Can Technology Help You To Learn A Language?

We want to find technology that genuinely benefits us in our real lives, so every week we will be trying to find answers to everyday problems. With many people travelling to visit friends and family this Christmas (or escaping to go on holiday) perhaps it’s worth picking up a few phrases in a different language. So, this week’s question is, can technology help you to learn a new language?

We have pulled together some recommendations for how technology can help – Many thanks to those who shared their experiences for this week’s question.

Duolingo

• Website and App – completely free
• Great for complete beginners
• Can feel a bit patronising for an adult – but if you get past that you genuinely pick up the basics quickly
• Structured so you can invest 10 minutes per day to build up your knowledge
• If you’re just starting to learn a language – or only want to know enough to get by on a vacation then this is excellent

https://www.duolingo.com/welcome

Memrise

• Online resource that works by giving visual references as you learn to help you remember – and provides a community of native speakers to interact with
• Good fun and gives you a flavour of a country – rather than just learning the words
• Very social in feel
• If you’re willing to invest your time and want to interact with others then this is a very engaging resource

http://www.memrise.com/home/

Busuu

• Website and App – Free for basics with option for a paid premium service
• The free service is great for beginnings – you’ll learn enough to get by on holiday and the lessons structure means you learn the basics fast
• Easy to switch between website and app
• Allows you to interact with native speakers
• Paid option works for those who have mastered the basics and want to move on to have a better knowledge of grammar

https://www.busuu.com/enc/

Livemocha

• Online resource that also operates as a social network – you get to learn and interact with others
• If you benefit from learning alongside others rather than alone then this has some great features
• If you’re fully committed to learning a language then this is worth investing time in – you can also help others by ‘tutoring’ others in your native language
• If you just want to learn the basics though then this is a lot of work

http://livemocha.com

Audible

• If you’re bored of websites and Apps then an audio book could be a good option – you can listen while on the move
• Works really well if you know the basics but want to get to grips with pronunciation and complete sentences
• Not free – but if you’re at the stage where you want to perfect your skills then it’s a great option

http://www.audible.co.uk/cat/Languages-Audiobooks

If you have any experience to share, or if you have a problem you would like to get community advice on then please let us know.

3 ways to help your kids manage their screen time

• Who is this post for? Parents
• What does it discuss? Helping children to be mindful of their screen time
• How does it benefit you? Focus and peace of mind

Last week we asked you whether you felt your children’s screen time should be limited. It’s a subject that raises passionate opinions on both sides of the fence.

This week we simply want to point you in the direction of a thoughtful piece about helping your kids to think about the amount of time they spend in front of screens and the purpose of doing so. Read the piece from Anna Almendrala Healthy Living Senior Editor, Huffington Post, here.

 

Are tablets reducing your kids’ digital skills?

• Who is this post for? Parents and teachers
• What does it discuss? A report coming from Australia that suggests increasing use of mobile devices is lessening children’s digital skills
• How does it benefit you? Fresh perspective, focus

A new report by Australia’s National Assessment Programme, an Australian educational body, looks at technology literacy among two groups of children – one just leaving primary school and another in its fourth year of secondary school. More than 10,500 students took part. It compared digital literacy scores from 2011 with those from a survey carried out in late 2014, finding that the number of children meeting basic ICT literacy standards in these age groups had dropped significantly.

The report’s reasoning was that tablets and smartphones were making children competent at using many forms of online communication at the expense of those other skills emphasised by the curriculum, skills considered important for employability.  Our favourite quote in response to the report was from Eben Upton, who came up with the idea for the Raspberry Pi computer now used to teach so many IT skills in schools. He said:

“There’s a place for tablets in education, but we need to get away from the idea that knowing how to pinch-zoom makes your toddler the next Bill Gates”

If you’d like to read the report in full, you can download it here

What are your thoughts on this report’s conclusions?

Should we tame our kids’ screen time?

• Who is this post for? Parents of children
• What does it discuss? The merits or purpose of limiting screen time
• How does it benefit you? Possibly better grades for your kids

I remember when my parents used to moan at me for spending too much time in front of that “bloody computer” and not enough time outside. And that computer was a ZX Spectrum so frankly I was spending half my time actually waiting for games to load on a tape recorder 😉

But was that accusation fair and does the amount of time your kids spend in front of screens, be they PC’s tablets or smartphones, have any kind of negative effect on their education? Several recent studies, including those from the University of Cambridge and the National Children’s Bureau Northern Ireland, have claimed a negative effect on GCSE results to be correlated with increasing screen time.

One can probably argue that the nature of the screen time is probably the limiting factor. Research for study is different from playing the latest ‘shoot-em-up’, albeit there are many that vociferously claim gaming promotes its own set of skills (almost certainly true).

At the end of the day, as Mark Twain said, “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Stats and reports can probably make a case for anything if the question is framed in a certain way. Regardless, this latest article on BBC News makes an interesting, balanced case and suggests methods and tools for parents who wish to take a proactive stand on screen time.

We’d love to hear from you if you have your own views on whether or how to limit your kids’ screen time.

How can you use digital tools for education?

• Who is this post for? Anyone who teaches kids, be they teachers or parents helping with homework
• What does it discuss? How to use Twitter, Pinterest etc in an educational environment
• How does it benefit you? See digital tools through kids’ eyes and in a positive light

I’d been looking for some inspiration on how to utilise some of our most commonly used tools in an educational environment and stumbled across what look like a couple of very useful resources. They are both US-based but that’s irrelevant (though if anyone can point us in the direction of similar resources in the UK we’d love to shout about them).

The first is a series of guides from Edudemic that you can read online and give fantastic sets of advice in the form of infographics, terminology, how to become an authority on the subject, tips for use, rules etc. We’re very impressed on first reading, especially as the advice is free. You can read all the guides here

The second is a paid resource but looks pretty comprehensive from where we are sitting as Jennifer Gonzalez, author of the rather wonderful site Cult of Pedagogy, has produced a 210-page Teacher’s Guide to Tech, described in her own words as “a digital binder, a 210-page interactive PDF that you can store on your home computer, work computer, even on a tablet or smartphone. It contains clear descriptions of over 100 tech tools (almost all of them free), divided into 30 categories, with links to over 100 videos showing how the tools work, practical ideas for using each tool in the classroom, a glossary of over 80 tech terms, and a clickable table of contents and index that help you navigate through the binder with ease“. Helpfully the resource is updated as new tools come to be widely adopted.

Do let us know what digital tools you have found useful from an educational perspective or ask us if you’d like any particular aspect of education looked at.

Changing Kenya’s education by mobile phone

Unsurprisingly, it’s often cited that what holds back the economic progression of some of the world’s less affluent nations is the state of its education. This is a problem that’s rarely to do with the quality of the educators but more to do with the logistics and associated costs. For example, if a child lives in a rural village it may be impossible to practically travel to the place of education due to poor transport infrastructure.

Which makes this report from the BBC all the more inspirational. Read about an education program that aims to make “50 million students in Africa smarter” via the use of mobile phones, and then share freely!

Have you seen any other successful education programs with mobile phones at their heart?