iPad App of the Week

Spanish Mindsnacks

 

Best for: Beginners, Visual Learners, Game fans. Primarily an application that enhances vocabulary. I would like all 7th and 8th graders to download. 6th graders cannot download as they have Macbook devices but if they own an ipad/iphone device at home, this is a great (and free) app!

Mindsnacks is perhaps the best foreign language learning app on the market and really takes the “gameization” of foreign language concept and excels at it like no one else has. The graphics are great, gameplay is excellent and fun, and you really end up learning a lot of essential vocabulary. I used both Spanish and French versions and learned colors very quickly. 

The app teaches vocabulary by having the student play different vocabulary games that test your speed,  understanding and spelling. The better you are and the higher the score the more games you end up unlocking. I expect more and more apps will try and do what Mindsnacks does, by putting a lot of time and money into creating fun games that students want to play, and as a result learn the foreign language. 

This app is best for learning vocab and will not teach you much in the way of grammar, and they do have most of the vocabulary in audio form so you can hear the pronunciation, which will help with yours. Mindsnacks is best used to reinforce learning from a textbook or in a class, and is probably not the best for learning travel and common phrases. 

You can try the Mindsnacks app for free or upgrade to the full version with 50 lessons for $4.99. 

Pros: Vocabulary, Audio pronunciation, Games are addicting and fun. 

8th grade Spanish students are expected to do their gallery walks next week. I would like them to all to have downloaded DuoLingo and created an account by Monday of next week. 

7th grade Spanish students received their rubrics for their "Family Tree" project. This project is in lieu of a test. I expect red day students to hand them in by Tuesday (10/15) and Blue day students by Wednesday (10/16). This gives them Columbus day weekend to bring them home if they got slightly behind in their execution of this project.

6th grade Spanish students did more extensive work with weather. They were also introduced to Tú versus Usted in Spanish (a formal and an informal way to say "you"). We talked about how one might address certain people in certain circumstances in a Spanish speaking country.