Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<p>We&rsquo;ve launched a new reading section for low-level readers! <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons">True Grammar Stories</a> is a blended-learning section with extra digital-only activities that you can assign for homework and online class work. The first five low-intermediate lessons (15&nbsp;stories) are now available, and some beginner-level lessons are coming soon. Most of these stories are suitable for all ages, but please preview the stories to make sure the content is suitable for the age group and level you&nbsp;teach.</p>

<h2>Printable Lessons</h2>

<p>The printable versions of these lessons&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li>3 illustrated theme-based stories (e.g., friendship) per lesson focusing on a simple grammar tense or target (e.g., simple past&nbsp;tense)</li>
	<li>3 downloadable audio recordings of the&nbsp;stories</li>
	<li>3 comprehension question&nbsp;sets</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of 2 pages from Simple Past – Friendship (Dan and Norah)" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/832/content_Tara_Introducing-True-Grammar-Stories_Friendship.png" /></p>

<h2>Digital Lessons</h2>

<p>The digital versions of these lessons (requires Plus plan)&nbsp;include:</p>

<ul>
	<li>warm-up questions that cover the related theme of the&nbsp;stories</li>
	<li>vocabulary preview and review tasks for each story (Vocabulary Preview&nbsp;A goes with Story&nbsp;A,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li>grammar preview and/or review tasks for each&nbsp;story</li>
	<li>a read and listen task for each story (free for Standard plan&nbsp;users)</li>
	<li>a comprehension task for each&nbsp;story</li>
	<li>discussion questions that cover the&nbsp;theme</li>
</ul>

<div class="whiteBox">
<h5>Note:</h5>

<p>You do not need to assign all of the stories and tasks in a lesson. Only the final Discussion set in each digital lesson requires knowledge of all three stories. The suggested teaching order follows the same order as the digital&nbsp;tasks.</p>
</div>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of a digital task from Simple Past – Friendship" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/824/content_Screen_Shot_2020-07-30_at_3.37.18_PM.png" /></p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of a digital task from Simple Present – Indigenous People" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/825/content_Screen_Shot_2020-07-30_at_3.38.26_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>Grammar Review Videos</h2>

<p>For your convenience, we&rsquo;ve added some grammar videos to this section to help you review or introduce the grammar target. We&rsquo;ll be adding more videos as we add more stories on new&nbsp;targets.</p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot of a grammar video task" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/826/content_Screen_Shot_2020-07-30_at_3.36.25_PM.png" /></p>

<h2>Teaching Tips</h2>

<p>We recognize that every teaching scenario is different, especially during a pandemic! Here are some tips for using True Grammar Stories in different teaching&nbsp;scenarios.</p>

<h3>Blended Learning Classes (requires Plus subscription)</h3>

<ol>
	<li>Choose a target or theme that you want to cover with your class (e.g., Simple Past). Introduce the target by broadcasting or assigning&nbsp;a <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons">grammar review video</a> to your students. You can also use a lesson from our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> or <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/116/lessons">Fun Grammar Lessons</a> to introduce and practice the target. If you prefer to introduce the target by having your students read it in context, you can also teach or review the target later with a related grammar video or&nbsp;lesson.</li>
	<li>Choose the <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons">True Grammar Stories</a> lesson you want to try. You can begin your live (online or traditional) class with the <strong>Warm-Up</strong> questions from the digital&nbsp;task.</li>
	<li>Next, have your students preview the vocabulary from the reading. You can do the&nbsp;digital <strong>Vocabulary Preview</strong> task together as a live class or you can assign it for&nbsp;homework.</li>
	<li>Some lessons also have a <strong>Grammar Preview</strong> task. Your students can demonstrate their knowledge of the target at this&nbsp;point.</li>
	<li>Many students will enjoy having a paper version of the actual stories. You can print the story and comprehension set and hand it out (or email it if you&rsquo;re teaching online and your students want to print it out). You can also download or stream the audio. After you read the story out loud (or play the recording), have your students take turns reading it. Challenge them to spot the target in the reading. You may want to assign <strong>Story A</strong>, <strong>B</strong>, and <strong>C</strong> for homework so that your students have a digital reference&nbsp;too.</li>
	<li>You can assign the <strong>Comprehension</strong> questions for homework. Some students will prefer to do these questions on paper. You can also put students in groups for this task or do it orally if your students need more spoken practice than written practice. You can type digital feedback and ratings or ask students to submit their paper versions for marking. Take note of common errors your students are making so that you can go over them in your live class. You can also take these questions up in a live class together to give your students more practice using the&nbsp;target.</li>
	<li>The digital <strong>Grammar Practice</strong> tasks can also be assigned for homework or individual class work. You may want to use these follow-up tasks for assessment&nbsp;purposes.</li>
	<li>After reading all three stories and doing all of the tasks, have a class discussion using the digital <strong>Discussion</strong> task. Alternatively, use this task for additional written practice. This task can be used for assessment as&nbsp;well.</li>
</ol>

<h3>One-to-One Classes</h3>

<p>If you&rsquo;re teaching one-to-one, you can teach in a similar way as you would for a blended-learning class. The one-on-one attention will help your student master the target and learn a lot of new&nbsp;words.</p>

<ol>
	<li>When you see your student face-to-face, give your student a chance to read the stories out loud. Focus on any pronunciation problems your student&nbsp;has.</li>
	<li>If your student shows an interest in one of the themes, look for other readings and lessons that you can work on together using the same&nbsp;topic.</li>
	<li>You may want to assign the <strong>Vocabulary Preview</strong> and <strong>Grammar Preview/Practice</strong> tasks for homework. Encourage your student to keep a <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/104/resources/2173">word bank</a> of new&nbsp;words.</li>
	<li>The <strong>Comprehension</strong> sets can be worked on orally and/or in written form together using the digital or printable versions. Help your student find his/her written errors, but focus mainly on the grammar target from the&nbsp;story.</li>
	<li>Challenge your student to make and share personal connections with the&nbsp;stories.</li>
	<li>Search for related ESL Library lessons on the same grammar target if your student needs more practice. Consult our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/2565">Teaching Order</a> reference to find out which targets to focus on&nbsp;next.</li>
</ol>

<h3>Traditional Paper-Based Classes</h3>

<p>The meat of our True Grammar Stories lessons is available in the print-only&nbsp;versions.</p>

<ol>
	<li>Read the stories together one by one and make sure your students understand the key (<strong>bold</strong>) vocabulary from each story. Students can also take turns reading the stories out loud in small groups or as a&nbsp;class.</li>
	<li>While reading, have your students circle the grammar target every time they see it in&nbsp;context.</li>
	<li>For grammar review, your students can use the target orally and in written form by answering the comprehension&nbsp;questions.</li>
	<li>If you want to practice listening comprehension, play the audio (download or stream in class) and give your students the question sets only. You can also wait a few days after doing the reading and then play the audio and hand out the&nbsp;questions.</li>
	<li>If you want to extend the learning without the digital tasks, you can create your own vocabulary review, warm-up, and review tasks to do with your class (preview our digital tasks for inspiration). You can also challenge your students to write their own stories using the same theme and&nbsp;target.</li>
</ol>


True Grammar Stories: Designed for Blended Learning

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<p>Are you planning ahead for August? Here are a few things the publishing team is working on this&nbsp;month.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/3354"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/76_Renting-a-Car.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/3354">Renting a Car</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson (Low Int &ndash; Int) from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/76/lessons/">Everyday Dialogues</a>, students will practice asking and answering questions related to car&nbsp;rentals.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/3357"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/86_Negotiating.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/3357">Negotiating</a></h2>

<p>Have you tried our new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons">Business Matters</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/86/lessons/3353">Preparing for a Negotiation</a>? In this follow-up lesson (High&nbsp;Int), students get a chance to practice their negotiating&nbsp;skills.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons/3356"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/73_Tearing-Down-Statues.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons/3356">Tearing Down Statues</a></h2>

<p>Are we erasing history or carrying out social justice? Get ready to moderate an important discussion with this upcoming high-intermediate <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/73/lessons/">Mini-Debates</a>&nbsp;lesson.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3355"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/118_u.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3355">/u/</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;re working on lessons for all of the vowel sounds! Watch for an upcoming lesson about the /u/ and <span class="inlineBlock">/ʌ/</span> sounds in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics &amp; Pronunciation</a>&nbsp;section.</p>
</div>

<h1>Lesson Section</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons/3358"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/129_Friendship.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons/3358">True Grammar Stories</a></h2>

<p>We have a new blended-learning reading section coming out for low-level readers. Each <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/129/lessons">True Grammar Stories</a> lesson will focus on a grammar target and theme. In the first lesson in this section, students will read true stories about untraditional friendships. These stories focus on the simple past tense. The printable lessons in this section will contain simple readings and question sets. Extra digital tasks will be available to assign or to broadcast in an online&nbsp;class.</p>
</div>

<h1>Picture Dictionary</h1>

<p>Digitized flashcards? Yes, please! By August, we plan on having the <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/picture-dictionary">Picture Dictionary</a> task available in all of our digital <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons">Word Bank</a> lessons. This summer, we&rsquo;ll also be adding this assignable task to our Simple Sentences, Super Simple Grammar, and Phonics &amp; Pronunciation sections. But don&rsquo;t wait for us! You can create your own classtime slideshows with our popular <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcard-player">Flashcard&nbsp;Player</a>.</p>


Coming in August 2020

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<p>Though many schools are winding down for a few months in North America, language learning continues through July and August in many parts of the world. Some teachers also like to keep their students busy even when they aren&rsquo;t in the classroom. You can assign digital lessons to your students to help them avoid the summer slide. To help you plan ahead, here are some lessons that will be ready&nbsp;soon!</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3310"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/93_Eid-Al-Adha.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons/3310">Eid al-Adha</a></h2>

<p>In this new lesson from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/93/lessons">Holidays &amp; Events</a>, students will learn about the &ldquo;Festival of the Sacrifice&rdquo; (July&nbsp;30&ndash;Aug&nbsp;3), an important holiday for Muslims.&nbsp;</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3311"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/72_Social-Distancing.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3311">Social Distancing</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;ve had many requests for a low-intermediate version of our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> lesson on Social Distancing. You&rsquo;ll be happy to know that we have one in the&nbsp;works!</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3312"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/113_Gardening.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/3312">Gardening</a></h2>

<p>Gardening is a popular topic for pre-beginners! We&rsquo;re working on a new <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/113/lessons/">Word Bank</a> lesson on this summer topic. This lesson will feature our new <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/picture-dictionary">Picture Dictionary</a>&nbsp;task.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1615"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/88_Parts-of-Speech-and-Conjunctions.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons/1615">Conjunctions</a></h2>

<p>For several years, our publishing team has been rewriting and reformatting our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/88/lessons">Grammar Practice Worksheets</a> section. This is the last lesson to complete before we tackle some brand-new grammar targets. Watch for an upcoming celebration post on our blog!</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources/3313"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/128_Job-Ads.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources/3313">Job Ads</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming resource from <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/128/resources/">Real-World Reading</a>, low-level learners will practice reading very simple job&nbsp;ads.</p>
</div>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>Every family is unique! We&rsquo;ve heard your requests, and we&rsquo;re extending our flashcard set so that teachers will have lots of options for teaching vocabulary related to the&nbsp;family.</p>


Coming in July 2020

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<h1>Improved Teacher-Student Communication</h1>

<p>Did you know that you can now leave comments for your students at the end of all single&#8209;answer, scorable <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/digital-task-type-demos">task types</a> (e.g., Matching, Multiple-Choice, True or&nbsp;False)?</p>

<p>The general comments area is visible after viewing your students&rsquo; results. You can also edit your comment if your student makes an additional attempt. If you have a comment relating to a specific attempt, it is a good idea to reference this in your comment. For example: <em>Your second attempt was much better. Great&nbsp;work!</em></p>

<p>Your students will see a speech bubble notification on a task if you have left a new comment or edited a comment for a new&nbsp;attempt.</p>

<h1>Demo of Comments Feature</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OJQsJ8YG7-Q" width="560"></iframe></div>

<div class="whiteBox"><h5>Note:</h5><p>For <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/open-ended-questions">Open-Ended Question</a>&nbsp;tasks, you can leave ratings and&nbsp;feedback.</p></div>


How to Leave Comments on Student Homework

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Find useful resources and tips for teaching English with interactive apps and sites.

EdTech

<h1>Google Classroom Integration</h1>

<p>Are you using Google Classroom to communicate with your students? We&rsquo;ve launched the first phase of our Google Classroom integration. You can now post ESL&nbsp;Library assignments directly to Google Classroom so that your students can access all of your assignments in one place. Here&rsquo;s a quick&nbsp;demo.</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lWwONcT-VGs?si=ptvF9zQ21YQGUVvS" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>Watch for further integrations coming soon, including the ability to import your Google Classroom classes and students directly to the ESL&nbsp;Library platform.</p>


How to Post ESL Library Assignments on Google Classroom

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<h1>11 Digital&nbsp;Task Types</h1>

<p>To digitize our 1,000+ <a href="https://ellii.com/lessons">lessons and resources</a>, the publishing team is currently using 11 different task types. The task types and corresponding results are designed specifically for English learners and teachers and built by ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s talented designers and engineers. All digital tasks and features are mobile friendly for you and your&nbsp;students.</p>

<p>The task type name is now available for teachers to see underneath the title of each digital task when a lesson or resource is open on a digital&nbsp;tab.</p>

<p><img alt="Screenshot showing a list of tasks and their task types" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/291/content_Screen_Shot_2020-05-13_at_9.08.24_AM.png" /></p>

<h1>Demos of Digital Task&nbsp;Types</h1>

<p>Here are video demos for teachers that show how each of our existing task types looks for you and your&nbsp;students:</p>

<ol>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/229-read-listen">Reference</a>: a multipurpose, non-scoreable instructional task type (Read &amp; Listen, Grammar Notes, Warm-Up/Discussion Questions,&nbsp;etc.)</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/230-dialogue">Dialogue</a>: a non-scorable task type for reading and listening to&nbsp;dialogues</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/238-image-match">Image Match</a>: a vocabulary preview or review task with&nbsp;visuals</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/239-matching">Matching</a>: a text-only vocabulary preview or review&nbsp;task</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/235-see-spell">See &amp; Spell</a>: a low-level, vocabulary-building task that is not case sensitive and often includes&nbsp;audio</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/237-open-ended-questions">Open-Ended Questions</a>: a written response task or assessment with optional feedback and ratings (suggested answers available where&nbsp;applicable)</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/231-listen-type">Type in the Blanks</a>: a case-sensitive task used for listening practice (Listen &amp; Type), sentence completion, grammar/vocabulary practice, and&nbsp;assessment</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/240-true-or-false">True or False</a>: a reading comprehension&nbsp;task</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/232-multiple-choice">Multiple-Choice</a>: a reading or vocabulary comprehension task, also used in grammar lessons, may include images or audio (Listen &amp;&nbsp;Respond)</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/234-story-scramble">Put in Order</a>: a follow-up&nbsp;reading comprehension task for dialogues (Story&nbsp;Scramble)</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/233-timeline">Sequencing</a>: a reading comprehension task for historic events and biographies&nbsp;(Timeline)</li>
	<li><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/236-picture-dictionary">Picture Dictionary</a>: a vocabulary slideshow with audio</li>
</ol>

<h2>Additional Notes</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Teachers can now leave comments after viewing results for all scorable task&nbsp;types.</li>
	<li>Time spent on each task is available on the results&nbsp;table.</li>
	<li>A digital&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcard-player">Flashcard Player</a> is also available as a presentation&nbsp;tool.</li>
	<li>All ESL&nbsp;Library subscribers receive 100 free student accounts and can broadcast all digital task types on a shared&nbsp;screen.</li>
	<li>Standard subscribers can assign limited task types for homework (Read &amp; Listen or&nbsp;Dialogue).</li>
	<li>Plus subscribers can assign all digital task types, view class and students results, and leave feedback. See our <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Pricing</a> page for plan&nbsp;details.</li>
</ul>


Digital Task Type Demos

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<h1>Automated Assessment</h1>

<p>One thing students need to get used to when it comes to&nbsp;digital learning&nbsp;is that a computer often marks their work. This can be a blessing for busy teachers, especially when students are able to make&nbsp;multiple attempts for each task. However, you probably make a lot more exceptions for your students than a programmer does!</p>

<p>While <em>you</em> might consider an answer to be acceptable, the system will mark it as either <strong>correct</strong> or <strong>incorrect </strong>unless it&#39;s an <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/open-ended-questions">open-ended question</a> type.</p>

<p>Some digital platforms allow teachers to go in and change a result&nbsp;depending on their expectations. Other platforms, including ESL Library,&nbsp;do not yet have this feature, and you and your students are stuck with the score that the system assigns unless you contact someone.</p>

<h1>ESL Library&#39;s Digital Tasks</h1>

<p>With each ESL Library task type, the publishing team (made up of teachers and former teachers) has had to make some decisions about what type of responses will be accepted or not. In our <strong>Type in the Blanks</strong> tasks, we decided that proper capitalization should be required. This means that in&nbsp;a task titled&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Listen &amp; Type</a>, students have to type a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. Students also have to type proper nouns with initial capital letters.</p>

<p>For example, if your student types <strong>CAT</strong> instead of <strong>cat,</strong>&nbsp;the system will mark the answer&nbsp;wrong. Likewise, if your student types <strong>english</strong> instead of <strong>English </strong>or <strong>it&#39;s</strong> instead of <strong>its</strong>,&nbsp;the answer will be marked as incorrect. This can become a big problem if your students are used to using a backquote&nbsp;(`) instead of a proper&nbsp;apostrophe (&#39;) or, more commonly, have a bad habit of typing&nbsp;with the caps lock on.&nbsp;</p>

<p>What we hoped would happen is that students would quickly learn that typing with the caps lock on is a mistake, as is leaving out an apostrophe (or using the wrong one). After all, ALL CAPS&nbsp;is not an acceptable style of writing in academic or business writing (except in rare situations, such as&nbsp;on envelopes). In fact, in English, using ALL CAPS&nbsp;can be seen as rude. <a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3292">Digital literacy</a> is an important skill to learn and can be taught along with language learning.</p>

<h1>Teacher Feedback</h1>

<p>Since making this decision, a number of teachers have written in to let us know their thoughts. Some&nbsp;think their students&#39; answers should be marked as correct&nbsp;regardless of case, especially in grammar exercises that are not full sentences. Others have let us know where instructions need to be more clear about how an answer should be styled to ensure students have a good model to follow&nbsp;(very helpful, thank you!).&nbsp;</p>

<p>For our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell</a><strong> </strong>task type, which is mainly&nbsp;used in beginner-level lessons, we do allow for mixed-case responses&nbsp;due to feedback from literacy and low-level teachers. However, some teachers may prefer that all typing tasks have the same requirements so that students know what not to do for other tasks.</p>

<h1>Survey Question</h1>

<p>We&#39;d love to know what you think about this question:</p>

<p><em>On an educational&nbsp;platform or app such as ESL Library, should the system accept all&nbsp;correctly spelled answers regardless of case?&nbsp;</em></p>

<p>Please respond in the comments!</p>


Join the Great CAPS LOCK Debate

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<p>Thinking about June so soon? In addition to uploading digital versions of our lessons, we&rsquo;re hard at work on filling your requests for new content. Here&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re working on.</p>

<h1>Lessons</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3297"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/72_Cruise-Ships.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/3297">Cruise Ships</a></h2>

<p>In this upcoming low‑intermediate <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a> lesson, students will learn about and discuss some of the negative aspects of cruising. We are also working on updates to our high‑intermediate Cruise Ships&nbsp;lesson.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3299"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/118_e.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons/3299">/e/</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;re getting a lot of requests for pronunciation lessons on the vowel sounds. In this upcoming lesson from <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/118/lessons">Phonics &amp; Pronunciation</a>, students will compare <span class="inlineBlock">/e/</span> <span class="inlineBlock">and /ɛ/.</span></p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3300"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/127_Following-a-Recipe.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons/3300">Following a Recipe</a></h2>

<p>We&rsquo;re all cooking and baking more at home these days. Watch for a new low‑intermediate lesson coming up in our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/127/lessons">Reading in English</a>&nbsp;section.</p>
</div>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label revisedLabel hangingLabel">Revised</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1221"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/72_New-Moon-Race.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons/1221">New Moon Race</a></h2>

<p>Did you hear that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have been granted contracts to build a new spacecraft capable of landing humans on the moon? We&rsquo;re working on updates for this popular <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/72/lessons">Discussion Starters</a>&nbsp;lesson.</p>
</div>

<h1>Resources</h1>

<div class="whiteBox"><span class="label newLabel hangingLabel">New</span>

<p class="circleThumb"><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3298"><img src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/emails/monthly-newsletter/thumbs/107_Canada-Food-Guide.png" /></a></p>

<h2><a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources/3298">Canada Food Guide</a></h2>

<p>Are your students interested in learning about healthy food choices? We&rsquo;re working on a new flashcard set and visual learning resource about the updated Canada Food Guide. Keep an eye on our&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/resource_categories/107/resources">Visual Learning</a>&nbsp;section.</p>
</div>

<h1>Flashcards</h1>

<p>We&rsquo;re so happy that you&rsquo;re loving our new <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/flashcard-player">Flashcard Player</a>. This month our illustrator is busy working on a new flashcard set to go with our <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons">Super Simple Grammar</a> lesson on <a href="https://ellii.com/courses/123/lessons/2858">Singular &amp; Plural&nbsp;Nouns</a>!</p>


Coming in June 2020

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<p>Do your students like to keep practicing their digital tasks until they get the correct answers? At the end of a&nbsp;digital task, students have the option to Try Again.*</p>

<p>Until recently, this was just a practice mode for your students. With our new feature, teachers can view detailed&nbsp;results of students&#39;&nbsp;multiple attempts, including the score, time spent, completion day/time, and full answers. Your students can also see the detailed results for each of their own attempts, which will help them track their own progress.</p>

<p>Here is a quick demo for you:</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6aevTsW7iI0" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>*Note that our <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/open-ended-questions">Open-Ended Questions</a>&nbsp;task type now allows for multiple attempts. After students submit their written answers, they&nbsp;can view their results and ESL Library&#39;s Suggested Answers (if applicable). They see a message that tells them to&nbsp;wait for teacher feedback (however they can retry at any time as a new attempt). After you assess their first attempt, they receive a notification to view your feedback. We&#39;re working on a new feature that will allow students&nbsp;to edit their first attempt after receiving feedback and resubmit. At this time, you are only able to assess their first attempt.</p>


View Results for Multiple Attempts

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<p>Update: Already familiar with our Flashcard Player? See v.2 updates in the second demo below.</p>

<h1>Broadcast Digital Flashcards&nbsp;</h1>

<p>We&rsquo;re thrilled to announce the arrival of our new Flashcard Player. This digital tool allows teachers to present their own custom-made flashcard sets on a shared screen in a live class. Whether you&rsquo;re teaching online or heading back to the classroom, we know you&rsquo;re going to love ESL&nbsp;Library&rsquo;s new addition (<a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">available for Standard and Plus plan members</a>).</p>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YTs7AUzDZPU" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Flashcard Player Features (v.2)</h1>

<p>The updated version (v.2) of our Flashcard Player allows teachers&nbsp;to:</p>

<ul>
	<li>launch a saved/edited flashcard set from My Folders (go to: Class Prep &rarr; My Folders &rarr; Flashcard&nbsp;Folders)</li>
	<li>show each image from the set to elicit vocabulary (image&nbsp;only)</li>
	<li>click on an image to reveal the text (image +&nbsp;text)</li>
	<li>click on the text to hide the image (text&nbsp;only)</li>
	<li>advance to the next image or go&nbsp;back</li>
	<li>launch from Manage flashcards page after saving a&nbsp;set</li>
	<li>view a sidebar menu</li>
	<li>skip to a flashcard from sidebar&nbsp;menu</li>
	<li>rename a flashcard from sidebar&nbsp;menu</li>
	<li>remove a flashcard from sidebar menu (for the presentation&nbsp;only)</li>
	<li>choose the default presentation&nbsp;style</li>
	<li>choose the presentation font style (Standard or&nbsp;Literacy)</li>
</ul>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eGhFXINJURE" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Coming Soon</h1>

<p>Our designers and engineers are currently working on a few more advanced features for our Flashcard Player. In upcoming versions, you will be able&nbsp;to:</p>

<ul>
	<li>search for and add flashcards from a presentation&nbsp;menu</li>
	<li>play audio for each&nbsp;word (see our new<a href="https://ellii.com/blog/picture-dictionary"> Picture Dictionary</a> task)</li>
</ul>

<p>Stay tuned!</p>


Introducing ESL Library's Flashcard Player 

https://esllibrary-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/title_image/1823/Tara_Flashcard-Player_Banner.png

These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

<h1>Let&#39;s Follow the Instructions</h1>

<p>It&#39;s time to join&nbsp;ESL Library as a student. Did your teacher send you an email invitation to join ESL Library?&nbsp;</p>

<ol>
	<li>Go to your email inbox.</li>
	<li>Find the invitation from your teacher to join ESL Library.</li>
	<li>Click the blue Join Now button.</li>
	<li>Choose the green box. Create an Account. (It&#39;s your first time using ESL Library.)&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Fill out the form. Start by adding&nbsp;your first name and last name.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Add your email address.</li>
	<li>Add a password.</li>
	<li>Click Create an Account.</li>
	<li>Choose an avatar (a picture for your profile page).</li>
	<li>Click Start Learning.</li>
</ol>

<p>You are now on your Student Dashboard! This is where you will see your&nbsp;ESL Library assignments.</p>

<h3>Important!</h3>

<p>Next time you come to ESL Library, go to <a href="http://ellii.com/students">ellii.com/students</a> and go to the Log In form. Use the same email and password.</p>

<h1>Reminders</h1>

<ul>
	<li>You only use the email invitation one time.</li>
	<li>Next time, go to <a href="http://ellii.com/students">ellii.com/students</a> and&nbsp;Log In. Use the same email address and password each time you log in.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<h1>Questions</h1>

<ul>
	<li>Do you have a problem or&nbsp;question? Visit this post: <a href="https://ellii.com/blog/student-faq">FAQs for Students Using ESL Library</a>.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Did you forget your password?&nbsp;Ask your teacher to reset it for you. Here is a <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/193-how-to-reset-your-students-passwords">video for your teacher</a>&nbsp;on how to reset your password.</li>
</ul>


Sign Up as a Student with an Email Invitation

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<h1>About Open-Ended Questions</h1>

<p>There are several <a href="https://help.ellii.com/category/119-digital-tools">task types</a> available on our digital platform. Many are multiple‑choice, matching, or fill-in-the-blank types that have a single answer. Students can view their own results in real time for these types. Other types, such as those titled Read &amp; Listen and Dialogue, do not have results for students because there is nothing to show. However, they do track how long a student spent reading or&nbsp;listening.</p>

<p>Our open-ended question (OEQ) tasks are unique in that they allow students to type short or long responses to questions and prompts. Teachers can view these responses and leave a rating and/or written feedback. Students view the feedback on their own dashboards. (Scroll down for video&nbsp;demo.)</p>

<p>Here are just a few of the question types you&rsquo;ll see in digital lessons that use the OEQ task&nbsp;type:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Comprehension</li>
	<li>Grammar Practice</li>
	<li>Writing Practice</li>
	<li>Summarizing</li>
	<li>Question Time</li>
	<li>Research</li>
	<li>Quiz</li>
	<li>Assessment</li>
</ol>

<p>With your <a href="https://ellii.com/pricing">Plus</a> subscription (and in the free upgrade for all until June&nbsp;2020), you can assign digital OEQ tasks to your students for homework. Your students can do these task types on any mobile device or&nbsp;computer.</p>

<h1>Open-Ended Questions: Demo</h1>

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SC1EMciAPJw" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h1>Step-by-Step with Screenshots</h1>

<p>If you don&rsquo;t have time to watch the demo, here are some screenshots of the teacher and student views for each&nbsp;feature.</p>

<h2>Completing an OEQ Task (Student&nbsp;View)</h2>

<p>Students start by reading the instructions. Unlike some of our other task types, the&nbsp;instructions will vary based on the&nbsp;activity.</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/267/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-13_at_1.19.16_PM.png" /></p>

<p>Where applicable, there may also be a View Reference button. Students can type an answer or leave the question blank and advance to the next&nbsp;question.</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/266/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-13_at_1.19.25_PM.png" /></p>

<hr />
<h2>Reviewing/Editing OEQ Answers (Student&nbsp;View)</h2>

<p>After students complete all of the questions, they get a chance to review and edit their answers. When they are happy with their answers, students hit Submit Answers&mdash;they can no longer edit their answers. Students now wait for feedback from a&nbsp;teacher. They can also retry the task. This will appear as a second attempt.</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/268/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-09_at_12.09.25_PM.png" /></p>

<p>This is the notification your students see&nbsp;to tell them that they can no longer edit an OEQ task. The student will see n/a instead of a score. If they click on this, they will see their own answers and ESL&nbsp;Library&amp;rsquos Suggested Answers (if&nbsp;applicable).</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/269/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-09_at_12.09.45_PM.png" /></p>

<hr />
<h2>Viewing OEQ Results and Leaving Feedback/Ratings (Teacher&nbsp;View)</h2>

<p>As a teacher, you can see your students&rsquo; results immediately after they complete an OEQ task set. Make sure you are logged in. Then go to Class Prep and navigate to&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/129-how-to-access-digital-homework-teachers">Results</a>.</p>

<p>For this task type, you can also leave feedback and ratings. You will see the word &ldquo;Assess&rdquo; if a task has an option to leave feedback and ratings&nbsp;(currently only available on OEQ&nbsp;tasks).</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/270/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-07_at_2.27.36_PM.png" /></p>

<p>You can choose Rate Answer (see below for the four proficiency statements) for each question. This is optional. You can also leave optional written feedback for each question. In addition, you will see Suggested Answers if answers are available in the text. (Think of this as the digital Answer&nbsp;Key.)</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/271/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-09_at_12.10.36_PM.png" /></p>

<hr />
<h2>Viewing OEQ Feedback &amp; Suggested Answers (Student&nbsp;View)</h2>

<p>After you leave ratings/feedback, your students will see a notification (pen) on their dashboards. Since there is no numerical score, they will see &ldquo;n/a&rdquo; in the Score field along with a pen that shows there is feedback to&nbsp;review.</p>

<p>(Note the video demo does not show the notification of feedback on the Student Dashboard. In the video, the student had previously viewed the assessment so the pen was gone and the assignment had moved to&nbsp;Past.)</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/272/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-09_at_12.13.02_PM.png" /></p>

<p>This is the feedback/rating your student sees after you&rsquo;ve left&nbsp;feedback.</p>

<p><img alt="" class="hasBorder" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/274/content_Screen_Shot_2020-04-09_at_12.12.24_PM.png" /></p>

<p>Our LMS team is also working on other areas where teachers can add more comments for students on the platform. We&rsquo;d love to hear your feedback and thoughts in the comments&nbsp;below!</p>

<h1>Related</h1>

<ul class="resources">
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/product-feature-update-matching-vocabulary-preview">Matching: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/image-match-interactive-vocabulary-building-for-beginner-english-learners">Image Match: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/see-and-spell">See &amp; Spell: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="blog-post"><a href="https://ellii.com/blog/blended-learning-listening">Listen &amp; Type: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/181-video-read-listen-task-demo">Read &amp; Listen: Demo</a></li>
	<li class="question"><a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/184-video-dialogue-task-demo">Dialogue: Demo</a></li>
</ul>


VIEWING POSTS BY

Tara Benwell