Why did you start looking for a tool like This is School?

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I remember meeting George and immediately realising this was something nobody else was doing, and that was a real selling point for us. 

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I liked its simplicity, I liked its authenticity. We were looking for something which gave our pupils material which was more difficult than what was out there in the standard textbooks that were accompanying the courses, GCSE especially. 

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So, it ticked all those boxes for us. It was fun, it was simple and as soon as we started using it the pupils really liked it. 

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When you think back it's such an obvious thing to do, yet nobody had done it; it was such a simple idea, the way that the young people in the videos talk and what they talk about and their mannerisms - it's so far away from the kind of staged, very inauthentic content that they're exposed to and so many of their other subjects and resources.

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As anyone who’s ever been a teacher will know, the trick often is just to give them something that's different from what else they have, that's always a good hook.

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At every point you know I showed colleagues they liked it, pupils really liked it and ever since then we've been on board.

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And how have you found your experience with This is School over time - do those initial impressions still stand?

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I had you pegged at the start as a pretty active and energetic organisation and so there's always been new things, which is exciting and reflects that activity and energy. 

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I had the impression, especially when I met some of the This is School team at conferences, how they struck me as very energetic and very on it and lots of them kind of with a background in language learning, really buying into This is School as individuals, which is reflected in the level of innovation I think.

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One thing that has really changed since we've been with you is that 12 years ago we would have said that we were necessary facilitators between the pupils and this kind of material; that's just the way that teaching has always been but now that's just not the case. Kids even at 11, 12 years old are well used to the idea that they can access whatever they want whenever they want and therefore they don't need us to the same extent. That’s what we need to do and we haven't quite done yet as an organisation - encourage and facilitate the pupils independent access to the platform because we know that there are pupils that use it independently lots, you see that from the leaderboards and from when they tell us about how much they like it.

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What impact or results have you seen since using This is School?

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The impact that the language materials on This is School has on the pupils that do lots of self-study is massive; it really is huge, that exposure to that amount of listening of authentic material.

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Nowadays the pupils really need to feel like they're accessing it for themselves rather than that we're giving it to them.

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What parts of This is School are your favourite? How about your students’?

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We use the self-study exercises consistently as a way of giving the students a different kind of exposure to the language, when I feel they have a decent coverage of the vocabulary and topics to complement, extend and consolidate understanding.

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They like the exercises and I like the fact I can see they have done the exercises!

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The grammar is very different to the way I teach grammar which is great because it means if I see evidence to suggest a student has struggled to grasp something in the way I have taught it, what have I got to lose in pointing them towards Grammar Guy and seeing if that style helps them? 

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The pupils like the games - they’ve always liked Nutty Tilez! 

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Would you recommend This is School to others? Why?

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I do! I often speak to trainee teachers, especially about the impact of authenticity in languages, and I always show them the platform and recommend it. 

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I have always liked using This is School and it’s an agile, innovative platform with a distinctive personality. Even just dealing with you on administrative things at the beginning of the year, it’s always positive speaking to the team and it’s always been a strength of yours. 

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Whatever you’re doing, it works!

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