Make progress in English with regular daily practice

English in a Flash is hosted online at Renaissance Place, and can be accessed from any online school computer. Just 15 minutes of practice each day allows for significant progress to be made.

1. Build student vocabulary

English in a Flash helps students to build Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and vocabulary necessary for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).

Content-Area Vocabulary. Students learn the content-area vocabulary required for success in language, arts, maths, biology, chemistry, history and other subjects.

Conversational Vocabulary. Students learn conversational vocabulary that helps them communicate effectively with classmates and teachers.

2. Provide grammatical structure

Students learn grammatical structures the same way they learned them in their native languages—through meaningful exposure. Once students have learned the vocabulary in a lesson, those words are combined into short phrases, sentences and dialogues.

Students learn grammar and structure implicitly. Vocabulary words are taught in Lessons 1-3. Vocabulary words are placed in phrases and short sentences in Lesson 4, and sentences and dialogue in Lesson 5. This sequence provides comprehensible input that increases with staged progress.

3. Monitor vocabulary acquisition and progress

Several reports provide detailed and incisive information to aid progress monitoring. The progress of each individual student is recorded on a Student Record Report. This records the words, phrases and dialogue learned. A Class Progress report provides an overview of current work and shows how the class are improving so intervention can be made effectively. A Parent Report facilitates parental involvement in their child’s vocabulary progress.

4. Guide students to books of interest

AR BookFinder is a free online tool designed to help students, parents, teachers and librarians to find books based on vocabulary knowledge.

Help build a solid foundation of English vocabulary

English in a Flash helps learners of English as an additional language to increase their comprehension skills and build phonic and phonemic awareness. It gives teachers the tools they need to personalise instruction and practice.

Differentiate instruction. English in a Flash determines students’ vocabulary knowledge so that each student spends the time learning the vocabulary they need.

Optimise exposure to comprehensible input. English in a Flash helps students learn faster and retain more information by providing input that contains language just beyond the student’s current ability.

Increase content-specific vocabulary. English in a Flash concentrates on increasing students’ vocabulary, including Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).

Utilise practice activities, including printable flash cards. English in a Flash incorporates listening, speaking, reading and writing activities to reinforce the use of vocabulary and grammatical structures after they are introduced.

Select appropriate books. Use AR BookFinder to locate books at students’ appropriate vocabulary levels so students can enjoy and understand authentic literature as they first build vocabulary.