YouGlish: let's create a new way to learn vocabulary and practice speaking!

What is the first thing you will do when you begin to teach a new unit in the textbook? In terms of my personal education experience, all my English teachers choose to teach vocabulary at the beginning of each unit, trying to lay a foundation  for student' future learning. However, the standard vocabulary teaching model in China is to include meanings and example sentences in the teaching material directly. Teachers' role is to explain the meaning and ask some students make new sentences. It is more like a passive way for the students to learn. This blog is going to present an effective way for the teachers to teach vocabulary in a new way! Plus, this tool could also assist the students in practice speaking! Now let get into the world of YouGlish. 

(Click here to go to the official website of YouGlish)

📑 What is YouGlish?

YouGlish can be viewed as a bank full of vedio resources spoken with native languages. Why do I use the word "native languages" rather than "native English"? Of course it is because that YouGlish supports more than 17 kinds of languages' learning, so you are more likely to find any language you want to learn in this website. The most common languages for Chinese students are English, French, Japanese and Korean. Are you learning other kind of languages other than the ones I have mentioned? Please try it on YouGlish and tell me how it feels in the comments.

In terms of the usage of YouGlish, users can edit what they want to search for in the blanket at the top of the website. Words, phrases, sentences. Either form of the language can be found here. Then you will be directed to a specific point of a vedio, where the speakers in the vedio are actually using the content you are searching for in their communication. This is a good way for teachers and students to know more about these words are actually being used by native speakers in their context.

Additionally, you can also use the button which I use a red box to mark in the picture below to guide you to another vedio which contains the actual use of the words or sentences, so it can provide you with varieties of contexts to experience the words yourself. Can you see the number in the tile "1 out of 2167"? It means that you can watch more than two thousand different videos containing the word yummy? Isn't it surprising? We all know that the meaning of languages may change according to its context, so now you are free to explore the differences on this website.

📚Using YouGlish in language teaching

• Vocabulary teaching
  

With YouGlish, teachers can abandon the old way of teaching English by presenting the meanings directly. Teachers can encourage the students to explore the meaning of a word or a phrase in the website by themselves. In my target context of undergraduate students, they need to be trained with the ability of searching, finding and concluding. With the website, students can learn English in an active way. For example, students can use it to explore the meaning of some slangs. It is always hard to learners to know the meaning of slangs, for all the simple words are combined to express a meaning which has nothing to do with these singular words! Do you know the meaning of "hit the sack". Explore it in YouGlish, and then you will get a sense of this slang based on its context.

• Speaking practice

The main aim of YouGlish is designed to show learners how the languages are spoken by native speakers. In this way, YouGlish provides various contexts for you to choose from, such as the US, the UK, Austrilia and so on. You can travel without going out and experience people from other nations talking around you with different accents😎. It is one of the most intriguing feature of YouGlish in my opinion.

Moreover, YouGlish provides detailed pronunciation practice for leaners. Learners can see the transcript of the vedio with your selected phrases highlighted. You can click on the record button to record your speaking practice. Listening to your own recording is a good way to recognize the problems of pronunciation.

In my target context, it is necessary to create a useful way for students to practice their speaking skills and learn more about how English is used in real context. For one thing, Chinese studetns always pay less attention to English speaking, for they are not required to be tested on their speaking skills. In this way, speaking practice has to be conducted in an engaging way and motives the studetns to learn and to speak initiatively. YouGlish is a good tool. Students can learn how the language is used and pronounced when watching an interesting vedio. I’d like to ask my students to use this tool to find out some unusual meaning of a commonly-used word or phrases. In this way, they can watch more, find more, and learn more. For another, teachers can use this website to let the studetns know that languages are designed for practical use in real life. People from different nations may say the same words in different ways. Students need to be braver to speak. Stop worrying about speaking English in a non-native way. It is a natural phenomenon.

💎Evaluation of YouGlish

• It is user friendly.

YouGlish offers a very friendly function to learners that people can just click on the words which they are not familiar with to get the definition in the dictionary. It is very convenient and encourages learners to face their unknown knowledge directly and solve it immediately. In addition, although there are many useful functions in YouGlish, the general mayout of this website is concise. It is easy for students to find whatever they want.

• It offers students a casual way to learn English.

English is an international language, but there are not many opportunities for the studetns in China to know more about how English is used in authentic context for real communication purposes. YouGlish presents both the teachers and the students a new way to see the world and learn the language at the same time. It is like combining learning with playing. Learners will feel motivated under this learning model.

💢Limitations

• There is no monitoring system in YouGlish.

YouGlish might only be a useful tool for students with high self-discipline. Teachers cannot monitor whether students have actually watched the videos teachers assign in class and whether students have use this website to practice their speaking.

• There is no feedback on their speaking practice.

After learners record their speaking on the website, they can only evaluate their speaking based on their own judgement and try to improve by themselves. There are no teachers or interlectural systems to give a score or some suggestions about how to make some progress. I know there are some general tips about how to improve English pronunciation,  but it can not give targeted advice based on personal situation of the learners. 

😏Homework: Do you know the meaning of "yummy in your back". Obviously it does not mean delicious as its traditional definition. Then what is the meaning of it? Use YouGlish to explore it on your own! You can also copy the URL: https://youglish.com/ and paste it into your browser to go to the website.