Technology use is growing and so is its’ use in the classroom. As such, educators have to become more familiar with technological options for education to engage students. After reviewing some digital tools for education, here are two helpful tools for education.
FabuLingua is an interactive story based language learning app. It is based around the comprehensible input method and is geared toward young children, which is the ideal time to learn a language (FabuLingua, n.d.). The app also has other features to reinforce learning like quizzes and games. They also feature parental controls but there isn’t information that details the controls. There is also a pronunciation and recording option to allow the student to practice and verify correct pronunciation. I did not see any information on an educator or group subscription option. FabuLingua offers one free story based lesson to trial the app and then offers a reasonably priced subscription that is available in the following options:
$3.99 a month with no commitment
$19.99 for six months ($3.33 a month)
$31.99 for twelve months ($2.66 a month)
(Fabulingua, n.d.)
https://codespark.com/educators
Code Spark is for educators and teaches coding for students K-5. It includes a teacher dashboard that allows teachers to monitor each students’ progress in the coding games. The system is geared toward young students and teaches through games and puzzles to allow pre-readers to learn without words (CodeSpark, 2020). There is also an option for parents to purchase CodeSpark for individual child use at home. CodeSpark has won multiple awards for educational and best toy (CodeSpark, 2020).
Blog–Library Reference
Librarian blogs can be great resources for me as a future librarian. Blogs not only create librarian communities for sharing, they offer resources, links, information, and more; with the added bonus of being regularly updated. One of the blogs that I have found to include useful resources is The Library Voice. This blog, by Shannon McClintock Miller, includes projects completed by her, like her week by week themed virtual camp collections of books and learning activities. There is a lot of created content that she makes and shares that provide great formats, ideas, and fun themes. She also shares outside links and more, like the AASL top 20 digital tools for school librarians and virtual pop in story times. Overall, the blog offers a lot for inspiration and resources.
References
CodeSpark. (2020). CodeSpark Academy. https://codespark.com/.
FabuLingua. (n.d.). FabuLinga: Magical stories that teach kids Spanish. https://www.fabulingua.com/.
Miller, S.M. (2020). The Library Voice. Blogger. https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/.
FabuLinga sounds like a lot of fun! Do you know if students who already know Spanish can use it to learn English? I usually have a class with about five students who speak primarily Spanish and my native English speaking students always want to learn Spanish. This would be a really fun resource for me to introduce into the classroom and allow my Spanish speaking students to become the experts.
I think it is usable in that way but I didn’t see anything that made it seem like you could change it to a Spanish-English learner. I would imagine that means it would still read the same way and some of the click learning would be Spanish only but I could see value for both, there’s just more value and options for English-Spanish learners.
I think it’s a great idea to let your Spanish speakers be the experts for that, help build up their confidence.