Thank you for your interest in teaching on Verbling! We look forward to watching your application video. All videos must be recorded and then uploaded to YouTube, following these guidelines:
Length
- 2-3 minutes
Structure
- Introduce yourself.
- Mention your background, experience, skills.
- Teach something short and simple (like a greeting or some basic vocabulary).
- Invite students to try a lesson with you on Verbling.
Style
- Keep it simple, concise and personal.
- Be creative if you want. However, avoid animations/sound effects unless you are extremely confident in your video-editing skills. If you are not a skilled video editor, adding animations/sounds can actually be damaging as it might make your video look unprofessional.
- Show yourself! Make sure you are visible in the video so that we can see you and hear your voice clearly.
Setting
- Make sure you have excellent lighting. Avoid dark rooms and shadows.
- Try to be in a nice, comfortable environment (no dirty laundry in the background please!) If possible, record in front of a solid-color wall. The fewer distractions you have in the background, the better a student will be able to focus on you.
Language
- At least some portion of your video should be in the language that you are teaching.
- If you wish to address a particular audience - for instance, if you're teaching Spanish and want to address English speakers who are at a beginner level in Spanish, you could/should speak in English too.
- If you are multilingual, feel free to record parts of your video in each language that you speak; however, please remember you can only TEACH one language per account on Verbling.
Quality
- Make sure audio and video are of high quality. If you don't have a good webcam/microphone, please invest in them (there are some very affordable ones online); you'll need them for your teaching sessions as well.
- Record your video on your computer and then upload it to YouTube.
- Here are some suggestions for free recording software on your PC or Mac: http://www.wikihow.com/Record-from-a-Webcam
Title
- Title your YouTube video "Verbling Teacher [NAME] introduction video"
Smile!
- Don't forget to be happy and smile in your video 😃
Things to avoid...
- Do NOT mention your email, Skype, Zoom or any other external apps or websites. All communication with students, and all teaching, must be done through Verbling.
- Do NOT enable YouTube ads on your video.
- Do NOT make your video "Private" on YouTube. Please mark it as "Unlisted", which means only those with the direct link (you, Verbling, and anyone you choose to share the link with) can see it.
And for even more tips to make the best video possible, please click on the link below to continue on to the full version of this article:
TIPS FOR AN OUTSTANDING INTRO VIDEO