Five Best Practices You Need to Know

If your students used Imagine Learning English in 2009, you already know the difference thirty minutes a day can make. Now we've got a few extra tips to help them excel even more. Start off the new year by trying these five best practices that are sure to help meet your best expectations.

Click and save.
Our class summary and individual reports are great references for seeing what your students have learned. With just one extra click, they can also be used to track how far students have come. After opening a report in Manager, the report will appear as a PDF. Simply save the PDF to a folder on your desktop with the student or class name and date in the filename. Within a few weeks, you'll have a running record to compare the before and afters.

Take charge of your time.
When you set up your class at the beginning of each school year, you set a session time for each student. Ideally, students will use the program for thirty minutes a day, but how do you find time for every student when a school assembly takes precedence for the day? A new feature in Manager, the override session option allows you to temporarily change the session time for the whole class, so your students don't have to miss out.

Stop and listen.
As students begin reading in Imagine Learning English, they have the option to record themselves reading the stories aloud. But if they think no one is listening, why bother recording? Let your students know that you'd love to listen to them read to you, and then they'll start taking it seriously--and improve along the way.

Leave a comment.
The same goes for writing assignments. Imagine Learning English offers hundreds of printouts for students to expand their literacy and writing skills. But if students don't get any indication of the importance of these assignments, they won't try their hardest, if at all. Let students know you care by leaving a meaningful comment at the end of a completed assignment. It only takes a minute, and the result lasts much longer.

Involve parents.
Parent reports are periodically printed throughout the year, but how often do parents actually see them? Have students bring back a signed copy to ensure parents are involved and informed.