BOOKR Class is a research-based 2-in-1 complementary tool to teach English as a Second Language (ESL):
- an easy-to-use gamified library application with a curated selection of engaging interactive books and games for children between 4-14,
- a Teacher’s Dashboard with real-time statistics and books assignments for teachers,
With the curated library app, teachers have ready-to-use and reliable digital material at their fingertips to share with their students any time. A Lexile placement test helps to start the user journey efficiently, allowing the teachers and the system itself to recommend the most appropriate books to the learners.
The library, aligned with CEFR and Lexile measuring system, consists of hundreds of classic and modern interactive e-books, enhanced with animated illustrations, native English voice-over, thousands of games and flashcards with speech analysis.
All learning content is carefully selected and/or created by international ESL curriculum and children literature experts, writers, psychologists, illustrators and animators to match with your coursebooks, curriculum, in-classroom or online activities.
The Teacher’s Dashboard assists teachers in preparation, time optimization and differentiation with real-time reading statistics and book assignment. They can track overall engagement, reading habits, assignment completion, level progression and language skill development.
Formats/platforms used:
BOOKR Class app is available on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets and Windows and Mac computers. The Teacher’s Dashboard is available in browsers.
Primary website’s URL:
Problem Solved:
BOOKR Class develops English as a Second Language skills through storytelling. Through singing, repeating nursery rhymes and reading stories, a new language can be mastered quicker. They support implicit grammar and vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension.
Folk tales, fairy tales, classic and contemporary literature can all help children empathise with characters, therefore they not only develop language skills but also promote social emotional learning and develop cognitive capabilities and 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity.
BOOKR Class’ stories are carefully selected or written by a team of international ESL curriculum and children literature experts, writers, editors and psychologists to ensure the highest possible quality.
Grade/age range:
The BOOKR Class library app offers content for K-8 from beginner to intermediate language levels
Core or supplemental?
It is a supplemental development material. It is also a useful tool for some students with special needs (ADHD, dyslexia, low socio-economical status) since the scaffolding elements and functions in the app (like texts broken into shorter paragraphs, high-quality illustrations and animation supporting the text comprehension, narration, interactive tasks) are able to close the achievement gap between the learners.
Standards:
It compliments the core curriculum of ESL/EFL lessons and it is able to substitute lessons from it as the books in the library cover many topics and grammar constructions needed for foreign language acquisition. Although the product itself is mapped to ESL/EFL standards, the library contains several content able to supplement other subject curriculums as well thanks to the wide variety of topics, like geography, history and biology.
Lesson Time Needed:
They currently have more than 300 books and 1200 games in the library, offering more than 30 hours of entertainment & learning.
Pricing model:
For Families (B2C business model) it is available for 4 USD/month and 35 USD/year.
For Schools (B2B business model) the pricing starts at 29 USD/student/year and can vary depending on the volume, the length and form of cooperation.
Additional services needed:
The product is very intuitive to use however we provide online teacher training in 2 x 1,5 hour sessions - included in the price. These sessions cover the specialities of the format, the functions of the app and a methodological overview as well on how to implement BOOKR Class into the classroom activity the best possible way.
They support users with complementary activity tips, printable flashcards and activity sheets.
They are also about to publish a detailed Teacher's Handbook that gives a precise, practical, book-by-book guide for the teachers on how to adjust the books into their curriculum and build them into their classroom activities.
What makes BOOKR Class unique?
BOOKR Class is unique because of its storytelling-based approach to teaching, its format with narration, text-highlighting, animation and games and its extremely high visual and methodological quality.
Thanks to these, English language is taught in an implicit way while also improving 21st century skills.
Characteristics:
When designing the UI interfaces, the main purpose was to keep the design clean, functional and contemporary.
In the library view, they mainly wanted to let the beautiful book covers dominate and the rest of the design to support this.
Even though there are colorful elements, white is the main color that they use: it helps display all information in a structured, readable way. The clean design gives the luxurious feeling of space which contrasts well with the playful, colorful book covers.
Here's what users are saying:
“BOOKR Class is a well-thought-out platform packed with a lot of features that make it easier for students to learn English as a second language. You have maximised effective use of technology, visuals and interactivity in your product.”
--Lata Jayaprakash; English language teacher, doctoral student of University of Technology Sydney; Hong Kong
“I’d love if BOOKR Class could reach children as soon as possible! We are so happy and excited because it’s so rare that we find material with a truly useful methodology for elementary schoolers. And BOOKR isn’t just usable but simply awesome and fantastic professionally.”
--Kinga Revesz, elementary school teacher, Hungary
“BOOKR Class is the digital library that teachers, students and parents fall in love with. It combines two educational elements, the storytelling and the gamification in an engaging way. It transforms tablets and mobile phones into Trojan horses to make students explore the wonderful world of literature.”
--Despina Mallidou, school owner, Greece
