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BrainPOP ELL
Pros: Colorful, engaging, and easy to use, the site provides integrated lessons that make learning and teaching English easier.
Cons: Subject matter coverage is somewhat limited; doesn't include access to BrainPOP's main site offerings.
Bottom Line: There's no fluff here -- everything on the site is aimed at helping ELLs learn to read, write, and speak English.
There are a lot of ways to use BrainPOP ELL in the classroom. The program is extensive enough to be used as part of a daily curriculum, or as a review of various grammar topics. Teachers can also assign the units as supplemental activities for practice on their own. BrainPOP ELL apps for iOS, Android, and Windows now make it even easier to use the program in classrooms. It's perfect for use in learning centers. Students can also go on to create concept maps themselves using the new Make-a-Map tool and highlight what they've learned by including images, keywords, and short clips from the BrainPOP ELL movies. Subject-area teachers won't find as many useful materials, as the focus is almost exclusively on grammar and more practical and general school vocabulary. However, the regular BrainPOP site has tons of content that could be useful for more advanced ELLs.
Teacher resources provided with BrainPOP ELL include printable materials such as curriculum alignment charts, student progress trackers, vocabulary games, and activities. For even more instructional support, click on the Lesson Ideas button to access a Lesson Overview page, and you'll find a detailed lesson plan, related teaching tips, and related printables. Teachers can also access the BrainPOP Educators page to learn best practices, find helpful lesson plans and teaching resources, access training and professional development opportunities, and become part of the wider community of BrainPOP educators.
BrainPOP ELL is a subscription-based English language learner (ELL) website featuring games, activities, and animated movies designed for English language learners (ELL) students, from beginner to advanced. It provides a grammar progression and focuses on reading, writing, vocabulary building, listening, and speaking. Content is broken down into three levels. Each level is made up of six units and each unit contains five lessons. Although a few movies and activities at each level are free to try, you'll need a subscription in order to gain full access to all content. Students can get started by taking the placement test. During the test, students listen to statements and short stories, and then select pictures that match. Teachers can track progress, assign lessons, and even provide feedback through a teacher dashboard via My BrainPOP and its individual account system, but only with a schoolwide subscription.
Lessons follow the familiar cartoon characters Ben and Moby through their adventures at school and in daily life. Each lesson has a specific grammar focus and covers new vocabulary that's either school- or life-related or a simple content topic, like mammals. Each lesson starts off with a short animated video. Students can continue learning and practicing with interactive flash cards, games, reading and writing activities, concept mapping, and quizzes.
Unlike a lot of sites where fun games engage students separately from the learning, BrainPOP ELL seamlessly integrates engaging lessons with language practice to create an excellent resource for ELLs. The lessons and activities are fun, practical, and easy to navigate. As students progress, lessons become more challenging and build on previous topics. Each activity on the site has visual (videos, pics, captions) and listening/speaking components. New words and concepts are repeated many times, and students have lots of opportunities to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking as they play with the interactive activities. Students can even record and play back their voices to work on pronunciation in the Hear It, Say It activity. The Make-a-Map section lets students create easy maps that help transform information into knowledge.
The site seems most appropriate for upper-elementary and middle school students, but ELLs of all ages and stages of English language acquisition may benefit from its use. Older students may not be as engaged with the topics, as many seem too simple or not as relevant to high school. Still, older students will find the vocabulary and grammar focus useful, especially if they're just beginning to learn English. Younger students will be captivated by the colorful visuals and easy-to-follow format of each movie. While the videos are at the centerpiece of this website, there's also an abundance of interactive activities, ELL appropriate games, quizzes, and printables that help round out the language learning experience. BrainPOP ELL also meets WIDA Correlation to ensure that it advances academic language development and academic achievement for English learners and meets English Language Development (ELD) Standards.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Beginning ELL students loved BrainPOP ESL!
Brain POP ESL is just one component of the Brain POP series. This site provided ELL students opportunities to interact in the areas of reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills through the use of games and videos. I liked the way the videos and activities were integrated into different subjects. The lesson plan ideas were convenient and easy to use. I would like to see more information on what English Language Proficiency standards are being addressed for each section. I was disappointed in the speaking activity. Students were not able to record their voices after several attempts. Since this was a free trial, maybe I didn't have full access to all of the components. Even though I’m not able to purchase Brain POP ESL this year, I plan to use the free activities and lessons available on the site. Overall, this is a wonderful supplement to any ELL program.
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