Before you start a new class, you manage expectations, right? That's what we're doing here.
You get, for free, a service that I think is worth paying for... or will be, in the future. It will:
I think the idea is so great that I spent years learning how to code and then making it. Now that I've been using it, my students like it.
As I said above, I think it's worth paying for (and, in fact, do pay to make it work) and think free is a bargain.
"Downsides?" That's a strong word. I prefer to think of them as "opportunities for imrpovement." Still, you're not dumb. You know that it wouldn't be free if it were perfect.
Here are some things you can also expect, phrased as positively as possible:
I think that's pretty fair. If you agree, we just have to go through the code of conduct and then you can sign up.
I want to be a help in your classroom. I know that sounds like I'm over-promising, but I wrote the software that I'm calling a "teaching assistant" to help me out in my classroom and it has become indispensable for my classroom preparation, and a vital part of how my learners learn vocabulary. Let me tell you about it, and how it will let me work for you.
I prefer reading text to watching videos. If you're like me, there's a text version of this available. It says basically the same things.
I think it's easiest to begin by explaining what this is not: this is not another worksheet library. I think we already have enough great worksheet libraries, both paid and free, out there.
Instead, this should be the next best thing to having a teaching assistant who takes some of the grunt work off your shoulders.
I'm a teacher. And I want to be a great teacher. One of the things I was not great at was vocabulary review.
I was great at vocabulary in each individual lesson, but when the next lesson came around, I didn't do a great job of bringing back the vocabulary from the previous lesson.
I made up various systems with Excel spreadsheets but they quickly overwhelmed me. I realized I needed someone who could help me manage classroom vocab. The more I imagined how it could work, the more I was willing to pay for the service.
But, the service I imagined didn't exist. That lead to my next realization: If I know it would be a good idea in my classroom, I should just make it.
I talk about it like a person here -- your teaching assistant -- because I first imagined having a teaching assistant like my professors had in university. I would come out of the classroom and give the assistant the vocabulary we covered and trust them to make up my review activities.
Of course, the assistant would consult me if something wasn't clear -- did I teach "tracks, as in 'train tracks'" or "tracks, as in 'animal tracks'"? -- and would learn what kind of examples I used in class, to include them in the worksheets. (I always use Udo Jürgens in musical examples, the worksheets should use him, too.).
I had to teach myself programming and development wasn't fast. But eventually, here is what resulted: A teaching assistant who:
For your students, the benefit is clear: Consistent and regular vocabulary review. My students regularly comment on how helpful the system is.
For you, the benefits can be a little different: You get an excellent return on the time you invest in working with the assistant (it does cost some time), and you get materials that your students will think took you hours to prepare, finished in less than a minute in most cases. And that frees you up to teach (and earn) more, or to make other materials in the time you've saved.
It's different than other websites for English teachers. I understand that. That's why you're welcome to try it for free. I'm convinced that, if you use it long enough to pass out two worksheets to one of your classes, you'll be convinced of the value of it.