately 1000 screens providing 240 learning hours enriched with videos, animations, slideshows and photographs WCAG standard AI-aided personal and dynamic learning paths gaming environment for vocabulary enforcement intelligent reporting and feedback system, motivating and guiding students supported with professional training hints on what to do in specific business situations; collections of essential language; grammar topics; pronunciation activities; vocabulary glossary and audio transcription Method Business Update is an introduction to the English-speaking business world. It uses a procedural approach to put students at ease with English-language communication in authentic company settings. Business Update provides students with the English skills that they need for business, using a carefully planned combination of task-based and multi-functional practice. It teaches specialist vocabulary and provides authentic business scenarios in which skills can be practiced. The approach to learning prepares students in dealing with everyday office life, such as making calls, working with facts and figures, taking orders and dealing with customer enquiries. A skills section accompanies each unit, including authentic reading passages, vocabulary building and writing and research projects. Business Update is enriched with hundreds of videos, animations, slideshows and photographs. It adheres to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It comes supplied with the following AI-aided components: dynamic learning paths, with a choice of easy or difficult activities, based on the self-assessment quiz present in every unit personal learning path feedback based on results in the progress check lesson (after Units 5, 10 and 15 in Level 1 and 4, 8, 12 in Level 2) smart and fun vocabulary tool helping to remember new words in a gaming environment Lessons are supported with: professional training hints on what to do in specific business situations collections of essential language useful for speaking tasks specific grammar points extended in the Grammar section with full explanations pronunciation activities that deal with aspects of pronunciation that occur in the listening or speaking activities (enriched with the Audio Text module, where students can read and listen; the text is synchronized with the audio making it much easier to follow each line) a glossary of all essential vocabulary topic word lists containing useful vocabulary transcripts from the dialogues There is an intelligent reporting and feedback system, motivating and guiding students. Every activity completed correctly is rewarded with an animation. This motivational approach is strengthened with instant and specific feedback which is displayed for incorrect answers. Textual hints help weaker students to solve difficult activities. Most often these are quotes from listening or reading texts. They guide students to the right solution instead of giving them a straightforward answer. Students can also view which of their answers were wrong or correct. Each lesson ends with a report screen displaying results presented in %, number of hints used and number of errors made.
