Interactive Textbooks in an English Teacher’s Work
We use modern technology all the time to make life better: instead of a paper calendar we have Google Calendar, we order taxis and pizza through mobile apps, and our phone can even track how long and how hard we run. You will agree that today it is hard to imagine we once lived without all this. Yet for some reason, learning English very often stays the same as 20-30 years ago: long, boring hours over textbooks, memorizing irregular verb forms and translating texts about the weather in London. So if you want to become the best and most successful English teacher, it is time to think about change and about using modern interactive textbooks in your work. Never heard of them, or not sure how they can help? Read on to learn about modern English teaching with online textbooks, the benefits for teachers and students, and how to use these materials for flipped classroom teaching.
Contents
1. What an interactive English textbook is
1.1. A separate interactive textbook for each level
1.2. The full combo: reading, listening, writing and grammar
1.3. Tests to check knowledge
1.4. Useful extra materials
2. An online English textbook: start flipped classroom teaching now
3. The simplest way to teach English: with an online textbook
4. Where a tutor can find a convenient online English textbook
4.1. What an LMS, a learning management platform, is
4.2. Why English tutors choose an LMS with interactive textbooks
5. Who else, besides tutors, can benefit from an interactive textbook
What an interactive English textbook is
These are materials that can be hosted online or downloaded to a computer and are designed to make learning English easier. An interactive textbook can have a structure very similar to a regular one: it is divided into lessons, which in turn are divided into different tasks, theory, tests and so on. The difference is that an interactive online textbook contains not only text but a wide variety of materials:
- videos you can play and watch while reading grammar rules or texts;
- audio materials that teach students to understand spoken English;
- tests you can take online right in the interactive textbook and get your result immediately;
- various quizzes and similar tasks that help students learn new words or remember the different forms of those same irregular verbs.
Interactive textbooks can replace or successfully complement regular classroom learning
And the coolest thing is that you do not need to carry an interactive textbook in your backpack. It is hosted online and can be opened on any device, a computer or a phone. This is especially relevant for today’s English teachers and tutors who teach their students remotely.
A separate interactive textbook for each level
To make an English tutor’s life as easy as possible, developers of interactive textbooks create separate materials for different levels. So by moving from one online textbook to the next, your students can master English completely. This also makes learning much easier because once a student has got used to one type of learning material, they do not have to learn and get used to another. Each student can take their own approach to learning English with online textbooks: some first dive into grammar, then do tests and reinforce their knowledge by watching video explanations, while others do the opposite.
The content of interactive textbooks also differs depending on the students’ age group. Children would find it very hard to learn English through topics about global warming or the US economic system. At the same time, adults do not need to spend lots of time playing quizzes to remember colors. A whole team of methodologists, teachers, designers and content makers works on interactive textbooks, doing everything they can to create the most interesting, vivid, useful and easy-to-use online textbook.
The full combo: reading, listening, writing and grammar
An interactive textbook in itself is a tool for practicing almost all the skills that make up knowledge of English:
- reading: online English textbooks contain lots of texts that help students learn to read foreign words, and using a built-in or external interactive dictionary at the same time helps them remember the correct translation;
- listening: most online textbooks let you play the sound and correct pronunciation of literally every word, and they contain lots of recordings by native speakers so that students can get used to the language, learn to understand it by ear and later reproduce it;
- writing: right in the interactive textbook, students can be given exercises where they fill in missing words or type whole sentences, which develops another important language skill.
Interactive English textbooks also make grammar easy to learn. Teachers have long understood that simply memorizing grammar structures is a waste of time. So the learning material in an interactive textbook is built so that students remember these structures by watching videos, listening to audio or doing quizzes. A student may not know at all why a particular English structure is used in a given situation, but they will definitely know that this is the right way to say it. You will agree this is very similar to how young children learn their first language.
Tests to check knowledge
Interactive English textbooks are designed so that a student can learn with them even without a tutor (teachers, do not panic: students need you to practice using their theoretical knowledge, correct mistakes and explain tricky nuances). So after each topic, various interactive exercises and tests await the student, letting them check that they have remembered the theory correctly and reinforce what they have learned.
If the interactive textbook is hosted in an LMS, an online learning management system (we will tell you more about these systems a little later), the teacher can even see their students’ progress and most common mistakes. This way the tutor understands which topics or aspects of English the student has not mastered and what to focus on in the next live lesson.
An interactive textbook will make learning interesting and motivating
Useful extra materials
Developers of online English textbooks always try to make them as useful as possible, so after each lesson students and teachers get useful summary materials they can use as cheat sheets. In particular, an interactive textbook can contain:
- word lists where you can play the audio of each word;
- tables, which are perfect support for those learning grammar and finding it difficult;
- grammar diagrams, another helper for mastering the hardest part of learning English;
- infographics: experienced teachers have presented the theory visually so that students can understand it, remember it and apply it in practice more easily.
A short summary of the material is very convenient to use before exams so you do not have to go through the whole lesson again. This makes interactive textbooks simply indispensable for students preparing for international English proficiency tests.
An online English textbook: start flipped classroom teaching now
We have already mentioned that with an interactive textbook, students can actually study on their own. In an online textbook they will find theory, video lectures by professional teachers, exercises, tests and lots of other useful things. The only thing online English textbooks lack is live interaction and real practice using the language. That is exactly why students need a teacher.
So, taking into account all the possibilities of interactive learning and the need for teacher support, educators came up with a new approach to teaching English called the “flipped classroom”. The idea is that students work through the theory on their own (with the help of an interactive online textbook, of course), and in the lesson with the teacher they learn to use it in everyday life. Here are some advantages of this approach:
- with an interactive textbook, students can learn English at any time of day and depend less on their lesson schedule with a tutor or a language school teacher;
- since the student spends part of their time learning with the interactive textbook, they can pay less for the whole course, and saving money is very important these days;
- the teacher has to prepare fewer materials and spend less time teaching theory, because the interactive textbook does it for them;
- the teacher has more time to work on students’ pronunciation, help them overcome their fear of speaking English and, in the end, teach them to speak;
- both the teacher and the students see the results of their work together much faster: first, thanks to more intensive learning, and second, thanks to more attention to speaking practice.
So if you have long wanted to try a new approach to teaching, an interactive English textbook will help you start changing today. And according to feedback from students and teachers, the flipped classroom is the most effective approach available today.
The simplest way to teach English: with an online textbook
Now let’s sum up and list the most important benefits of using interactive textbooks for English tutors and language school teachers:
- saving time, because you no longer have to develop lessons, find or create useful learning videos, write tests or spend hours checking homework;
- easy remote work: teaching English with an online textbook lets you work with students from all over the world, and you do not need to send them lots of different materials, just one link to the textbook;
- a better professional rating: today’s students love interactivity and high tech and will certainly not give a high score to a teacher who makes them sit over printed textbooks.
An online English textbook with interactive materials is most useful for a beginner teacher. With such a textbook, a teacher can understand faster how best to build lessons and which materials are most effective. This gives them a foundation so that in the future they can write their own online English course.
Dozens of interactive textbooks, tests and other learning materials can fit on one platform
Where a tutor can find a convenient online English textbook
Online you can find and buy access to lots of different interactive books for learning English. But a tutor should look not just for an interactive textbook, but for a platform that hosts many textbooks for different levels and categories of students and also has other features: video calls for online lessons, a chat for communicating with students and a calendar for scheduling lessons. And you can find all this in an LMS.
What an LMS, a learning management platform, is
It is a cloud-based program you access through a personal link that helps you organize your English teaching effectively. As mentioned above, it can contain ready-made lessons in the form of interactive English textbooks and can perform many other tasks to make a teacher’s life easier.
When using an LMS, a tutor can sign in to their own account and control which materials their students see. Access to online textbooks can be shared with one student or with a whole group. On the other side, each student can use the platform and its interactive textbooks through their personal account, where they see only the materials they need and their lesson schedule.
This way the whole learning process moves into one system, and students no longer need to jump between lots of tabs or open TED to listen to English podcasts for listening practice. All this helps them focus on learning and improves overall results.
Why English tutors choose an LMS with interactive textbooks
A learning management platform is great, because you can upload any materials for learning English to it. But if you do not have a written course, or want to improve it, you will need interactive English textbooks. That is why tutors and teachers choose an LMS with ready-made learning materials. As a result, they can save a significant part of their working time, which they can use to rest or to teach extra lessons and earn more.
Who else, besides tutors, can benefit from an interactive textbook
Tutors who work remotely are the most interested in teaching English with online textbooks. But an interactive textbook will also suit other specialists who work with English all the time:
- school teachers: interactive materials from the textbook can be played right in class;
- university lecturers: an online textbook can make learning English easier and more varied for part-time students or those on individual study plans;
- online English schools: an LMS with interactive textbooks helps standardize teaching across different teachers and keep the quality of learning high;
- methodologists: a ready example of how lessons and whole courses are built will give a boost to professional growth.
Of course, an interactive English textbook cannot do all the work for the teacher or the student. But it will make learning easier, more interesting and more varied, and free up time for real communication and speaking practice.