Making your own Memrise course with your class

Step by Step Guide

SETTING UP THE COURSE

Click ‘Create’

1. Name your course2. Choose the language your teaching (English)3. If you’re going to have translations, change

‘For’ to ‘Spanish’ speakers. If not, put ‘English’

ADDING VOCAB

Add words and definitions

To record the pronunciation click ‘Record’

Click ‘Back to Course’

Click ‘Learning Options’, then ‘Preview’

Click ‘Help me remember this’

Click ‘Add a mem’

Search for an image

Write your text here. It could be:• An example sentence• A way to remember the word (e.g. does

it sound like anything in the students’ L1?)

• A note on the usage (e.g. Is it followed by an –ing form? Does it have a dependent preposition?)

To add more words, click ‘Edit Course’

To add a new vocab group, e.g. ‘Sports’, click Add Level

USAGE SUGGESTIONS

Teacher leads the first few weeks

The teacher:• Sets up the course• Adds vocab that comes up in class, either in the

textbook or spontaneously, to Memrise• After a few weeks or when you have sufficient

vocab, demo Memrise to your students, maybe using an adapted version of my ‘How and Why to use Memrise’ presentation

• Lets them try it out with the vocab you have added• Then teach them to add vocab using the ‘Adding

Vocab’ slides in this presentation

Then the kids take over

One student a week is in charge of mem-creationThey must: Note down new

vocab from the board and book

Enter it into Memrise (using computer)

Think of good mems (based on L1 if applicable)

Advantages

Autonomy They learn

about learning

They are more likely to remember vocab if they’ve learnt it in context first

Less work for the teacher!

WHAT MAKES A GOOD ‘MEM’

Help your students create useful content

Strong visuals

Humour!

Do you know what Spanish word this picture is for?

Give example sentences using the vocab

…or a note on how to use the word correctly

…useful collocations

…correction of L1 interference

… and clear examples with well-known celebrities

Your students could use their L1

An example from a Spanish course I studied

What does the English word remind your students of in their native language?