Create Spelling Tests

Set interactive, self-marking spelling tests

Konstantina avatar
Written by Konstantina
Updated over a week ago

Use Satchel One to create Spelling Tests for your students to take online. Spelling Tests use text-to-speech technology to convert words or phrases into audio files.

When your students take the test, they will be prompted to enter the spelling after hearing a word. You can also provide definitions or sentences for context. This task type is perfect for:

  • Foreign languages

  • Scientific terms and other definitions

Set a Spelling Test

To begin, click + Create task from the menu on the left and select Spelling Test. You will then be taken to a form where you will fill in some general information about the task.

Title

First, enter the title for the task. This will appear on the students' personal calendars and To-Do List.

Describe the task for your students

Fill this box with the information the students need to know about the task. You can format your text using the available options.

Subject

Select a subject for the task. This will help students locate their task on the school calendar. It’s also important for reporting purposes.

Class group(s)

Select the group your task will be assigned to from the drop down menu.

You can set a task to multiple classes in one go by using the checkboxes to multi-select!

You can also set it to a class you are covering; simply click on Find other classes to search for classes. You can search by name, subject or year group using the filters at the top.

You can tick the top box to select all groups that are currently displayed to you which is helpful if you want to select a cohort of classes e.g. year 8 mathematics classes.

Issue and Due dates

The Issue date field allows you to set the date on which the task will first appear in the school calendar as well as the student and parent personal calendars. This allows you to set your task far in advance but prevents students from rushing ahead.

The Due date field allows you to select the deadline for submissions. Spelling Tests completed past that date will be marked as "Submitted late".

Issue on lesson and Due on lesson

If you use Satchel One’s Timetable app, you can also use the Issue on lesson and Due on lesson fields.

These update automatically based on your timetable and the dates you have selected but remain flexible in case you’d like to change them.


Attaching a task to a specific lesson acts as visual reminders on the Timetable for you and your students, however it will not affect the publish time of the the task.

Language

Spelling Tests are supported in multiple languages. Select from select British English, American English, Spanish, German, or French.

Voice

Each language has a few different voices to choose from. Pick the one that works best for the type of test you are setting, i.e. scientific words.

💡Top tip: You can preview the voice samples by clicking on the speaker beside each word you've added in your test.

Trays

Words or terms can be categorised into different trays. This helps teachers process the results based on certain criteria, such as difficulty or topic, in case extra work needs to be set later for poor performers.


Students will not be made aware of the different trays and will have to provide answers for all terms.

Click on a tray's name to rename it, and press enter to save your changes.

Add words or terms 

Spelling tests can be made up not just by single words, but phrases also. To preview the sound of any term, click on the speaker icon beside it. If you are not happy with the pronunciation, you can try selecting a different voice.

For more complex terms, you can choose to add some context (an example sentence) or the definition. When the spelling work is used in a sentence, it will be redacted and students will see a blank space in its place.

Once you are done adding words, go ahead and click Publish.

💡 Top tip: Started a spelling test but don't have time to finish? Save it as a draft to come back to it later. You can find it again from My drafts. Click here when logged into your account to visit My drafts.


Absent or self-isolating students?

If you choose a single class for your Flexible Task, you’ll also be able to allocate which specific students within the class receive this task.

By default, all students in the class will be ticked so that you can continue to set your work as normal, however, you could choose to deselect certain students if you wish to omit them. Alternatively, you could click the ‘x’ to remove all students and then just select one or more.


What will my students see?

Students get 3 lives for each spelling word or term. If they guess wrong two times, they will see a hint for the final try. Any additional context, such as the definition or an example sentence, will be displayed on the screen also.

Students are not able to re-take a spelling test, but follow up work can be set by the teachers once they've reviewed their performance. We recommend using trays to categorise your words so you can see a breakdown for each word group or category and better understand how your students are doing.

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