Educational
Apps for Language Learners
By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano
School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad
Latina de Costa Rica
Sunday,
February 21, 2016
Post 217
Due to the fact that I am an English
language teacher with some 20 years of teaching experience and some 7 years of
hybrid language instruction, most of the apps that I always like to spot and
then share with my students are connected to language learning and English
skills reinforcement and consolidation.
Keeping in mind my current students,
the ones enrolled in the English Language Teaching (ELT) Major, I have always
suggested learners to make good use of these three apps: Sounds: Pronunciation
App by Macmillan Publishers, OneStopEnglish by Macmillan Publishers, and
LearnEnglish Grammar by the British Council.
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Sounds:
Pronunciation App
|
Type of
App:
English Pronunciation for Android devices
|
|
1) Sounds
is an app created by Macmillan Publishers Ltd. It can help students better
their pronunciation skills why taking courses on phonetics or phonology.
2) The
app includes interactive phonetic charts to practice American or British
English pronunciation with high quality audio.
3) Students
have the chance to change from one English variation to the other.
|
|
Target
Student:
Taking Pronunciation, Phonetics, & Phonology
|
|
 |
OneStopEnglish by Macmillan
Publishers Ltd.
for Android
|
Type of
App:
ELT Activities for teaching staff
|
|
1) It
is a resource and community website for English teachers.
2) It
features lots of activities, articles, tips, and even lesson plan in common
thematic units.
3) It
now includes a teaching tip section when one runs of ideas for planning or
for practice.
4) It
will make teachers keep current on what it is going on in ELT.
|
|
Target
Student:
Taking Didactics, Teaching Practicum, Assessment & Evaluation
|
|
 |
LearnEnglish Grammar (UK
Ed.) by British Council for Android
|
Type of
App:
Graded grammar exercises for ELL
|
|
1) It
can help the student to review troublesome grammar with lots of questions
along with explanations.
2) It
has four levels depending on how advanced the student is: Beginners,
Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced.
3) Its
archive of exercises holds over 1000 questions to practice one’s grammar.
|
|
Target
Student:
Taking grammar or syntax courses, general English classes, or for independent
study or review
|
If these material is out there for free
for our students, what are we waiting for to incorporate them into our online
or hybrid teaching?
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Hi Jonathan,
It would be great if you checked out the video English app I had a hand in creating - EnglishCentral. Takes learning mobile and provides engaging content teachers and students can't get elsewhere. Even book a free level test on your phone. Your comments appreciated. http://www.englishcentral.com/mobile/launch