FluentU for Educators: Tips for Classroom Use
We're so happy that you're using FluentU—we've heard a lot of great feedback from teachers on its usefulness in class. Here are a few suggestions for how to use FluentU with your students:
Hook your computer up to a projector. If you have this resource at your school, a projector makes FluentU a great class time activity, and allows you to walk through videos with your students during class.
Take a trip to the library or computer lab. If you have access to these resources at school, students can work independently on the video lessons or tackle them together in groups or pairs during class time.
Make one video the focal point of class. Each video has tons of content (even "newbie" level videos may contain upwards of 20 new vocabulary words). Watch the video a few times through with your class and then go through the "learn mode" together. Have students take turns guessing the answers or answer in unison. You could also have everyone work on the "learn mode" component of the video at home.
Organize videos into courses. Find videos that fit together thematically and create courses that your students can work on at home for homework.
Have all your students sign up. Students don't even need an email to sign up for FluentU. Once they've all signed up, they'll have access to the FluentU courses you've designed. You can also keep track of each individual student's progress this way. You can even see your students' weaknesses this way, allowing you to go back and review trickier topics.
Use the most entertaining videos as rewards. Let your students know at the beginning of class that, if they behave well or reach a certain goal in class, they will get to watch a movie clip, cartoon or music video. At the end of class, play the clip and enjoy! Since it's a reward, let them watch casually—then revisit the key language topics in the video during your next class period.
I hope this advice has been helpful! Please let us know if you have any more thoughts or questions about using FluentU along the way. We're happy to help—and we'd love to hear your feedback after you've given some of our classroom features a try!
Hook your computer up to a projector. If you have this resource at your school, a projector makes FluentU a great class time activity, and allows you to walk through videos with your students during class.
Take a trip to the library or computer lab. If you have access to these resources at school, students can work independently on the video lessons or tackle them together in groups or pairs during class time.
Make one video the focal point of class. Each video has tons of content (even "newbie" level videos may contain upwards of 20 new vocabulary words). Watch the video a few times through with your class and then go through the "learn mode" together. Have students take turns guessing the answers or answer in unison. You could also have everyone work on the "learn mode" component of the video at home.
Organize videos into courses. Find videos that fit together thematically and create courses that your students can work on at home for homework.
Have all your students sign up. Students don't even need an email to sign up for FluentU. Once they've all signed up, they'll have access to the FluentU courses you've designed. You can also keep track of each individual student's progress this way. You can even see your students' weaknesses this way, allowing you to go back and review trickier topics.
Use the most entertaining videos as rewards. Let your students know at the beginning of class that, if they behave well or reach a certain goal in class, they will get to watch a movie clip, cartoon or music video. At the end of class, play the clip and enjoy! Since it's a reward, let them watch casually—then revisit the key language topics in the video during your next class period.
I hope this advice has been helpful! Please let us know if you have any more thoughts or questions about using FluentU along the way. We're happy to help—and we'd love to hear your feedback after you've given some of our classroom features a try!
Updated on: 18/03/2024
Thank you!