Cool Apps for Language Learning

November 3, 2010

Are you teaching or learning a language? Want to do it the 21st century way though your Android, iPhone or Blackberry? There are literally dozens of apps out there to help you learn foreign languages!

Some of them are language specific, while others offer multilingual options. Here are some examples:

24/7 Tutor – Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and German

Katahira App – Japanese (Katahira)

Greek – flash cards

American Sign Language (ASL) – tutorial and reference app

Cherokee – iPhone app for this endangered indigenous language

Korean Essentials – a free app from the Apple Store by AccelaStudy

Spanish vocabulary – by Componica

Matt Silverman, in Mashable/Mobile, wrote about free apps for the Android phone, including one called Talk To Me. He writes:

“Talk To Me is an impressive app that can translate your input text or speech between over 40 different languages, and in most cases, speak the translations back to you. The interface is really dead-simple: An input for text, a drop-down list to choose your languages, and a big green button to activate the speech recognition.” Read the full article here.

Claire Bradin Siskin offers a superb overview of instructional and learning apps for languages for iPhone, Blackberry and other smart phones, including a list of places to get them.

Angel Brady at Princeton University did a great review of over 20 different apps for language learning.

Here’s an idea: Ask your students what apps they can find for their own mobile devices. Build your own links and resources for your students by engaging them in the process of figuring out what works for them, what doesn’t and why.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Global Trends in Education in the 21st Century: Webinar

August 31, 2010

I am delighted that the Centre for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) invited me to give their Spotlight Presentation for September. Join us for this free PD webinar for educators and students:

Title: 21st Century Global Trends in Education

Date: September 8, 2010

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 Mountain Time (Click here to convert for your time zone).

We’ll go over the top 7 trends that are occurring in education across the globe at every level, from elementary school through to post-secondary levels and beyond. You’ll get tips on how to engage learners and create your own “best teaching practices” for the 21st century.

Register through CILC here.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Using Skype in the Second and Foreign Language Classroom – Follow up

August 12, 2010

I was thrilled to be invited to present at the Social Media Workshop organized by the Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University.

Here are the slides from today’s presentation:

You can download the handouts from the session here.

Check out the recording of the session, too.

And if you’re doing research on using Skype for education, then you might be interested in the research paper that I wrote to go along with the presentation.

Also, for the first time, I put together a Diigo list of online bookmarks for this session. Check out all the resources I archived for you on my list “Skype for Educators”.

Here’s what people said about the webinar:

“I have used Skype for about a year to communicate with family during travel. Pointing out that Skype is easy to use for those less versed in new technology is important. People need to feel comfortable and the technology is invisible so that communication is the focus. With the globalization of education it is important that we maintain strong human connections and include both the older generation and the new digital natives.” – Denise Foures-Aalbu, USA

“Dr. Sarah provided participants with many useful ideas. Her enthusiasm encouraged others to add their ideas to the list. Well done, Dr. Sarah!” – Scott Miatech, Waterford, WI, USA

“Dr. Eaton did a wonderful and engaging presentation for our 2010 LARC Summer Social Media Workshop.  She provided motivation for participants to dive right into Skype and practical activities for the language classroom.  LARC hopes to continue collaborating with Sarah in the future and exploring the outer limits of distance education!” – Evan Rubin, LARC, San Diego State University.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Using Skype for second language debates: Ideas for teachers

August 9, 2010

Two of the trends in language learning I found while researching Global Trends in Language Learning in the 21st Century were using technology for language learning and an increased focus on demonstrating language competence through speech and stories, debates and speaking competitions. How about combining the two?

I’ve been busy preparing my presentation on Using Skype in the Second and Foreign Language Classroom for the Social Media Workshop for language teachers put on by the Language Acquisition Resource Centre (LARC) at San Diego State University.

During my travels I came across Lois Smethurt’s blog. She has an excellent post on how she used Skype for an inter-school debate. She talks about the students’ reaction to the experience, as well as the logistics of putting together an inter-school debate using Skype.

I loved this idea for language learning. We can organize debates not only between schools, but between countries, too. Check out Sue Water’s blog post on how to connect with schools and classrooms in other countries using Skype. She offers an amazing resource list for teachers from around the world to connect using Skype.

Between them, these two insightful, innovative Edubloggers offer us the ingredients to put together inter-classroom, international second language debates using synchronous technology that allows students to use real language in real time.

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

Social Media Workshop for Language Educators – LARC, SDSU

August 4, 2010

Calling all Language Educators!

The Language Acquisition Resource Center at San Diego State University is organizing

Social Media Workshop
Date: August 9 – 13, 2010
Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Pacific Time Zone)
 – 10:00 – 17:00 (Calgary / Mountain Time Zone)

This is an online event, open to all educators at no cost.

I was thrilled when they contacted me and invited me to do a presentation on using Skype in the Second and Foreign Language Classroom. So if you missed the first Skype webinar, this one may be of interest, as it will cover much of the same material.

But forget my session, check out all the other great sessions. Here are just a few that will be offered:

  • Michelle Olah & Catalina Bohorquez – Social Media Tools for Collaboration
  • Glenn Cake – Online Class and Digital Story Telling through PhotoStory 3
  • Ronnie Burt – Using Blogs To Enhance Student Learning
  • Evan Rubin – Mobile Devices, Social Media, and Language Learning Dicsussion
  • Chris Brown – Classroom Narrative: Twitter in a Spanish 3 Class

I’m looking forward to learning all I can about using social media in foreign language teaching. Come join me?

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Update – January 2018 – This blog has had over 1.8 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!

Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada.

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Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D.

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