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

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I teach 7th and 8th grade and I don't have a book for my students. I was looking for something to put as homework, something that my students can interact with on the computer (you know this age with technology!), and also something they can listen to other than my accent. 

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I really needed something else - even grading was just grading a piece of paper, which is not really productive in helping with student progress or positively impacting my own time. 

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What were your first impressions of the platform?

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It really clicked when my students and I learned together how to use the website. 

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It was pretty much both of us, the student and me training each other and they were telling me “oh they have this game” and “I don't know how to find these activities” and I was trying to use the website in a way where we could all benefit at the same time.

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Ultimately they’re kids, they're going to complain about everything when it's homework, but I started seeing their improvements almost immediately in the listening part!

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Can you name one key way in which you use This is School?

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This is School for me is more for my students; it's more for assignments, and for homework.

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I don't see my students every day, so I will use it maybe once a week - sometimes when we have a little bit extra time during the classroom, I can assign a video so they can listen - so we can use it as an activity in class, but I will say once a week I will use it more specifically for homework.

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

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I’ve definitely seen an improvement in their listening, from watching the videos and completing the additional activities.

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Would you recommend This is School to others? Why?

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I do, definitely. In fact, only the other day I was speaking to our Chinese teacher and showing her This is School for Mandarin.

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What motivates you to teach languages?

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I'm from South America, and I just want to show my culture to my students. I want to let them know that it's not just the United States, and they need to travel, and speaking another language will allow them to see other cultures, and be more tolerant, and be nicer to other people.

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Would you say This is School supports this, with our focus on using native speakers in our listening videos?

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When we started looking at the videos, the students were like “What, they don't speak like you!” and I had the opportunity to explain no, there are so many different accents. It’s great that This is School has that - from Spain, from Colombia, from Peru - so they're really understanding that, that there’s not just one Spanish.

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