For What:
DuoLingo is a language learning app offering 16 languages for English speakers. Say, as an English speaker you can learn Spanish, French or German along with million other learners. It uses crowd source to help you understand your learning or discuss doubts and queries. Speakers of non-English languages can also learn using this app. These include Spanish, Greek, Czech, German, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese speakers.
DuoLingo smoothly drives you through learning language. On mastering the basic module (lesson), next module will get activated. You can also take the test to skip one or group of modules, if you’re already familiar with it.
Pros:
- Intuitive, Easy and Self-paced learning app
- Need no educator to teach
- Beautiful User Interface
Cons:
- Lack of Human interaction
- You must be a speaker of one of the language supported to learn new languages. Say, you know my mom passionately trying to learn English and that’s why I started researching apps. She knows only Tamil but this app doesn’t support it so she can’t learn English. DuoLingo won’t help my mother but I ended up learning Spanish. Hope Tamil will be supported soon. This is the best free app to learn new languages. Period.
Decide how you will use it in your classroom. You must have a smart device, chrome book, PC or Mac and a projector so that you can screen-cast and project the app to entire class but I will recommend each student have access to a smart device preferably Android tablet as it is cost effective. So, they can self-learn and educators can mentor them.
Let’s say Students have a smart device and learn independently. They must create a profile, login, choose target language they wish to learn and setup weekly goal. Students must use the app during Core Skill time to learn, practice and revise new language like Spanish.
As I mentioned, DuoLingo lacks in human interaction. During Socratic discussion time (open ended discussions), educators must facilitate group of students to apply their learning from the app to speak, listen closely to the comments of others, think critically for themselves, understand, articulate their own thoughts, connect learnings with real world scenarios and respond to thoughts of others. Also, integrate the learning in trans-disciplinary projects. Say, write a blog about the project activity in the language students learning and socialize sharing it with family, friends and our community.
You need not worry about testing students as the app covers it and tracks the progress my means of mastery level indicators under each module (lesson) and weekly goals.
Set your own goal. Learn at your own pace. Welcome to personalized learning!