More+Interactive+videos

I previously posted in the wiki about how I had made use of the underused annotations feature in YouTube to create interactive English teaching videos. That initial video is now getting around 1000 views per day and I have made a few more which I wanted to share with you.

The first video was an interactive phonetic chart, but I wanted to create a series of videos that together would make a 'class'. So, the first class is about the verb to be. Video 1: Introduction and Explanation. This video explains the different forms of the verb in the present simple tense. Video 2: Exercise 1. This is a simple exercise where the viewer/student is presented with a sentence that uses the verb 'to be' selects correct or incorrect depending on if they think it has been used correctly. Depending on their answer they are either given a congratulations or an explanation. Video 3: Exercise 2. In this video, the viewer/student is presented with a sentence with the verb blanked out and they have to choose the correct form am, is, or are. Video 4: Exercise 3: This exercise is similar to Exercise 2 except it is the subject pronoun the the viewer/student need to choose.

Numbers 1 - 20: This video is simply an aide to remembering/learning the numbers. We first go through the numbers, then the student can choose a number to listen to again.

All of these videos are aimed at beginners so although the explanations are in English that is probably too advanced for the target audience the intention is that the viewer will watch it with subtitles that have been added separately and are not part of the video. The advantage of this is that the same video can be viewed by anyone in the world and if the settings in their browser or YouTube account specify their first language the correct subtitle track should automatically be selected. When you watch the videos have a play around with the subtitle (closed caption CC) settings in the bottom right of the video screen.

Originally it was my plan to create a kind of grammar reference guide starting from the beginning and going from there. However, I now think the audience is much bigger at a more intermediate and advanced level. So I am now planning to skip ahead and make some videos/classes about subjects like phrasal verbs and the passive voice. So it is an ongoing project but we will cover everything eventually.