Engaging Digital Language Learners
#Edtech for teaching and learning
There are many applications out there for mobile devices and the following are some that you may find useful for yourself and/or your learners.
Other Useful Apps
Tellagami
Nearpod
Sprint Reader
Google Drive
Evernote
Sounds
EF Pron
A great little app for learning languages. Named app of the year 2013, Duolingo is a gamified language learning app. Progress through levels to unlock more sets to learn.
Nearpod is a presentation tool that the teacher runs and students sign into to see. The teacher controls what the students see and pushes content to their devices. It has interactive elements too such as having students draw on their devices and then being able to show results.
Tellagami is a cute little app available for Android or iPhones. It allows the user to make an avatar and then add voice. This is a great class activity - get students to create, record and share their avatars.
Sprint Reader is a speed reading app for Android and also an extension for Chrome. In addition to reading .epub books downloaded to your device, you can also read from clipboard, or highlighted text on webpages. A great app to recommend to students.
I needn't say much about Google Drive, except that it is a must for all teachers, and I'd recommend for learners too. Cloud storage and shareable docs is a start to the many tools on offer. If you have your students set up Drive accounts too, many learning activities can be conducted online including marking and feedback.
Evernote, as symbolised by the elephant, is a cloud-based notetaking tool that helps you never forget, and always access ideas. Being cloud-based, it is great for taking notes (and photos) on your mobile device, and then displaying in the classroom on the computer.
Both of these apps focus on pronunciation and are great teaching and learning tools. The Sounds Pron app has the complete phonemic chart which can interacted with. The English File Pron app is more limited in the free version, but has great potential for education.
