User Guide
CONTENTS 1. World of Sparksville.........................3 2. Product Overview..............................4 3. Curriculum overview.......................6 4. Activity Manual...............................13 5. Methodology.......................................35
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1. World of Sparksville
2. Product Overview
Welcome to the zippy zappy world of Sparksville. It’s a really fun place where kids absorb English naturally by playing games and completing activities. They join the Sparksville family of cool kids, funky parents and zany grandparents in a world full of variety and surprises. It’s a fantastic place where kids can play to their hearts’ content while learning all the English skills they need for a bright and successful future.
Online Course
Sparksville is the name of the town where the Sparks family live. There are three children in the family. They are Chelsea, a funky primary school girl, her brother Max, a cool kid that students will identify with immediately and a magical baby called Twinkle, who can hover around, even making objects appear and disappear. Their parents, Gizmo and Cinder are equally amazing, as are the grandparents. Sparktacus is a bright and lively old guy, always inventing wild and wonderful gadgets. Grandmother Stella roller-skates around everywhere. There is also a robot called Forceps and a cat called Zap. There’s never a dull moment in Sparksville.
Sparksville is an interactive 5-level online course for primary students. It introduces vocabulary, grammar and conversational language through online presentations, practise activities and assessment. The course is a safe supplementary space for students to practice and develop the language skills they are working on in class. These activities can all be easily monitored using its advanced Learning Management System. The expectation is that this course will supplement and match approximately 70 hours of in-class study.
Worksheets strengthen learning Experience has shown that the more ways a language is learned, the better it’s absorbed. Along with the online course, we’ve designed a range of worksheets which include audio clips. As your child works through each level, download the worksheets with accompanying audio clips to match what he/she has just learned. Used regularly, they will reinforce his/her understanding of English reading, writing, listening and speaking. Each Sparksville level has 8 matching worksheets which are well thought out, colorful and fun. They use the same content as the online games and activities but in different engaging ways, so words, phrases and grammar are reinforced through repetition, helping long-term learning. You can play the mp3 audio clips in the car, while waiting for dinner or when your family can listen and repeat together. Familiarity helps confidence in English grow. As your child is progressing with each level, download and print the worksheets that feature the topics they’ve just done online and make learning even more fun.
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3. Curriculum overview Sparksville Classroom If you think your child would benefit from experiencing English in a group setting, we run classroom courses for Young Learners of English in 120 language schools worldwide.
Sparksville covers a standard primary curriculum and is comparable in difficulty to other leading courses on the market. The Sparksville online curriculum is based around the three cornerstones of language, teaching them naturally through games and learning activities:
Hands-on tuition Being able to practise English while getting to know new friends really brings the language alive, increases confidence and nurtures enthusiasm for speaking it. Teachers can answer individual questions and identify which areas could improve with extra focus. Grammar
Classes welcome either individual children or groups who can avail themselves of attractive rates by booking together. We also prepare specialised courses for schools. Please get in touch for more information on broadening the experience of English for the young people in your life.
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Voc
Skit
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Vocabulary is presented in a clear way with colorful fun illustrations and sentences and accompanied by native audio presentation. Vocabulary is practised in the context of Grammar. Students move from individual words to short sentences. Language is used in conversations or Skits. This really brings the language alive in the setting of the Sparksville world.
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Vocabulary develops from numbers and colors to more sophisticated vocabulary such as locations around town, occupations and hobbies. The grammar extends from simple greetings and the verb ‘to be’ in its simplest forms to the present continuous and past tenses. The skits contain a large amount of functional language presented in a fun way. The Sparksville curriculum is carefully designed to ensure children learn all the important elements of English with a wide range of useful vocabulary. 5 learning levels gradually build a firm foundation in a straightforward and simple way. Once kids are introduced to the fun Sparksville family and their pets they’ll be eager to return often to play with their new friends. They will naturally and easily develop one of the most valuable skills they can learn. It will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
The Sparksville Curriculum Level 1: Launch Pad This level is a perfect start to English learning. We introduce the English words for all the familiar things in every child’s life like numbers 1 to 10, colors and simple adjectives like big, small, old and new. Because these are all part of their daily lives, it feels comfortable and words can be repeated as they arise. They also learn about food, nature, small animals, toys and school stuff.
Level 3: Word Trekking Learning while having fun is very effective. Before long, children will be ready to move on to Word Trekking. The basics they’ve learned in Levels 1 & 2 help them jump to an impressive level of English speaking. In Word Trekking, the vocabulary widens to include family, jobs, feelings and the weather. Children will be able to name all the rooms in your house in English. You’ll hear them describe the weather, and name the days of the week and forms of transport. They’ll combine vocabulary with verbs to form fluid, flowing sentences.
Level 4: Rewired When you start thinking in a new language you have made it your own. Continuing the Sparksville levels, doing the worksheets and listening to audio clips means your child will absorb English at a deep level and start to think in English. In Rewired, your child will be able to talk about things they relate to - afterschool activities and sports, items of clothing and how to describe people’s features. They’ll be able to talk through their daily activities, including the following: brush my teeth, eat breakfast, take a bath, and so on. Your child is now building a significant library of really useful English words and phrases. Help make that learning permanent by doing the worksheets that match each level of Sparksville. It will pay dividends.
Spend a pleasant hour with your child on Sparksville today and see how easy learning English can be.
Level 5: Stay Station
Level 2: Blast Off
At this level of the Sparksville curriculum your child is well on the way to speaking in English. Completing all 5 levels is equivalent to a full primary classroom curriculum! Reaching this standard is a wonderful achievement and is sure to stay with your child permanently.
Launch Pad gives children the feel for English and a comfortable level of knowledge. Blast Off builds on that foundation and broadens the range of topics they can talk about. Blast Off teaches about animals in the zoo, verbs like singing, swimming, running, the main body parts, a wider range of food and more. In a very short time children can build a great knowledge of English and begin to speak it. Reward their progress at each level by buying a gift from the Sparksville Rewards range. It reminds them of what they learned online and reinforces knowledge.
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The more he/she learns, the easier it is to add new knowledge. The vocabulary, grammar and skits in Stay Station help children to speak about shopping, mealtimes, months, activities, familiar local places and more. Worksheets help children memorise new topics. A command of English is the best gift you can give your child. The opportunities it will open up are exciting and promising. Make Sparksville part of your family’s daily life and help secure a great future.
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Sparksville Activity Types
Topics Unit 1
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Level 1
Numbers
Toys
Food
School Supplies
Nature
Colors
Adjectives
Animals (pets)
Level 2
Shapes
Numbers
Utensils
Food
School Supplies
Verbs
Body Parts
Animals (zoo)
Level 3
Days
Vehicles
Feelings
Family
Jobs
Activities
Rooms
Weather
Level 4
Time
Actvities
Sports
Clothes
Level 5
Months
Weight
Vocabulary Presentation Activities Sparksville introduces vocabulary using interactive digital machines that present audio, image and text in a way that helps students internalize all three efficiently. Students click items and the images appear with audio. Students have time to repeat the audio. They can then move on to various practice activities. It is always easy for students to navigate their way around using the clear signposting.
After Appearance Furniture Adjectives School
Shoopping Appliances Days Out
Places
Yesterday Adjectives
Grammar Presentation Phase Activities. As with the vocabulary presentation, students see the grammar for the first time through playing with interactive machines. Each scene is set in a part of the Sparks family world and students enjoy pushing the buttons to reveal the language to be learned.
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Skits Presentation
Practice Activities
The skits are presented in animated scenes. After watching the skit, students have a choice of activities that allow them to check their comprehension of the content.
After viewing each presentation phase, students get to choose from a number of tailored practice activities. Some of these are classics that all students will be familiar with such as word searches and drag and drop activities while some of them are activities uniquely developed for Sparksville. In each and every case students are given audio and text with much support and feedback, wich is as motivating as possible. It is possible to monitor how much time each student is spending and what scores are achieved on each activity.
Original Activity: Clock Tock In this activity students listen and race the clock to drag and drop items into the central spinning zone. Very exciting!
Classic Activity: Drag and Drop
Original Activity: Robodragon In this activity students find pairs against the clock.
Bonus Section The bonus section provides a space for schools to upload and generate their own practice material. Using the content management system they can do the following: • Create noticeboards for individual classes or students. • Upload material for students to download. • Generate and modify the existing activity templates as they see fit.
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4. Activity Manual
Walkthrough
ONLINE/CD ROM LEVEL WALKTHROUGH
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Main menu
Welcome to Sparksville
Settings
The Sparks’ living room
Target vocabulary
Numbers, Toys, Food, School Supplies, Nature, Colors, Adjectives, Pets
Target structures
Hello...
Extension
Vocabulary: Home, Back Structures: Welcome to Sparksville
Objective
Your objective is to select the topic you want to study.
Intro
You will arrive in the Sparks’ living room. The whole family is sitting on the sofa.
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Step 1
You will see eight topic options.
Walkthrough Objective
Watch the skit to learn new vocabulary and structures. Then complete the Skit Quiz and Matching activities to consolidate the new language.
Activity 1: Skit You will meet some of the characters and hear their conversation.
After you have watched the skit, click on the buttons at the side to get to the Skit Quiz and Matching activities.
Click on the topic you want to study.
Exiting the Scene
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To To To To
Topic Topic Topic Topic
1: Numbers 3: Food 5: Nature 7: Adjectives
To Topic 2: Toys To Topic 4: School Supplies To Topic 6: Colors To Topic 8: Pets
If you want to stop or replay the skit, click on the buttons under the TV screen.
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Activity 2: Skit Quiz
Activity 3: Matching
You will see three questions each with three possible answers.
You will see the beginnings of four sentences. The endings are in white rectangles in the blue box at the bottom of the screen. The aim is to match the endings to the beginnings. When all the endings have been correctly matched, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
Click on the play button to listen to the skit again. Select the correct answer by clicking on the circle next to it.
ok
If you want to replay the activity click the ‘Try Again’ button.
When all three questions have been answered correctly, an orange ‘OK’ button will appear in the bottom right-hand corner.
Clicking this will end the activity and give you your time. If you click ‘Try Again’ you can replay the activity.
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ok
To match the endings, click and drag them to the correct place. If you are correct they will stay there. Otherwise they will bounce back to the blue box.
Exiting the Scene
To Topic Welcome Screen To Vocab Activities
To Grammar Activities To Main Menu
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Activity List
The following activities can be found in the Vocab and Grammar sections. For the specific vocabulary and grammar please refer to the individual topic pages.
Activity 2: All in a Row The aim of this activity is to drag the letters from the right side to the blue space on the left to spell the words. When you spell the word correctly the letters will stay in place and you will hear a positive buzzer. When you are wrong the letters will return to the right side of the screen.
Activity 1: Pop It The aim of this activity is to match the vocab item to the word. When you click on the word you will hear it as well. You should drag it to the correct space. If you put it in the wrong space it will bounce back to the pink box at the bottom of the screen.
When all five words have been correctly spelled, the ‘OK’ button will appear. Clicking it will give you the next five words to spell. There are two pages with ten words to spell in total. When both pages have been completed the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
When all four items are correctly matched the ‘OK’ button will appear. Clicking the ‘OK’ button will take you to the next page of four items. There are three pages with twelve items to match in total. After the third page is complete the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
ok
ok If you want to replay the activity click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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If you want to replay the activity click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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Activity 3: Clock Tock
Activity 4: Letterbox
The aim of this activity is to listen to the audio of the vocabulary and to drag both the vocab item and word into the central green and red circle. The activity doesn’t begin until you click on the green start button.
The aim of this activity is to find all of the words in the word search.
After you click ‘Start’ the items will appear on the left and the words on the right. Listen to the audio and drag the correct items into the circle. If you want to listen to the audio again, click the green circle.
When all the items have been correctly dragged to the circle the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
If you want to replay the activity click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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ok
To find a word, click on the first and last letter in the word search.
When all the words have been correctly found, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
ok
If you want to replay the activity, click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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Activity 5: Robodragon
Activity 6: Carousel
The aim of this activity is to find matching pairs of vocab items. The activity doesn’t begin until you click on the green start button.
The aim of this activity is to match the word to the image of the vocab item in the box. The activity doesn’t begin until you click on the green start button.
To start, click on any of the blue squares. An image of a vocab item will appear. Now, click on another square.
An image of a vocab item will appear in the top blue shape and you will hear the audio as well. Click on the word that matches it. If you click the correct word, it will turn blue and the next image will appear in the top blue shape.
If the second square matches the first, the images will remain visible and you will hear a positive buzzer. If the images don’t match then they will disappear again. Keep clicking on images until you have found all the pairs.
When all the squares have been correctly matched, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
Once all the words have been matched to the pictures, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
ok
ok If you want to replay the activity, click the ‘Try Again’ button.
If you want to replay the activity, click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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Activity 7: Listen Up
Activity 8: Matching
The aim of this activity is to look at the image in the box and select the audio which matches it.
You will see the beginnings of four sentences. The endings are in white rectangles in the blue box at the bottom of the screen. The aim is to match the endings to the beginnings.
To match the endings, click and drag them to the correct place. If you are correct they will stay there. Otherwise they will bounce back to the blue box.
To listen to the audio click on the play button. To select the audio that matches the picture, click on the blue circle.
After the correct audio has been selected, the ‘OK’ button will appear. If you click on the ‘OK’ button, you will be taken to the next number image. There are ten images in total. After the tenth number has been correctly matched to the audio, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
ok
When all the endings have been correctly matched, the ‘OK’ button will appear and you can click it to end the activity and receive your time.
ok
If you want to replay the activity, click the ‘Try Again’ button. If you want to replay the activity, click the ‘Try Again’ button.
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Exiting the Scene
To To To (If (If
Topic Welcome Screen Skit Activities Main Menu this activity is in the Vocab section) To Grammar Activities this activity is in the Grammar section) To Vocab Activities
Topic 2: Toys Setting Target vocabulary
ball/balls, bike/bikes, jump rope/jump ropes, kite/kites, puzzle/ puzzles, yo-yo/yo-yos
Target structures
(number) (toy(s)) How many (toys)? This is a (toy)
Extension
Structures
Topic 1: Numbers Setting Target vocabulary
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Target structures
I’m… (number for age)
Extension
Let’s play a game! Your turn. No, try again. I give up. Never give up!
Vocabulary Structures
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Vocabulary
Hello. What’s your name? How old are you? That’s a nice name. How about you? Nice to meet you. – Nice to meet you too.
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Topic 4: School Supplies Setting
Topic 3: Food Setting Target vocabulary
bread, cake, chicken, cookies, ice cream, juice, milk, salad, spaghetti, water
Target vocabulary
backpack, book, eraser, marker, notebook, pen, pencil, pencil case, ruler
Target structures
She/he likes (food)
Target structures
What’s this? This is a/an …
Extension
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Vocabulary
Good morning. Wow! Here you are. Pardon?
Structures
This is (food).
Extension
Vocabulary
Good morning. Wow! Here you are. Pardon?
Structures
Hello. What’s your name? How old are you? That’s a nice name. How about you? Nice to meet you. – Nice to meet you too.
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Topic 6: Colors Setting
Topic 5: Nature Setting Target vocabulary
flower, island, leaf, moon, rock, sea, star, stick, sun, tree
Target vocabulary
black, blue, brown, green, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow
Target structures
What’s that? That’s a …
Target structures
What color is it? It’s (color)
Vocabulary
Come here. Okay. Sit down.
Extension
Structures
No, that’s a … That’s difficult.
Extension
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Vocabulary
Got it. Let’s go!
Structures
It’s time for (school). Can you find my …, please? Just a moment. Is that everything?
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Topic 7: Grammar Setting Target vocabulary
big, clean, dirty, fast, long, new, old, short, slow, small
Target vocabulary
ant, bee, bird, cat, dog, fish, hamster, lizard, mouse, rabbit, spider, turtle
Target structures
It’s (adjective)
Target structures
It’s a/an
Vocabulary
Really? I know!
Extension
Structures
Look at … Is it (adjective)? This is my … You’re a great …
Extension
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Topic 8: Pets Setting
Vocabulary
I don’t know.
Structures
Is it a/an …? No, it isn’t. It’s a/an … I like …s. I don’t like …s.
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5. Methodology Fun, interactive learning provides kids with the tools to learn English without feeling as if they are in a traditional teacher-led environment. Rather, they are in control of their learning, which in turn leads to a more autonomous learning style. The combination of interactive online activities with follow-up worksheets ensures learners are equipped with a written record of what they have learned online. Getting to know the characters of Sparksville encourages kids to further explore the fun world of Sparksville, thereby improving through the level system in a fluid, natural and most importantly, self-motivated manner.
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www.sparksville.net