What is Level Up Village?
Level Up Village (LUV) is a learning product of Language Testing International (LTI) . Its mission is to globalize the classroom by facilitating global collaboration and cultural exploration between students from around the world. Developed by teachers, language teaching experts, and STEAM subject matter experts and guided by our carefully curated content, LUV builds students’ communication skills as they collaborate with their global peers to explore topics in Arts & Sciences or Languages & Cultures through our safe and secure (COPPA compliant) online platform. Through these video-based exchanges, students enhance their understanding and appreciation of other cultures, strengthen their intercultural communication skills, learn how to collaborate in a global context, gain empathy, and grow into global citizens.
Arts & Sciences Courses
The Arts & Sciences course exchanges are generally 8 weeks, and they are conducted on our secure, teacher-monitored platform through the sharing of asynchronous video. Developed by subject matter experts for students ages 4-18, Arts & Sciences exchanges allow students to pair up with classrooms in other countries to discuss various course topics, such as engineering, scientific exploration, global issues, ecology, music, and language arts and to engage in fun hands-on projects.
Throughout each course, students exchange videos with their global peers to discuss their projects and learn about their similarities and differences. By engaging in the same course with children from around the world, students are exposed to new perspectives, cultural diversity, and a variety of educational systems.
Course topics
Ages 4-8: Global Sound Artists; Global Storybook Engineers 1; Global Storybook Engineers 2
Ages 9-11: Global Scientists A: Water Convervation; Global Scientists B: Water Experimentation; Global Scientists C: Exploring DNA; Global Conversations: I Am Malala; Global Conversations: Esperanza Rising
Ages 11-14: Global Conversations: The Giver; Global Citizenship Series: Climate Change
Languages & Cultures Courses
Languages & Cultures course exchanges (currently available for Spanish-English exchanges) are 4-8 weeks and are conducted on our secure, teacher-monitored platform through the sharing of asynchronous video. Course themes are cultural and relevant to current languages & culture curricula and are broken up by proficiency level.
The Languages & Cultures courses bring together language learners from around the world for a unique exploration of culture. Guided by our carefully curated content, students engage in authentic conversations around key cultural products, practices, and perspectives. They explore topics, exchange videos, and reflect on what they’ve learned, all on our safe and secure online platform. Students practice their language skills while developing 21st century skills, cross-cultural communication skills, and cultural awareness.
Course topics
Level 1: Explorer (Recommended for students who have completed at least 1 year of high school/secondary study or equivalent in the target language & culture. )
The People in Our Lives; Animals in Our Lives; Our Favorite Food
Level 2: Adventurer (Recommended for students who have completed at least 2 years of high school/secondary study or equivalent in the target language & culture.)
What Culture Means to Us; Come See Where We Live!; Our School Day
Level 3: Trailblazer (Recommended for students who have completed 3 years or more of high school/secondary study or equivalent in the target language & culture. )
Music and Society; Global Challenges - Climate Change; Future Plans and Professions
How Does It work?
1. Teachers join the global community of educators on the LUV platform.
2. Each teacher is matched with an educator in another country.
3. Both classes create an online profile and get to know their global peers.
4. Students investigate Arts & Sciences or Languages & Cultures topics and interact through a series of asynchronous videos and responses.
5. Students learn about the topics, make cultural comparisons, and reflect upon the connection they made to their global partners.
What LUV Offers
- A pairing system that allows you to find and connect with the best global partner match for you.
- Courses with themes and objectives that tie directly to international goals and standards (for example, UN SDGs, ISTE Student Standards, and World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages ).
- Flexible modules that adapt to your classroom needs with 4-8 weeks of collaboration time.
- Real-world tasks that focus on building academic knowledge, global citizenship, and intercultural communication skills.
- Student Can-Do Self-Assessment and Teacher Analytic Rubrics that build students’ awareness of their learning and help them reflect, make comparisons, and develop cultural awareness.
- A large libarary of teacher and student support materials for running successful exchanges.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an essential part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which people gain and apply the skills and knowledge to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve goals, demonstrate tolerance and empathy, build healthy relationships, and make responsible decisions. Self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, self-management, and responsible decision-making are five core components of SEL as outlined in the CASEL Framework that Level Up Village (LUV) Global Connections fosters as part of its curriculum.
Recommended Usage
1-2 hours a week
Educational Impact
Additional evidence
Apr 2023
Creating opportunities for authentic communication and cultural immersion
Apr 2023
Virtual exchanges address the challenges of student engagement and authentic experiences
Apr 2023
Developing global citizenship through STEM-based global virtual collaboration
May 2023
Creating opportunities for communication and cultural immersion
 Company | Business Name: Language Testing International HQ Location: United States Founded: 2012 |
| Age Range | 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, 14-16, 17-18, 19+ |
 Features | Inquiry-based LearningGlobal CommunicationIste StandardsUn SdgsFoster Social And Emotional LearningDevelop Student EmpathyIncrease Student Engagement Enhance Curriculum With Virtual ExchangesEngage Students In Hands-on ProjectsHave Students Collaborate With Peers Around The WorldGlobalize Your ClassroomStem-based Global Collaboration ProjectsBring Authentic Communication In A Target LanguageStudents Collaborate With Peers Around The WorldDevelop Cultural CompetencyDevelop Global CitizenshipAuthentic Communication In Language Classes |
 Languages | English, Spanish; Castilian |
 Accessibility | Moderate features |
 Policies |  Terms of ServicePrivacy Policy |
 Requirements | Internet - High BandwidthDesktop - MacDesktop - WindowsDesktop - ChromebookMobile - iPhoneMobile - iPadMobile - WindowsMobile - Android LUV is accessible on the desktop, mobile, tablet, and Chromebook. Teachers first register on the platform. Once they are matched with a global partner, they invite students to create their profiles. Children's privacy is of utmost importance to us (we are COPPA certified), so no student data is ever saved and stored. Students use their first name and last name initial to create their user names. If they choose, they can use made up name to create their profiles. WiFi is requried for students to upload their videos and respond to their global partners' videos. Students can record the videos directly in the platform or upload videos from their mobile devices. |
 Set Up | 30 min - 60 min |
 Training | Live OnlineWebinarsDocumentationVideos |
 Support | EmailFAQs/ForumPhone Support |
| Home Learning | Teacher must create the account. There isn't a separate parent access. However, parents can view their children's video uploads through their children's access. |
 Tags | virtual exchanges21st century skillsglobal collaborationpeer-to-peer exchangesSTEMSTEAMlanguagescultural competenceglobal citizenshipauthentic communicationsocial and emotional learningvideo-based exchangeslanguage artssocial studiessciencecommunication skillsdigital literacycollaboration skillscross-cultural communicationinquiry-based learning |
Level Up Village PricingPricing Plans One-Off Fee Level Up Village pricing starts from $300 / one-off Price is per exchange (4-8 weeks) for up to 30 students per exchange. Languages & Cultures exchanges are $300/exchange and $600 for the premium Ambassador Plan. Arts & Sciences exchanges are $600/exchange. Pricing listed here is for US-based customers. Discounts are available for customers outside the USA. A purchase of 10+ exchanges at a time qualifies for a 10% discount. Credits for exchanges are valid for two years from the date of purchase.  Optimised for a quick response | |
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Level Up Village Reviews
from 13 Verified Reviews
User rating
Country
Lisa Fore
Spanish Teacher, Department Chair
Used Level Up Village monthly for 7–12 months
Jan 2024
My students have loved the LevelUp Village experiences they have participated in. Mostly they cannot wait to receive responses from their favorite students in the partner school. Although they do not know each other personally and do not exchange personal contact information, they make a true connection and are excited to see and hear from their "friends".
Lisa Fore found Level Up Village :
- Moderately increases student collaboration“Students collaborate to negotiate meaning of messages, to edit their own messages and grammar, and to become proficient in the use of a variety of technology tools for recording messages and/or adding subtitles.”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“Students developed and/expanded vocabulary necessary to talk about the chosen theme, gained insight into cultural practices, traditions, and perspectives, were exposed to linguistic diversity, developed empathy for their peers who were studying and learning English by developing a deeper understanding of others' experiences. Our partner school was in Argentina and the lesson was "Our Favorite Foods" which allowed us the opportunity to learn about products in grocery stores (such as milk in bags), the tradition and cultural practice of drinking mate, and the parrillo and asado. Students had to adapt to the linguistic rules of Argentine Spanish. Students also gained cultural knowledge from non-intentional visual components as they were able to compare style/fashion, grocery stores and foods, and appliances.”
Jackson
Spanish Teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections daily for 0–3 months
Dec 2023
It has been a trial / error learning to navigate the dates / tasks / partners being paired with two different groups. One group has been able to progress but the other got stuck when the partner didn't release the videos. Overall it has been super positive - but, it was a little overwhelming for students to jump into the tasks. Thankfully we did celebrations, which they already had some vocabulary base for - but looking forward, i feel like i will have to create materials to help them have some vocabulary base before jumping into the new topics. I'd love to see materials included for that. That would put me at a 10
Jackson found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“Students have been able to work together on crafting responses and building vocabulary. I'd love to see a lesson / options for a lesson to build some of the topic specific vocabulary included. There wasn't enough time to do it myself and the Tasks move quickly.”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“Students are learning about the person(s) they're watching videos for, and they're learning new vocab - but again, I'd like to see some type of materials included to help imprint the vocabulary for the specific topics”
Malola Olea
english coordinator
Used Level Up Village Global Connections occasionally for 5 years+
Jun 2023
wrong click, wanted to rate 10, I really enjoyed working with LUV, and hope to have another oportunity.
Malola Olea found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“They feel motivated to record and watch the videos for projects.”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“When we started working with LUV, they started using CANVA, and Thinkercad for the first time, something they now use for their presentations in other classes.”
Tamara
7th Grade Social Studies Teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 0–3 months
Mar 2023
This is a great program. The cost is the reason for the "9". It can be a bit prohibitive.
Tamara found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“My students were able to connect with their peers in Nigeria and were sad when their course was complete.”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“Our students were able to see and learn the differences between what is available to them versus what is available worldwide. They were also able to learn about differences in climate between the U.S. and Nigeria.”
Sabrina Wilson
Spanish and English teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 0–3 months
Feb 2023
All the reasons above. It was difficult to coordinate with my global partner, which rendered the experience very inefficient and frustrating for my students. I agree with my students that they would get more out of it if they were paired with a single person. Additionally, we had some trouble with the website. A few of my students had repeated issues uploading their videos and some of their videos simply did not upload.
Sabrina Wilson found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Moderately increases student collaboration“My students were excited to communicate with peers in Mexico so they were generally more enthusiastic about the LUV homework assignments, at least at the beginning of the exchange.”
- Does not improve teaching efficiency“It was difficult to coordinate with my global partner because we were on different teaching schedules, so we experienced delays that sometimes made lesson-planning difficult. I had to readjust my plans a few different times. Because we did not move efficiently through the LUV exchange, it interfered with my teaching of other, unrelated material.”
- Does not significantly improve behaviour or wellbeing“My students expressed enjoyment in getting to know teens from Mexico through videos, but they also said they would have rather connected with a single student multiple times. They uniformly expressed a preference for having one exchange partner that they could correspond with multiple times.”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“They learned about aspects of Mexican culture; they were particularly fascinated by the conversations about music.”
Cecilia
Headmistress
Used Level Up Village Global Connections occasionally for 7–12 months
Feb 2023
.
Cecilia found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Moderately increases student collaboration“.”
- Significantly improves teaching efficiency“.”
- Moderately improves behaviour or wellbeing“.”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“The fact that they have a chance to interact with students from other countries and realities allows for grear growth in their knowledge.”
gina gallo
Teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 4-6 months
Jan 2023
I know how busy teachers are so I would absolutly reccoment the platform. I did not rate this at a 10 because I am not sure all teachers are ready to take this on
gina gallo found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Moderately increases student collaboration“Students were engaged with the exchange program. They wanted to make videos and were excited to see if their friends responded to their posts.”
- Moderately improves teaching efficiency“The platform was well ogranized so I was able to focus on helping my students rather than planning each step of the lesson.”
- Moderately improves behaviour or wellbeing“Students felt a resonsability to their exchange partners so they tried hard to meet deadlines and complete the work”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“Students were listening, viewing and responding to peers questions and comments about daily life. They were given a glimps into thier classrooms, homes and schools”
Katia Martinez
English Coordinator
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 0–3 months
Jan 2023
I believe it is a helpful platform that can improve many aspects. If we get to experience it again, we may have a better experience
Katia Martinez found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Slightly increases student collaboration“Helping with tecnology, suggestions on how to make videos”
- Slightly improves teaching efficiency“Reducing teacher talk, students helping others”
- Does not significantly improve behaviour or wellbeing“Not really”
- Moderately builds student knowledge“Cultural exchanges”
Marcos Guajardo
Teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections daily for 0–3 months
Jan 2023
it was an amazing experience
Marcos Guajardo found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“they gained insights into American traditions”
- Significantly improves teaching efficiency“more exposure to authentic language”
- Significantly improves behaviour or wellbeing“attentive listening and respect for others' reality”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“They got to know several pieces of information on American History for example”
Shelly Nichols
Spanish Teacher
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 1-2 years
Jan 2023
I think this program is an amazing opportunity to have students engage with others to gain insight into cultural nuances and perspectives as it allows for an actual application of the students' target language skills.
Shelly Nichols found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“Students are able to collaborate with other students around the globe almost always.”
- Significantly improves teaching efficiency“Yes, it allows for World Language students to engage in meaningful conversations with native speakers, something that is limiting to just the WL teacher in the classroom.”
- Moderately improves behaviour or wellbeing“I believe so, but would need more exchanges to have a real idea.”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“Yes, students are able to gain the perspectives of others from first person points of view and experiences.”
Celina Gismondi
English Primary Coordinator
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 4-6 months
Jan 2023
To be able to implement LUV schools need to include this in advance in their planning. It will also require some extra hands when preparing the materials in class and I would suggest these two as part of the recommendation
Celina Gismondi found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“Students get motivated by preparing the tasks, learning from the students' from abroad and comparing to their own productions”
- Moderately improves teaching efficiency“concrete tasks that are well organized and in detail description help deliver on time and plan lessons accordingly”
- Moderately improves behaviour or wellbeing“students in Argentina are talkative and energetic in general, so having clear goals on what to produce and working in teams helped improve collaborative responses”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“general knowledge is part of the proposal. Getting to know similarities and differences with the partner school and even with the task information is a means to acquiring broader knowledge”
Dan Pieraccini
Director of Global Programs
Used Level Up Village Global Connections monthly for 3-4 years
Jan 2023
It's so easy to use, incredible versatile, the customer support is great, and the kids love talking to kids all over the world.
Dan Pieraccini found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“It allows them to work together on language learning, as well as contemporary issues.”
- Significantly improves teaching efficiency“They hear language spoken by native speakers and are introduced to colloquialisms.”
- Significantly improves behaviour or wellbeing“The students are being introduced to issues by their peers all over the world.”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“They learn vocabulary and culture from kids all over the world.”
Belén
Head of English Department
Used Level Up Village Global Connections weekly for 4-6 months
Jan 2023
LUV provides students and teachers with real life scenarios to use the language, which makes the difference when compared to any other program we might introduce in our lessons.
Belén found Level Up Village Global Connections:
- Significantly increases student collaboration“Students help each other to think and create content for their videos.”
- Moderately improves teaching efficiency“teachers are provided with guidelines to be followed plus it's easy for them to add the LUV plan chosen to their plans. Sometimes the platform gets a little bit confusing for them, though we received clear instructions from LUV collaborators to solve that.”
- Significantly improves behaviour or wellbeing“as long as the program is properly conducted by the teacher. It contributes to student's autonomy.”
- Significantly builds student knowledge“at a cultural level, students get to know how people of their same age live in other parts of the world. They also get to use language in context and every program given them a real purpose to use the language.”