The PalFish reading app is one of the main ways by which PalFish promotes themselves to new students. It is essentially a freemium app within which students can read short English stories, record themselves reading each sentence, and also dub short cartoons or film clips. They can upload pictures or short videos relating to English learning. Students receive points for completing various activities and also when someone watches/ likes their videos, and the whole platform is designed to incentivise community engagement.
Why should I use the reading app?
The reading app is essentially a hub of potential new students, with whom you can start to build a relationship and help them get to know you as a teacher. If a student has particularly got to know you through the reading app, they may then sign up for the Official Kids Course program (for which there are many adverts all over the app) and request you as their specific teacher.
The reading app is also a great way to keep in touch with previous trial class and OKC students, even if they are no longer actively taking classes with you. This helps to remind them that you value their hard work and are keen to continue to support their learning.
How do I download the app?
IMPORTANT: Do NOT download the PalFish reading app from the Google Play Store / Apple App Store, this is the international version and does not link to the PalFish teaching app (so is completely useless for attracting new students). Instead, ask on PalFish for the latest download link.
If you have a Chinese smartphone (e.g. Huawei etc) you may be able to find the Chinese version by searching for 伴鱼绘本 in their app store.
How can I sign up/ log in?
To sign up for the reading app, you need to log in as a teacher using your PalFish login credentials. Do NOT set up a new account – if you find yourself creating a password etc. you have gone wrong somewhere!
In the login screen, DO NOT fill in your info on the first login form, instead select “password login” (密码登录 – in small blue text on the right just under the greyed out login button) and then “teacher login” (top right corner), then log in with the same phone number and password as your main PalFish account.
Reading books yourself
You can browse available books in the reading library (绘本馆) section, which has a fun logo of a frog reading a book and is usually prominently displayed at the top of your page.
When you first get started on the reading app, I would recommend just having a play around and reading several books yourself. Simply listen to the books, record yourself reading out each sentence, and complete the fun quiz. After you read a book on the reading app, it automatically posts it to both your reading app and main PalFish teacher profile.
For students, this can be useful to give them an insight into your accent or expression, but realistically I would say that just reading books on the reading app won’t bring in large numbers of students on its own (if any). It also clutters up your PalFish teacher’s moments feed, so you may wish to go through and delete most of them to make sure your main value-adding moments are more prominent.
One thing I do do though is share the books I have read to my OKC students group chat (and we will later show you how to set up set up a “reading club” group class dedicated specifically to this). I then write a quick vocab list to send to them, and encourage them to read the book to so we can enjoy the story together. This is a really simple and easy way to build some engagement in your students group chat.
Commenting on students’ reading
To really engage more directly with students, you need to be listening to their reading recordings, liking the post and adding a comment with a congratulatory message!
Be sure to listen to check that the student did actually read the text (sometimes they just record a blank message to get points for “reading” a book) and write a personalised message pointing out something specific they did well at, for example a particular word or sound they pronounced well. Note: in China it is considered very embarrassing to receive any criticism or correction publically, so even if you want to give some constructive feedback this is NOT the time to do it.
You can find students posts in various places:
Existing/ previous students
You can view the recently recorded books from students you are already following within the notifications tab. Make sure you are following all your OKC and trial students, and use this as an opportunity to connect outside of class. You can also follow other students you find randomly on the reading app, although personally I prefer to keep my notifications dedicated to just my OKC and trial students.
New students
To find new students you are not already connected with, the easiest way to do this is by searching for books in the reading section. Select a book aimed at your favourite age range or a topic you love, but rather than reading it instead select “good works” at the top of the screen, followed by “latest”. Here, you can listen to the latest recordings from students reading this book. You can also click on the student’s profile picture to view all their reading books – feel free to go through and like a load of them, as this will send them plenty of points as a nice bonus when they next log in!
Commenting on “grow up” posts in the “square”
The “square” section of the app is where students can post their own photos or videos relating to English learning (although many are on other topics such as art, music, cartoon clips, etc – it’s a bit random…) – these are known as “grow up” posts.
Search through the “square” until you spot videos which are clearly recorded by genuine students, perhaps of them reading their homework, singing an English song, etc. Watch the video, like and write a comment with some positive praise and specific congratulatory message – just as with the book recordings. You can also award “rewards” which gives them bonus points (which come from your own points balance).
Creating a reading club/ class group
The reading app also has an interesting feature where users can create “class groups” – this seems to be aimed at school teachers, who can create a group chat for their class of students, assign them reading books as homework, send messages and give feedback. However, it is open for anyone to create and request to join groups, so as a PalFish OKC teacher you are also encouraged to create a “reading club” type group!
How do I set this up?
First, you will need to navigate to the “my class” (班级) section from the reading app homepage. Click on the plus symbol in the top right corner, then the first option on the list (创建班级) which allows you to create a new class. Give it a catchy name, simple class description and suitable avatar – you can always edit these a bit later don’t worry. You can then invite students to join the class. I would recommend inviting all of your OKC and trials students to start with, and using this primarily as a way to build a stronger long term relationship with them.
What should I do with this group?
Within this group, the key features are the ability to set homework and to message/ chat with all group members. I recommend setting a reading homework each week, which can be easily done under the homework tab. You can then interact with students’ homework submissions, send them feedback and congratulations, etc.
At the same time as posting each homework task, you could also post a short vocabulary list relating to the book (use the voice message feature to include some audio recordings too) or ask students some simple comprehension or extension questions to respond to. This helps to create more engagement in the group and adds additional value beyond the books themselves, thus demonstrating your teaching skills.
Finally, you can also encourage students to share their own book recordings in the group chat for each other to listen to, like and comment. Be aware that many of the “class groups” in the reading app were actually set up by students just as “like for likes” type groups, and so be careful that your group doesn’t become too spammy. Instead, take time to respond and send congratulatory messages in response to any students sharing their posts.
How much time should I be spending on all this?
You may be feeling a little overwhelmed with all the potential within the reading app, but also how easy it is for it to eat up all of your time.
Some PalFish mentors recommend that new teachers spend several hours a day on the reading app building up their profile – particularly focusing on liking and commenting on students’ books or videos. I have seen senior mentors recommending that you aim to comment on at least 50 students’ posts per day, post five book recordings, post a short video/ “grow up” post, etc. However, this can seem like a lot of work with no guaranteed reward.
Personally, I only spend a couple of hours a week on the reading app, and even at the beginning I never spent more than one hour a day. I focus on those activities I feel genuinely add value to my existing students (i.e. liking and commenting with valuable/ positive feedback on their works, plus growing engagement in my reading club group) as I am at the stage where retaining students is more important than attracting new ones. As a new teacher, you may need to instead focus on reaching out to potential new students and building up a following.
Always remember that quality is better than quantity, and do not feel forced to do more than you can manage.