Velawoods English is a highly engaging and interactive experience. Using principles from gaming and film-making, the complete programme for learning the English language is brought to life through a storyline that you experience in the virtual town of Velawoods. As it puts the language into the context of real-life situations, it offers you with the next best thing to living in an English-speaking country. This makes it:
In every lesson, you will be asked to talk to the various virtual character living in Velawoods. To talk to them and have your pronunciation analysed by state of art speech analysis by Carnegie Speech, please follow these steps:
Note: It works in the same way as when sending voice messages with WhatsApp.
When you get the analysis, this is what it means:
Green: Good
Yellow: Almost
Red: Incorrect
You can repeat each phrase as many times as you want to get it right, you can press REPLAY to hear yourself again or press HELP to hear the phrase said by a native speaker.
You can also watch the video above.
A white paper which illustrates in detail the key pedagogical learning principles of Velawoods English can be downloaded here.
A brief summary of this document follows.
The syllabus of Velawoods English is built on objectives linked to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages . The vocabulary syllabus was informed by English Vocabulary Profile , a major research project mapping how learners learn vocabulary at different CEFR levels. The language you learn in Velawoods English is manageable, useful, logically sequenced and appropriate for your level.
Velawoods English ensures that you:
Velawoods English enables you to experience and actively notice new language in its natural everyday setting. You are guided to understand the meaning of this new language via a series of level-appropriate activities, before later using it in conversation. A successful communicative approach:
Research shows that successful learning is often collaborative and operates within a social context; you can learn more with the support of others around you than you can on your own. This social context is central to the language-learning process (Kaufman, 2004).
Velawoods English provides such a stimulating social context. Its immersive environment offers a genuine, immediate need to learn the language and encourages motivation and progress. You experience this combination of immersion and instruction through interaction with a range of virtual characters and through the guidance of a virtual tutor. This tutor supportively explains new language and enables you to use it in real-life situations.
In Velawoods English, learners receive continuous personalised feedback and progress reports. There are also a number of Tests available. There is a skills-based assessment at the end of each part of the course, and a more substantial Test at the end of each course that links to internationally recognised qualifications.