These posts are written for learners of English themselves. Find learning tips and ideas for learning English.

For Students

<blockquote>
This was a letter written by Nico, an engineer at Ellii, who moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, from Argentina to work on the Product Team at Ellii. Nico sent this letter&nbsp;to Team Ellii before he stepped away from his desk last weekend. Nico&nbsp;works on making things work behind the scenes from developing new features, to smashing bugs, to wrestling with Ellii Bot. When you download the new app for students this coming fall, you can thank Nico!
</blockquote>

 
Dear Team Ellii, 
 
Working at Ellii not only means working in an English environment, but also, as you all know, working for a company that publishes English materials specifically for ESL learners! 😱

I have always felt welcome and understood; not once have I had a coworker mention a grammar mistake or wrong pronunciation, and no one interrupts me to correct me unless I&#39;m asking for help. You are the best team ever! And believe me, I know my accent can be a challenge sometimes! 😂

One of the perks of working with all of you is that I&#39;m constantly learning English without actually trying to learn English. This last week was one of the most prolific&nbsp;vocabulary wise, I learned 4 new words from 4 different people in random conversations. 
 
Each time I see a new word, something gets triggered in my mind; I can quickly catch its meaning by context, but you know what, the first reaction is thinking there was a typo or an autocorrect mistake, because your brain can always try to go to the known place, where things are not scary.

Here are those new words: 
 
plummeting:&nbsp;hey, did they try to type plumber? I know that word! But nope; this is a new one, and means &quot;to fall or drop straight down at a very high speed, or to decrease suddenly and steeply.&quot;

sleuthing: when I read it in my mind, it sounded like slithering. I know that one from Harry Potter 🧙&zwj;♂️, but no, this one means: &quot;searching for clues, gathering evidence, or tracking down information.&quot; 🕵🏻&zwj;♂️ 
 
conundrum: I don&#39;t know why, but my brain went to tantrum, not quite the same; this one means &quot;a confusing and difficult problem.&quot; 😵&zwj;💫 
 
onus: this one sounded Latin, like some kind of legal jargon maybe, and I was right with the Latin etymology and used in legal contexts as &quot;onus of proof&quot;; this word means &quot;burden, responsibility, or duty.&quot; 
 
I&#39;m sure in a couple of weeks I&#39;m going to forget that new vocabulary, and I&#39;m not going to use it anytime soon, but a teacher once taught me to try to write it in a sentence; it will stick, so here we go:

<blockquote dir="auto">
Now the&nbsp;conundrum&nbsp;is how to stop my confidence from&nbsp;plummeting&nbsp;every time I have to do some&nbsp;sleuthing, but I guess the&nbsp;onus&nbsp;is on me to figure out what the heck everyone is talking about. 😁
</blockquote>

Okay, that was harder than I thought. See you in two weeks when I have forgotten all four of them.

And seriously, thank you all for making working in a second language feel so easy and comfortable. You probably don&#39;t realize it, but I&#39;m learning from all of you all the time. ❤️

&nbsp;

Working in English When English Isn't Your First Language

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Discover what's new or coming soon, including upcoming lessons and resources and product feature updates. 

Announcements

<h2>Tired of sending classwide emails with important updates that your students never read?</h2>

One of our most requested features is here! Now you can send announcements directly to all students in your class right from within Ellii.

We believe clear communication is at the heart of every successful classroom. The Class Announcements feature gives you a dedicated space inside Ellii to keep your students informed&nbsp;right where they&#39;re already learning.

<h2>How to send an announcement on Ellii</h2>

From the new Announcements tab on your class page, you can post messages, pin important updates to the top, and manage everything in one place.

<img alt="class announcements on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5541/content_Screenshot_2026-06-08_at_10.38.49_AM.png" />

<h2>Where students find announcements on Ellii&nbsp;</h2>

Students see your announcements at the top of their class page. New messages are clearly labeled. Pinned messages stay visible at all times.&nbsp;

<img alt="class announcements for students on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5542/content_Screenshot_2026-06-08_at_10.41.33_AM.png" />

<img alt="class announcements on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5543/content_Screenshot_2026-06-08_at_10.43.27_AM.png" />

<h2>Learn more</h2>

See&nbsp;step-by-step instructions in this&nbsp;Help Doc: <a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/312-how-to-create-class-announcements" target="_blank">How to Create Class Announcements</a>&nbsp;

Class Announcements Feature Now on Ellii

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Just like the Publishing team constantly puts out new content, our Product team continuously rolls out new features. Some builds are requests and needs shared by school districts, admins, or teachers, and others are updates we decide on internally to complete during a six-week cycle. In addition to building and designing new features, our&nbsp;engineers and designers are constantly cleaning things up to make the platform as user-friendly as possible for learners and teachers. 

We don&#39;t always get a chance to make formal announcements about all of our new releases, so if you&#39;re a subscriber, we hope you&#39;ll take a minute to review what&#39;s new!

<h2>No more password headaches: Key codes arrive</h2>

Logging in just got easier for students. When creating student accounts, teachers can now choose between traditional username + password or our new simpler option: key codes made up of six digits.

Students can log in using their key code + last name, making access quicker and more classroom-friendly.

And for even more efficiency, teachers can bulk create students via CSV upload.

<img alt="Keycodes on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5305/content_image__8_.png" />

<h2>Time reports reveal student effort</h2>

Curious how much time students are actually spending on tasks?

The new Time Reports feature gives teachers clear visibility into:

<ul>
	<li>Time spent by students within a specific class</li>
	<li>Total time spent across Ellii and Ellii Solo</li>
</ul>

<h2><img alt="time reports on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5306/content_image__9_.png" /></h2>

<h2>Assessments get a major upgrade</h2>

Assessments just leveled up. We&rsquo;ve brought more task types into the Assessment Player, including:

<ul>
	<li>Image Match</li>
	<li>Listen &amp; Type</li>
	<li>Writing&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Speaking</li>
</ul>

<img alt="Ellii Placement Test with speaking and writing" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5308/content_Screenshot_2026-03-18_at_8.58.47_AM.png" />

This unlocks more robust assessments, including true 4-skills placement tests and Ellii Bot assistance to grade them. Because of this, students will now see a message at the end of an assessment letting them know their score is being processed and will be available shortly.

<img alt="Assessment Player gets new tasks on Ellii " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5307/content_image__10_.png" />

<h2>Round buttons roll into town</h2>

The interface just got smoother.&nbsp;Round buttons have officially arrived, and some of them are now sporting fresh color gradients for a more modern look.&nbsp;

It might look like a small visual tweak, but a lot of work went into it behind the scenes.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<img alt="round buttons on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5296/content_image__1_.png" />

<h2>Teacher hack inspires new emoji class feature</h2>

We noticed a teacher manually adding emoji&nbsp;to their class names and thought,&nbsp;That&rsquo;s actually pretty cool...why not make it a feature?

Now teachers can pick an emoji for their class name directly from a selector, adding a bit of personality (and easier visual scanning) to the class list.

<img alt="emoji in class name on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5297/content_image__2_.png" />

<h2>Ellii Bot now takes scoring requests</h2>

Ever had your class set to manual grading and then realized you suddenly had a mountain of responses to score?&nbsp;

Ellii Bot autoscoring can now be run on demand as a one-off job!

So even if your class settings are set to manual grading (or you forgot to change them), you now have the option to let the bot step in and help.

<img alt="Need Ellii Bot's help " src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5298/content_image__3_.png" />

<h2>Bot declares: English-only for speaking tasks</h2>

Ellii Bot is tightening the rules on speaking activities. Responses must now be in English, ensuring more accurate feedback and scoring for speaking practice.

<img alt="Ellii Bot allows English only" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5299/content_image__4_.png" />

<h2>Homework confusion avoided with&nbsp;in-class tasks skipped</h2>

Some lesson tasks are really meant to be done live in the classroom, not assigned for homework.

Now pair or group tasks like warm-ups, discussions,&nbsp;and role-plays are skipped by default when assigning lessons. Teachers can still add them back into the assignment if they want.

<img alt="Homework-only tasks" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5300/content_image__5_.png" />

<h2>Students get &ldquo;already started&rdquo; assignment tracker</h2>

Students will now see which assignments they&#39;ve already started but not finished.

This makes it easier to jump back in and finish the job...hopefully. 😅

<img alt="Already started homework label on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5301/content_image__6_.png" />

<h2>Classes can be easily transferred</h2>

Teachers now have a new option when managing their classes&mdash;transfer a class to another teacher. When handing off a class to a coworker or dealing with schedule changes, teachers can now move a class without losing its structure or student list.

<img alt="Transfer homework to another teacher on Ellii" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/5302/content_image__7_.png" />

<h2>More platform updates</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Universal Roster&nbsp;now includes students without a class</li>
	<li>Old notifications cleaned up&nbsp;to reduce clutter and improve performance</li>
	<li>Platform performance benefits from smarter notification management</li>
	<li>Performance boost for students&#39; lists, now loading 4X faster!</li>
</ul>

A big thank-you to the entire Product team and everyone involved in the discussions that helped shape these updates, including teachers!&nbsp;Your ideas, feedback, and collaboration make improvements like these possible.

2026 Feature Updates at Ellii 

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Learn how to make the most of your Ellii subscription with tips from our publishing team.

Teaching with Ellii

If you&rsquo;re a teacher using Ellii, you&rsquo;ve likely already met our trusty assistant:&nbsp;<a href="https://help.ellii.com/article/267-how-to-use-the-grade-feed">Ellii Bot</a>. This tool helps you save time by auto-scoring student answers and writing personalized feedback on their Writing and Speaking tasks.

We&rsquo;ve heard your feedback, and we&rsquo;ve been listening closely. Teachers have told us they love the time-saving magic of Ellii Bot, but they have also noticed a few things that could be better.

So we&#39;ve rolled up our sleeves and made Ellii Bot even smarter.

<h2>Smarter scoring, more consistent feedback</h2>

Have you ever seen a student&rsquo;s answers get scores that felt a bit too high or too low compared to others on the same task? Or noticed&nbsp;Ellii Bot was a little too focused on matching the Answer Key perfectly?

That&rsquo;s because, in the past, Ellii Bot looked at each Writing or Speaking question individually&nbsp;without considering the full context of the task or the lesson. And it treated the Answer Key like the only possible correct response, which sometimes made things feel a bit too rigid.

For example, students are given the following instructions:&nbsp;Rewrite the sentence. There is a mistake in each sentence. Find the mistake and then rewrite the sentence correctly.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4787/content_image-1-2.png" />

The result? Inconsistent scoring and feedback that didn&rsquo;t always reflect your teaching goals&mdash;or your students&rsquo; true understanding.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4788/content_image-3-4.png" />

The new Ellii Bot changes that. It now reads and scores&nbsp;all of a student&rsquo;s answers together, which leads to&nbsp;more consistent scoring&nbsp;across the full task. It understands how the questions connect and evaluates them as a whole, just like a teacher would.

And when it comes to Answer Keys, Ellii Bot now treats them as&nbsp;one of many valid reference answers&nbsp;rather than as a strict standard. It uses the key as a helpful guide, but focuses on whether the student&rsquo;s answer is strong and appropriate on its terms.

<h2>Context matters&mdash;and Ellii Bot knows it</h2>

Before giving any feedback, the new Ellii Bot now reads and understands the&nbsp;lesson. This means it knows what your students are supposed to be focusing on&mdash;and tailors its scoring and feedback accordingly:

<ul>
	<li>In a&nbsp;grammar lesson, it emphasizes language accuracy.</li>
	<li>In a&nbsp;topic-based lesson, it prioritizes comprehension and relevant content.</li>
	<li>For personal&nbsp;opinion questions, it can recognize thoughtful, on-topic responses&mdash;even when there&rsquo;s no single correct answer.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Simplified feedback&nbsp;based on student level</h2>

Students are not all the same; they are at&nbsp;different levels, even when we are teaching the same lesson. Feedback is now&nbsp;adapted to the learner&rsquo;s level, making it more accessible, supportive, and appropriate for each stage of their learning journey.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4789/content_image-5.png" />

Even though both classes are working on the same intermediate-level lesson, Bicycles,&nbsp;beginner students are performing above their current level, while advanced students are working below theirs, which can result in lower scores for the more advanced group.

<img alt="" src="https://esllibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/ckeditor/pictures/4790/content_image-6-7.png" />

<ul>
	<li>Beginner students&nbsp;now receive&nbsp;shorter, simpler&nbsp;comments with clear and encouraging language.</li>
	<li>More advanced students&nbsp;get&nbsp;deeper, more detailed&nbsp;feedback that challenges their thinking and supports further growth.</li>
</ul>

This thoughtful approach helps ensure students understand and benefit from the feedback without being overwhelmed by it.

<h2>Built to empower teachers&mdash;not replace them</h2>

We recognize the importance of the human connection between teachers and learners. AI will never replace the insight, empathy, or guidance of a teacher. Instead, our goal is to build tools that&nbsp;support your work,&nbsp;freeing you to focus on what matters most: fostering student growth.

Read more about our philosophy at&nbsp;<a href="https://ellii.com/ai">ellii.com/ai</a>

The new Ellii Bot is designed to be a helpful partner, making your day a little easier and your feedback process more efficient and aligned with your goals.

We&rsquo;re excited to keep improving it&mdash;and we&rsquo;re so grateful to the educators who help shape the tools we build.

<blockquote>
Got feedback? We&rsquo;re always listening, and we count on you to help us keep getting better.
</blockquote>

VIEWING POSTS BY

Nicolas Cian

Working in English When English Isn't Your First Language

Class Announcements Feature Now on Ellii

2026 Feature Updates at Ellii

Ellii Bot Just Got Smarter