Duolingo is a great example of the gamification of learning. It also appeals to many types of learning: visual, auditory and tactile. It's helped me so much with learning, and I'd highly recommend it.
In the classroom, I could use it to supplement my lessons, so I'm not the only source of information they get. I could assign it as homework to reinforce the basics of Spanish.
I also think it would be fun to make it a competition: if a student can keep a streak for a certain number of days, they get extra credit. Also, if they form the habit of doing it daily, they could continue learning and growing even after they leave my class.
Here's a link to the web version and the developer's page:
https://www.duolingo.com/ Here's the link to the app in the store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/duolingo/id570060128?mt=8 The app is free! It costs to remove adds, but the adds aren't very annoying. You can also purchase gems within the app to refill lives faster. Here's the description from the iTunes store: Duolingo is Apple's iPhone App of the Year! Duolingo is the world's most popular way to learn languages with over 200 million users. 23 languages to choose from. Super fun and free — Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Irish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Turkish, Norwegian, Polish, Hebrew, Esperanto, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Welsh, Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, and Swahili. Oh, and English too. "Far and away the best language-learning app." —The Wall Street Journal "Duolingo may hold the secret to the future of education." —TIME Magazine PC Magazine Editors' Choice for Language Learning: "Among iPhone apps for learning or practicing a language, you can't beat Duolingo." "The most productive means of procrastination I’ve ever discovered. The short lesson blocks are painless and peppy, and reaching the next level (and then the level after that) becomes addictive." —Slate Duolingo is changing the way people learn languages. With Duolingo, you learn a language for free. You have fun while you learn, leveling up and competing with friends. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. |