Over the past several weeks, I have examined a variety of online language learning tools and conducted in-depth comparisons to determine which apps, if any, I would deem effective for classroom learning.
I started by looking at the two district-promoted tools, Yabla and Duolingo. I found Yabla to be a fairly helpful app. It teaches through videos on various subjects and allows you to listen with subtitles, slow down or speed up, and practice the vocabulary and phrases used in the video, either with written exercises, or listening and spoken exercises. The variety and the focus on oral and listening skills, as well as the option to view and practice the vocabulary at any point are valuable features of the app. It also gives you some choice in what kind of topics you want to learn about and uses the phrases in context; the videos are continuous, not pause and play clips of various phrases. I was not a huge fan of Duolingo. Duolingo is definitely an engaging and valuable tool for learning vocabulary, but I do not find it does a good job of contextualizing the vocabulary in conversation, and it does not let you go back and review the vocabulary at your own pace. You must complete a full lesson to see the vocabulary. In my last post I looked at Duolingo school, which allows you to put all of your students on one account, assign a learning goal, and track their progress. However, I could not seem to find or specify what my students would be working on, only the length of the session.
The gems that I found were Mauril, an app created by CBC that allows students to learn English or French by watching levelled videos that have built-in comprehension questions.
Check out Mauril here:
Another amazing app that is similar to Duolingo, only with unlimited practice time and access to a word bank where you can practice the vocabulary at your own pace, is Memrise. I used this at the beginning of my Spanish journey, and although I think genuine conversation and some additional grammar practice will be essential add-ons to become fluent, it is a fantastic way to nail the basics.
See Memrise here:
Although, I only briefly looked at it, Pimsleur, a paid app, seemed to be a strong option because it formulates full lessons that work on multiple skills (listening, speaking, writing, etc.) and allows you to go back and practice the grammar at any time.
Here is a link to Pimsleur:
https://offers.pimsleur.com/free-trial-14041-intl?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_term=&utm_content=
Link to Yabla:
Link to Duolingo:
Leave a Reply