Help: School/Group Subscriptions

Thank you for using Yabla in your classroom. Below are tips to help you get the most of your Yabla School subscription.

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Create teacher accounts

To add teachers to your school account:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Navigate to the language you wish to add a teacher to, select Invite Students and Teachers.
  3. Select the link under the Teachers heading. Either copy the link and email it to them OR use the button Email this link which will create an email with the link information in the body of the email.
  4. When the teacher clicks on the link, they will then be prompted to create their own username and password and their account is automatically set up.

You can also create each teacher user account yourself:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Then for the language and/or class you wish to add a teacher, select Add User.
  3. You will then need to enter all of the information for the teacher INCLUDING a username and password.
  4. For the password, you can create a generic password, or allow the system to generate one at random (select the small generate random found above the Password box).
  5. Notice, the Type defaults to Teacher, but you can also create student accounts this way.
  6. When you select Create New User, an email will be sent to the Teacher with all of their information, including their password.
  7. As soon as the teacher receives the email with their login information, they should log in and change their password.

Create classes

To create classes:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select Classes.
  2. Select Create a new Class for the appropriate language.
  3. Name your class. This can be anything that your students will recognize, such as "Spanish 2, Period 4" or "Advanced French".
  4. Select Submit and you will see your class created and ready for you to add/invite students.

Student registration

There are a few ways to add your students to your classes. The easiest and most practical is via signup link. Yabla automatically creates a unique signup link for every school so that students can easily add themselves to your classes (there is also one for any fellow teachers at the school interested in using the site with their own students).

To add students via signup link:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Navigate to the language and/or Class you wish to add a student, select Invite Students and Teachers.
  3. Select the link under the Students heading. Either copy the link AND email it to them OR write it on the board in class.
  4. When the student clicks on the link, they will select the teacher/class from a list, and be prompted to create their username and password.

If you have other teachers in your school that want to set up teacher accounts, just follow the same directions BUT send them the link marked Teachers. Once they have set up their own account through the teacher link, they can then create their own classes and add their own students within their new teacher account.

Alternative signup methods:

  1. An alternative way to add students is to tell them to scroll to the bottom of any Yabla page, such as www.yabla.com , click on Sign up for students, and follow the steps there to find their school from a list create a username/password. This is an older method that requires an additional step for final verification. You will receive an email to verify that the student is actually in your class. Using the newer link method eliminates this step because the link is unique to your school and therefore the student is automatically verified.
  2. If you prefer to create student user accounts yourself, you can do so by going to My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts and then Add User.
  3. For large accounts, Yabla can do an import of student accounts from a spreadsheet or database export. This is a quick way to create a large number of accounts, but has the drawback that passwords must be predefined, such as a student ID number.

Create assignments

To create assignments:

  1. Navigate to the Videos tab.
  2. Find a video you would like to assign to your students and click on the Assign button beneath it.
  3. Select the activity you would like to assign and which class you want to assign it to.
  4. Then select due date and the goal (this is slightly different for each activity).
  5. Select Create Assignment to confirm.
  6. The assignment/s will now appear on your students’ accounts.

You can create many or all of your assignments in one sitting, giving them deadlines throughout the semester. Or, you can assign one-by-one. Deadlines and student scores will be recorded and available to you at any time within your Gradebook See Monitor student progress. Whenever students log in to their own accounts, they will see what assignments they have to work on, and when each one is due.

To modify and/or delete assignments:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select Classes.
  2. Under each class you will find: the number of assignments, how many are past due, and how many are upcoming.
  3. Select the Assignments for a specific class for more detail.
  4. Here you will see the video assigned, type of assignment, goal and due date.
  5. From here you can delete the assignment OR change/update the assignment.
  6. Also, notice there is a button at the top Copy assignments from another class. This allows you to make the same assignment to multiple classes, with the same due date or different.

Monitor student progress

Monitor your students’ scores through the teacher Gradebook feature.

To access the Gradebook:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select Classes.
  2. You will see the Gradebook button for each class

The Gradebook will fill over time as you add more assignments, appearing as a chart with your students listed in the vertical column along the left side, and the assignments horizontally across the top. Hovering your mouse over individual assignments will pull up the assignment details.

Student scores are listed in the boxes across the grid for each assignment. If the student is able to reach the points goal by the deadline you have set, the student’s box will be highlighted green along with the score number. If they do not reach the goal by the deadline, the box will be gray.

Clicking on the student’s score will show you a report, detailing how many rounds it took the student to complete the assignment, as well as how many points they reached per round, and date and time completed.

The Gradebook can be printed or you can export it as a CSV or JSON file. These options are found at the top right of the Gradbook chart.

Archive/Delete classes

Archiving classes is a way to delete the class from your everyday account, BUT still have the ability to access it at a later date. This is the only way Yabla has to delete a class.

If you would like to delete a class:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select Classes.
  2. You will see for each class in the lower right hand corner is a small red Archive Class button with a trashcan icon.

When you select the Archive feature, the class information will be out of your way. But because you may later decide you want to access the information again, you can always go into your “Archived classes” and get it back. For example, if next year you decide you want to re-assign some of the same videos to a new class and want to remind yourself of what you assigned the first time, you can rest assured your older class information will be available to you.

Archived classes can be found below your active classes. Scroll to the bottom of the class list and you will see two buttons associated with each Archived class: View Assignments and Re-Activate This Class.

Change Admin/Teacher status

Designating an Admin for you School accounts is critical. Only the person designated as an Admin can automatically renew the account OR purchase more user slots. Your Admin can also be a Teacher, however, if they are a Teacher they take up a slot. If a user is designated as only an Admin, they do not use up a slot.

To Change user type:

  1. Log in to your account, and select My Account then School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select School Roster for the language and/or class you wish to manage.
  3. You can change the user type by selecting the drop down menu under the Type column next to the Teacher or Admin you would like to change.
  4. Select whether you want the user to be both 'Admin & Teacher', which uses up a slot or just an 'Admin'.
  5. NOTE: Any user designated as Admin only, will not be able to make assignments to students.

Delete student or teacher accounts (freeing slots)

Deleting a user frees up a space in your account so it get be reassigned to another student or teacher.

To Delete users:

  1. Log in to your account, and select My Account then School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select School Roster for the language and/or class you wish to manage.
  3. You can delete any user (student or teacher) by selecting the small Delete button found to the far right of their name.
  4. You can also delete more than one user at a time by checking the checkbox to the left of the names and then selecting the Delete button at the bottom of the list.
  5. To delete all members of the class INCLUDING teachers, select the checkbox at the top of the list, to the left of Name and then select the Delete button at the bottom of the list.
  6. To delete all members of the class EXCLUDING teachers, select the checkbox at the top of the list, to the left of Name then unselect the teachers individually (at the top of the list) and then select the Delete button at the bottom of the list.
  7. NOTE: Do NOT delete the user account if you only want to change the user to a different class. See Change Class.

Change student or teacher password

Changing a user password in the case of forgotten passwords:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select School Roster for the language and class you wish to manage.
  3. For a student, select Password found on the same line as their name. There you can create a new password for your student. Once they are logged into their account, they can choose to change their password to something else. Notice, in the popup window to change their password, you are also given the option to Login as the user. This is another way to change the students password and for you to check on progress.
  4. For a teacher, select Edit found on the same line as their name. This will allow you to change almost all of the user's settings, i.e. email, user name, including the password.

Remember to make sure the user knows the new password, otherwise they will not be able to log in.

Add/Remove/Change student's Class

Changing the class that a student is associated with:

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select Classes.
  2. In the section of the class you want to edit, select Add/Remove students already in group account.
  3. Choose any student from the left hand list to add by selecting Add to Class.
  4. Choose any student from the right hand list to remove by selecting Remove from Class.
  5. In order to Change a student's class, first Remove the student from the old class and then Add the student to the new class.

Change Content Filter

Yabla rates all of our videos based on language or content that may not be appropriate for all ages. You can change the content filter for you school at anytime. This is done for each language separately.

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
  3. Go to the Content Filter section.
  4. This shows you the number of videos you will have access to within each content filter.
  5. You can choose to restrict content at two different levels or allow all videos to be accesible - Viewer discretion.
  6. NOTE: K-12 and Home-schools are restricted from access to all videos.

Manage Youtube Videos

Some school's network blocks YouTube. You can use this option to hide videos provided by YouTube if needed or desired.

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
  3. Go to the YouTube Videos section.
  4. You can choose to hide all YouTube videos.

Video Transcript and Printable Quiz

Yabla has a printable transcript and quiz for each video. The quiz is a fill-in-the-blank (cloze) activity that allows teachers to select their own words to blank out of the transcript.

To access the transcript:

  1. Navigate to the Videos tab.
  2. Find a video you would like the transcript from and click on the Transcript button beneath the video.
  3. This will take you to the Transcript page where you can print out the transcript.

To access the Printable Quiz:

  1. Navigate to the Videos tab.
  2. Find a video you would like the Quiz from and click on the Transcript and then at the top select Create Printable Quiz.
  3. OR select the Assign button and then Printed Quiz.
  4. Both options will take you to the Printable Quiz Builder where you can create a quiz for your class.
  5. At the top you select the Captions you want printed, whether you want to include a word bank of the missing words, and what size of text.
  6. Go through each caption and select the words to be deleted by clicking on them. This will create a blank space to be filled in by the student.
  7. When ready to Print, select the Green Print button located just above caption line #1.

Can I project Yabla videos in class?

Yes, teachers who are subscribers may project Yabla videos to a classroom or assembled group of students. When projecting the video, you may want to consider using Yabla’s "Printable Quiz” feature that is available to teacher accounts. See Printable Quiz.

Delete student or teacher accounts (freeing slots)

Deleting a user frees up a space in your account so it get be reassigned to another student or teacher.

To Delete users:

  1. Log in to your account, and select My Account then School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select School Roster for the language and/or Class you wish to manage.
  3. You can delete any user (student or teacher) by selecting the small Delete found to the far right of their name.
  4. You can also delete more than one user at a time by checking the checkbox to the left of the names and then selecting the Delete button at the bottom of the list.
  5. To delete all members of the class EXCEPT teachers, select the checkbox at the top of the list, to the left of Name and then select the Delete button at the bottom of the list.
  6. NOTE: Do NOT delete the user account if you want to change the user to a different class. See Change Class.

Change Content Filter

Yabla rates all of our videos based on language or content that may not be appropriate for all ages. You can change the content filter for you school at anytime. This is done for each language separately.

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
  3. Go to the Content Filter section.
  4. This shows you the number of videos you will have access to within each content filter.
  5. You can choose to restrict content at two different levels or allow all videos to be accesible - Viewer discretion.
  6. NOTE: K-12 and Home-schools are restricted from access to all videos.

Manage Youtube Videos

Some school's network blocks YouTube. You can use this option to hide videos provided by YouTube if needed or desired.

  1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
  2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
  3. Go to the YouTube Videos section.
  4. You can choose to hide all YouTube videos.

Using Yabla in a lab

While we recommend assigning each student an account so the teacher can monitor individual student usage and performance, it is possible to create an account for each lab computer.

To use Yabla in the lab, you will need to create a user account for each computer in the lab.* We recommend creating accounts like labuser1, labuser2, labuser3, etc. all using the same password.

If you have many accounts to be created, please contact us at support@yabla.com and we can assist with account creation.

* Our system does not allow multiple sign ons using the same username and password, thus each computer will need a unique username.

How do I purchase additional user slots?

To purchase additional user slots:

  1. Log in to your account, and select My Account then Subscriptions and Payment.
  2. Select Buy Additional Slots next to the language you wish to add a slot to, and follow the on screen instructions.

If you pay by credit card, the slots will be activated immediately. If you pay by purchase order or check, the new slots will activate when we receive a check or PO.

Questions? Please contact us at support@yabla.com or call us at (212) 625-3226.

Our school's subscription is about to expire. How do we renew?

To renew your school subscription:

  1. Log in to your account, and select My Account then Subscriptions and Payment.
  2. Select Renew Subscription next to the language you wish to renew, and follow the on screen instructions.

If you pay by credit card, the account will renew immediately. If you pay by purchase order or check, your renewal will activate when we receive a check or PO.

Questions? Please contact us at support@yabla.com or call us at (212) 625-3226.

Change Password

To change your password:

  1. Log in to your account, and select the My Account tab then select Profile.
  2. The second section on the Profile page is the Change Password area.
  3. Enter in your current password and then enter your new password and then again to confirm it.
  4. Then select Change Password. This will immediately change your password and you will be able to logon with your new password

If you cannot remember your password, you can select Forgot Password? on the sign in page and you will be sent a password reset email OR you can write to Yabla and ask us to reset your password at support@yabla.com.

Change Translation

Yabla uses your translation language selection to translate the Yabla web page AND all subtitles for the videos. This can easily be changed.

To change the translation language:

  1. Log in to your account, and select the Videos tab. You must be on the main Videos navigation page in order to change the translations.
  2. In the upper right hand corner, you will see your username. Click on your username and a drop down menu will open up below your username.
  3. Below the Sign Out option is where you can TRANSLATE PAGE.
  4. Select the language you want to have as your translation language.

The language your are studying is the 'target language'.

The translation language is frequently your native language. It will be used in all subtitles and all navigation menus on Yabla.

NOTE: If the translation language and the target language are the same, there will only be one set of subtitles under each video.

Game Scoring

The scoring system of the ‘game’ activities changes depending on the activity. Please note that scores are recorded at the end of each game play. You must play the game to completion in order to earn, and have recorded, your points. Also, in the case of students, you may have to play the games multiple times in order to accumulate enough points to reach the assignment goal that has been set by your teacher.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

Each game consists of 1 or 2 rounds with up to 10 questions per round. The player is awarded 2 points per correct answer in the first round. If all answers are correct in the first round, the game ends and the score is recorded and added to their total for that video. If an answer is incorrect, the correct answer will be shown to the player, and the question will be asked again in a second round. Player is awarded 1 point per correct answer in the second round.

FILL IN THE BLANK

Each game consists of 1 or 2 rounds with up to 10 questions per round. Player has 3 chances per question, receiving 10 points each if answered correctly right away, 8 points if answered correctly on second chance, and 6 points if on third chance. Hints are given after each try to help player see where their mistakes are: wrong letters are highlighted in red, and wrong accents are highlighted orange. If all answers are correct in the first round, the game ends and the score is recorded and added to their total for that video. Incorrect answers are moved to a second round, where player is awarded 6 points per answer if correct on first chance, 4 points if on second, and 2 points if on third (and final) chance. 1 point is deducted for using the “slow” play button.

VOCABULARY REVIEW

This activity is based on completion. As the player inputs correct answers, a progress bar on the left side of the screen will begin to fill. Incorrect answers, however, will reverse that process and make it take a little longer to reach the end. A timer limits the amount of time the player can spend on each try. When a student finishes the vocabulary review, a checkmark will appear next to that student’s name in the teacher’s Gradebook. Teachers have the ability to decide how many times the students need to complete the review (up to 5 times per assignment). In this case, a number will appear next to the student’s name in the teacher’s Gradebook, indicating how many times they completed the review.

SCRIBE

Each game consists of multiple sets, with each set containing multiple captions. Scribe has the most complex scoring as you receive both Stars and a Score. Please be aware, Scribe is still in development, and the scoring may change in the near future.

Stars:

Scribe looks at a variety of factors in determining your star scores with maximum is three stars.

These include:

  • how many times you replay video before you start a word
  • how many times you repay a video after you start a word
  • letters/corrections/accents you get "for free" by clicking in the feedback area
  • words you "insert" out of order vs. in order
  • use of "Slow" play
  • revealing translation*

    • *fairly heavily weighted because it makes transcribing much easier.

    Each of these factors are weighted differently and we are still adjusting the formula.

    Score:

    The score is a percentage of letters that were not given away for free by clicking in the feedback area.

    *Teachers: For information on how to create assignments or check your class Gradebook, see the sections “Assign videos to students” and “Monitor student progress” in the For Teachers FAQ.

    Player Subtitles

    All Yabla videos have subtitles in the target language and subtitles in the translation language. Both of these subtitles can be shown and/or hidden. Both subtitles are shown by default.

    1. To show or hide the target language subtitles, there is a small show/hide button below the video and to the far right. You can toggle the target language subtitles on and off using this small button.
    2. Below this, there is another small show/hide button that will toggle the translation language subtitles on and off.

    Using the subtitles (either on or off) allows you to learn at your own pace, and in your own style. Some subscribers like to look at the translation right away, while others like to take the leap and see how much they understand with no subtitles at all. Some like to follow only the target language subtitles first.

    As often as possible, the subtitles of the translation language will be parallel to the target language subtitles. But because languages often have very different grammatical structures and syntax, there are cases where a parallel or literal translation will simply not communicate the meaning accurately or elegantly. In these cases, our translators have to depart from parallel word order.

    NOTE: The language your are studying is the 'target language'. If the translation language and the target language are the same, there will only be one set of subtitles.

    Player Video Controls

    All Yabla videos have the standard PAUSE/PLAY buttons below the video. This will pause or play the video from where the video is currently.

    Yabla has 4 other buttons to manage the video playback.

    1. BACK - This jumps the video to the start of the current subsection. This works in both PLAY and PAUSE mode.
    2. SKIP - This jumps the video to the start of the next subsection. This works in both PLAY and PAUSE mode.
    3. SLOW - This slows the video down to make it easier to distinguish what is being said.
    4. LOOP - This loops the video over the current subsection. This can be very useful to get certain phrases into your memory.

    NOTE: There is a small bar directly below the video. This shows the subsections that the current video is divided into. Each subsection pertains to a different caption and is used by the playback buttons plus many of the games/activities.

    Player Dictionary

    While watching a video, you can click on any word in the subtitles. This will open a dictionary to the right of the video and show the results and the source of the definition.

    You can click on a word in either subtitle, the target language or the translation language. Depending on which subtitle you select, it will translate from the target language to the translation language, or from the translation language to the target language.

    Cross-referencing may give you a new level of understanding. Don’t forget that while the dictionary is quite complete, googling the word or going to a site like WordReference may give you additional meanings and uses.

    Note: The language your are studying is the 'target language'.

    Lessons

    Under the Lessons tab at the top of the page, you will find a compilation of all previous lessons that were in the Yabla newsletter.

    If you do a search for a particular word in the Yabla Lessons, you’ll see if the word or phrase you’re searching on has been addressed in any of the lessons. The lessons often contain links to more in-depth external resources as well. They are accessible whether you are a current subscriber to Yabla or not. Subscription to the Yabla newsletters, which announce new videos and always include the most recent lesson, is also free.

    Video Comments

    Any user can leave a comment on a specific video. The number of comments can be seen below any video displayed on the Video Navigation Page. You can read all of the comments by selecting the Comment button below the video. This will show you all of the comments made for that specific video plus any replies that were made.

    All submitted comments are sent to the Yabla staff and, when needed, will be answered directly to the user.

    The Comments section of a video is a great place to ask questions or express an opinion. It allows you to engage with other users, and get helpful responses from other Yabla subscribers or from Yabla staff. This is also a place where you can make suggestions for lessons and/or video topics. You can comment in your own translation language, or you can also try out your new target language skills and leave a comment in the language you are studying.

    You can also send any questions, suggestions, or feedback to support@yabla.com.

    Note: The language your are studying is the 'target language'.

    Flashcards (website only)

    The words used in the Flashcards are selected by you while watching a video. While watching any video, click on any word in the target language subtitles. The dictionary will open up on the right AND your word will be saved to your flashcards.

    Flashcards can be found by selecting the Flashcards tab at the top of the main page (you will need to exit out of the video player). You don't receive points in the flashcards, but your progress is indicated in the progress bar. Our flashcards are a way of studying and a way for you to test your knowledge.

    There are 21 words to a set. You have the ability to delete a word, by clicking on the red X found next to each word OR you can delete the whole set of words, by selecting delete all words in the set found in the upper right corner of each set of words.

    Start the flashcard review by selecting the Review these words. You will be shown a word in your target language and hear it. You can hear the word repeated by clicking on the word in the blue box. You can also click in the Definition box, the Caption box, and/or the Translation box. Upon clicking in any of those three boxes, the informaiton will be displayed for that word. The information in the boxes are the definition (from various cited dictionaries), the caption from the video where this word was used in when you selected it, and the translation for the caption. You can also select either I think I know it or I don't know it. As soon as you select either button the information will appear in the three boxes, definition, caption, translation. If you said you knew it, you will then be asked 'Were you right?' Yes or No. This will affect the scoring.

    And you can view the video again, by selecting the video thumbnail at the bottom of the flashcard.

    Vocabulary Review

    The vocabulary review is a learning activity using a pre-selected number of words from the video. To access the vocabulary review select the green button below the thumbnail of the video, Review Vocabulary.

    The review is made up of 3 parts that are randomly interspersed:

    1. A word in the target language will be written and pronounced, and you choose the correct translation from the displayed choices.
    2. A word in the translation language will be written and you are to choose the correct word in your target language from the displayed choices.
    3. A word in the translation is written and you have to write the correct word in the target language. You will need to include any accent marks or diacritical marks to be counted at 100% correct.

    In the Settings tab for the Vocabulary review, found in the upper left hand corner, you can set the number of words to include in the review, with a maximum of ten. You will also be able to select whether to require accent marks and whether the review is timed.

    To exit out of the Vocabulary Review, you can select the Exit button found on the top right corner, or go back and watch the video by selecting Watch Video button on the upper left corner.

    A note about the words chosen for the vocabulary review: Most of the nouns include their articles, either definite or indefinite, so you can also learn their gender. Some words in a video don’t make an appearance at all in the vocabulary review. This is because, for one reason or another, they cause confusion and lead to “wrong” answers. On the other hand, you will find some phrasal expressions in the vocabulary review that you won’t find in a dictionary. The translation used in the video itself may be a secondary translation, so the vocabulary review will generally provide the more classic definition as well.

    Change Content Filter

    Yabla rates all of our videos based on language or content that may not be appropriate for all ages. You can change the content filter for you school at anytime. This is done for each language separately.

    1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
    2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
    3. Go to the Content Filter section.
    4. This shows you the number of videos you will have access to within each content filter.
    5. You can choose to restrict content at two different levels or allow all videos to be accesible - Viewer discretion.
    6. NOTE: K-12 and Home-schools are restricted from access to all videos.

    Manage Youtube Videos

    Some school's network blocks YouTube. You can use this option to hide videos provided by YouTube if needed or desired.

    1. Navigate to the My Account tab then select School/Group User Accounts.
    2. Select Settings for the language you wish to manage.
    3. Go to the YouTube Videos section.
    4. You can choose to hide all YouTube videos.

    I spotted a mistake in the transcription/translation, what should I do?

    This will happen! There are a couple of different ways you can contact us.

    1. You can use the Comment button below each video displayed in the video navigation page. This will let us know excatly what video you are referring to.
    2. You can use the Help/Feedback button while playing the video. This is found on the very lower right hand corner of the browser window. This will allow you to enter your comment and continue with the video. It will also let us know what video you are referring to.
    3. You can also to us at corrections@yabla.com. Tell us the name of the video, the caption number, and the possible error and we'll fix it or explain why it was right.