Video Boosters
What is a Video Booster?
Learn a language the way it is actually spoken, with exercises based on clips from films, television series, television news reports and documentaries.
Video Boosters are an exercise format designed with input from experts in cognitive neuroscience. It enables immersive learning of a language with a focus on key vocabulary and a specific area of grammar for you to discover or practice. With Video Boosters, you can work on several skills at the same time: oral comprehension, written comprehension, spelling, grammar...
Good to know: new Video Boosters are published every week, reflecting new film releases, popular TV shows, and current events. Don't forget to check in regularly!
What is the structure of a Video Booster?
Each Video Booster helps you improve your oral and written comprehension, as well as your vocabulary and grammar. We advise you to complete all the steps of the Video Booster before replaying it, or any part of it, to improve your score. Before starting your first Video Booster, you’ll see a short tutorial. The context, the key vocabulary and the grammar point addressed in each Video Booster can be seen via the "See details" button on the thumbnail image of each lesson. The maximum score on a Video Booster is 1000 points.
Each Video Booster is comprised of eight steps:
Vocab Quickview introduces the exercise. In this step, you'll be shown the eight key vocabulary items you need to understand in order to grasp the content of the video. These are the key terms that will be practiced and repeated, in various ways, throughout the exercise. Each key term is introduced with its spelling, pronunciation, definition in the target language, and use in a sample sentence.
The Video step is where you experience the entire video, without subtitles. The video can be paused at any time, and replayed as many times as desired. It remains accessible even in the subsequent steps.
The Comprehension step is comprised of four multiple-choice questions to check your general understanding of the video. The maximum score for this step is 100 points.
The Listening Lab step tests your listening skills. You will be asked to fill in five words missing in the video transcript., which you are free to do while simultaneously replaying the video. For each gap in the text, you will have to choose from three phonetically similar responses. The maximum score for this exercise is 100 points. The full transcript will be unlocked and made accessible once you finish this step.
The Advanced Comprehension step comprises two multiple-choice questions based on details of the action or dialogue in the video. This step can also be completed while listening to the video, or by consulting the transcript. The maximum score is 50 points.
The Vocab Academy step helps you to practice using the key vocabulary in the video contextually. The vocabulary and definitions are all accessible while you complete this activity. The maximum score for this step is 200 points.
The penultimate part of the lesson, the Grammar step, covers a particular point of grammar. The grammar rule and an example of its use taken from the video are available at any point during the exercise. This step comprises four questions, in one of four question formats: multiple choice, fill-in-the-gap, correct or incorrect, and matching sentence fragments. The maximum score for the Grammar step is 100 points.
At the end of the Video Booster, the Game Zone step creates a strong memory anchor for newly learned expressions. It is comprised of two learning games, and the maximum score for this step is 450 points.
How are Video Boosters organised?
Video Boosters are organised into categories:
- - New Releases
- - Business Lounge
- - Movies
- - TV Series
- - Music
- - News & Society
- - Leisure
How do I find a Video Booster?
On the Video Boosters catalogue page, you can let yourself be tempted by the videos available in each category, or further explore all the videos in a given category.
For a more specific search, you can also search Video Boosters by title, difficulty level, or grammar rule.
How much time is needed to finish a Video Booster?
The videos themselves are quite short: from about one to three minutes maximum . Generally speaking, a Video Booster can be completed in about 15 minutes, which enables learners to practice regularly and thus make faster progress.