velawoods english

Velawoods English

Velawoods English is an immersive, self-study English course that, according to its website, “offers the next best thing to living in an English speaking country”. We spoke to the Managing Director of Velawoods Learning, Hani Malouf, and Cambridge University Press’s Publisher for Consumer, Keith Sands, to hear more about the vision behind the product and their experience of putting it together.

Review: Olive Green

It’s Manhattan, or somewhere similar, and the James Bond style music plays loudly as we cut from a cityscape to a young woman, dressed in black, walking up an outdoor staircase and into a rooftop apartment. We see that her hands are bloody as she opens the metal flight case she’s carrying. We watch as … Read more

The Future of ELT

It was interesting to be at IATEFL this year, the annual land grab for attention larger than ever, and a conference dominated by discussions, presentations and a plenary about the future of ELT, which – it is suggested – will be completely mediated by technologies (more of this fallacy later). With Sugata Mitra selling his … Read more

SimCityEDU: Learning What Games Can Do

Way back in June we wrote about GlassLab’s partnership with Pearson and Electronic Arts and their collective efforts to develop a game-based learning product out of SimCity. Well, GlassLab launched the first edition of this hugely anticipated super game earlier in November. Called SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge! The game puts learners in contact with a hugely effective … Read more

Game-Based Learning 1.1: Myths & Mistakes

In this first instalment of a four-part guest series, David Dodgson talks about some of the misconceptions of GBL and the culture of gaming in general. Dave Dodgson is an EFL teacher working with young learners in Turkey. He has always had an interest in the use of technology to enhance the learning experience and … Read more

It’s In The Game: Gamification and Language Learning Pt. 2

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Following on from our part 1 post I’m taking up the question that was left hanging in the air: what does gamification really mean for language learning?

The answer, as unsatisfactory and contradictory as it may sound, is: it means what it’s always meant. ‘Good’ language teachers will always instinctively apply such concepts to engage and help their learners. The technology utilised in this approach could range from a piece of paper to a room full of iPads. The tech is the vehicle for delivering the solution, not the solution itself.

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Money A Turn Off (It Turns Out)

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A whopping 62% of gamers pull the plug on their game experience when faced with in-game monetisation methods, a survey by betting site BuddyBet revealed. Further to this, 25% avoid online and mobile games altogether precisely because of these unwanted interruptions.

Jarrod Epps, CEO and Founder, BuddyBet, commented:

“[P]opular monetisation models risk alienating gamers due to the negative impact they have on the gaming experience, likely shortening lifetime user engagement and in-turn reducing the lifetime value of a player.”

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The Grading Game: birth of the “first person tutor”

The Grading Game is an addictive action word game centered around the pursuit and eradication of grammar and spelling errors. The game’s levels take the form of students’ papers, with a fresh set of errors generated for each play. Meanwhile, the papers themselves cover the most interesting and unusual topics, from the history of ramen to … Read more