Teacher Linh - CEO of Columbus English Academy
WELE: Hello Ms. Linh, the program is very grateful to you for taking part in this interview with the WELE team. Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Ms. Linh: Hello everyone, my name is Linh. I'm an English teacher, currently teaching IELTS to students in Hai Phong. I've had the chance to get to know the WELE program for over 5 years now. I use WELE in my classes, and in particular I've been using WELE's teacher feature for the past 3 months.
WELE: I see. Could you tell us how you'd rate using the WELE platform for teaching listening and managing your class?
Ms. Linh: My classes are mostly IELTS classes, and I use WELE to help students practice their listening skills. The classes have around 10-15 high school and university students. I usually assign homework and pick listening passages available in WELE's listening library for students to practice vocabulary with, adjusting them to fit the class's needs.
At home, the students complete the listening exercises and WELE grades them automatically, so when they come to class I only need to discuss with them the difficult vocabulary they had trouble with in the passage, and then the class spends time practicing with the vocabulary they've heard.
WELE: Could you tell us what feedback the students have given about the program?
Ms. Linh: My students really enjoy using WELE, many of them even listen to extra passages from the program beyond what the teacher assigns. WELE's listening passages come from a wide range of sources — there's slow-spoken English like Spotlight for beginners, and there are also harder sources like BBC and TED talks for students with stronger listening skills. The program has a competitive ranking not just against classmates but against many hardworking and talented people, so the students are very motivated to push themselves as they learn.
WELE: Besides your own class, the program also knows that you teach many students at Hai Phong University and have introduced the WELE program to them. What has their feedback been like?
Overall the students have had very positive feedback about the program, though university students are sometimes not yet used to dictation listening practice so they can be a bit lazy about it at times, but once they get used to it, they really enjoy taking part in the program.
WELE: For teachers who are looking for a tool to support listening practice for their students, do you have any message for them?
I believe teachers really should try using WELE. I consider dictation listening practice a very effective method for training students' listening skills, and WELE is a very useful tool for teachers in training students in this skill.
The program is very grateful for your sharing, and we hope you will continue to journey with the program for a long time to come.