Alison's English Teacher Interest Survey

Alison is building an entirely free ESL resource for English teachers and learners. We call it our "English Vertical." With this program, anyone can start at the A1/beginner level and make their way up to C1/advanced.

Our "English Vertical" consists of courses structured similarly to a PowerPoint presentation, and each includes integrated vocabulary, grammar, and student practice. As we make this resource freely available to the public, we are interested in learning how we can help teachers reduce their prep time while also delivering better lessons. We would be very grateful for any ideas or suggestions you might have. Please take a look at our English Vertical page before completing this survey.

Many thanks,

Justine (English Vertical Manager @ Alison)

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* 1. Did you review the "English Vertical" page linked at the beginning of this survey?

Yes

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* 2. Justine and the global development team have all worked as teachers and have put their combined knowledge from years of classroom experience in countries from Japan to Mexico into the development of the "English Vertical" program. We are looking for a small group of expert volunteers that currently work as teachers to help test the program in live lesson environments (online, in-person, or hybrid).

If you would like to be part of this initiative, please provide your contact details for additional information.

Name

Country

Email Address

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* 3. How long have you been teaching English?

Less than 1 year

1-3 years

3-5 years

5-10 years

10-15 years

15+ years

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* 4. What age groups do you teach?

Children/Elementary School

Early Teens/Middle School

Late Teens/High School

Adults/University

Other (please specify)

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* 5. Do you teach online or in person?

Online

In person

Both

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* 6. How many classes do you teach per week (on average)?

Less than 10

10-20

20-30

30-40

40+

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* 7. How much time do you spend preparing for ONE class (on average)?

Less than 30 minutes

30-60 minutes

1-2 hours

2.5+ hours

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* 8. What are the biggest challenges you face while preparing for lessons?

Developing materials for use in lessons

Finding level-appropriate materials

Researching grammar and vocabulary topics

Lacking adequate preparation time

Other (please specify)

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* 9. What tools or resources do you currently use for teaching?

Commercially available printed materials (textbooks, workbooks, etc.)

Digital/online materials (downloadable worksheets, lesson plans, etc.)

Interactive media (online games, digital flashcards, etc.)

Self-produced materials

Other (please specify)

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* 10. Which suppliers do you use for sourcing lesson resources?

Cambridge

British Council

Pearson

ellii (ESL Library)

Teach This

Teachers Pay Teachers

Other (please specify)

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* 11. Which resources do you currently use that could be replaced with Alison's free "English Vertical" program?

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* 12. How satisfied are you with your current teaching resources?

Very satisfied

Satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Very dissatisfied

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* 13. What features of your current resources are the most beneficial?

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* 14. What features of your current resource would you like to see improved upon (or removed)?

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* 15. How does the "English Vertical" compare to the resources you are currently using?

Much better

Better

About the same

Worse

Much worse

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* 16. What about the "English Vertical" is better (or worse) than the resources you currently use?

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* 17. Do you think the "English Vertical" is a user-friendly resource?

Yes

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* 18. The "English Vertical" was based on CEFR standards and carefully designed to ensure each course focuses on level-appropriate grammar and vocabulary. In the future, we plan to compile the existing 55 "English Vertical" short certificate courses into five longer diploma courses.

With this in mind, how could we improve the "English Vertical" to make it more useful for teachers?

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* 19. When the "English Vertical" is complete and we have incorporated your suggestions, how likely are you to use it as a resource to teach an English lesson?

Very likely

Likely

Neither likely nor unlikely

Unlikely

Very unlikely

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* 20. The "English Vertical" will be free, and we always intend to have it available for free access as part of our Free Learning Mission. Would you, however, be willing to pay a monthly subscription for supplementary materials (worksheets, exams, etc.) and a basic learning management system (LMS) to assign work and monitor learning progress?

Yes

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* 21. What supplementary materials would you like to see included in a paid subscription?

Vocabulary lists

Grammar lists

Practice worksheets

Quizzes/exams

Student notes

Learning management system (assign work, track progress, record scores, etc.)

Other (please specify)

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* 22. How much would you pay per month for these extra materials?

Unwilling to pay

Less than $5

$5-$10

$11-$15

$15+

At Alison, we believe that free education, more than anything, has the power to break through boundaries and transform lives.

We are one of the world’s largest free learning platforms for education and skills training. Alison is a social enterprise dedicated to making it possible for anyone to study anything, anywhere, at any time, for free online, at any subject level. Through our mission, we are a catalyst for positive social change, creating opportunity, prosperity, and equality for everyone.

By completing this survey, you are helping us improve our platform, ultimately leading to higher-quality education for learners. Thank you for being part of our mission.