ENGLISH IS IN MY POCKET: MOBILE LEARNING

Hello everyone.

This week I examined an application on mobile learning. This application is Duolingo. This app is an application that aims to teach language especially English with fun and it is free on mobile devices. 




The application simply works as follows; First of all, after you log in to the application, you are asked whether you are new in learning English or you want to pass the placement test. I solved the placement test. In this test, which lasted about 3 minutes, there were questions in listening, reading, writing and speaking parts. I got to level 9. After this step the application exempts you from the tests of the levels you jump.

The application categorized English as grammar and practice in general. You click on the topic you want to solve such as Foods, Simple Present Tense, etc., and then you see the number of lessons that need to be solved for that topic. At low levels, the number of courses starts at 4 and goes up to 8 at higher levels. If you do not want to complete the topic's lessons lesson by lesson, you have the option of taking the proficiency exam and jumping that one at a time.

The colors of the lessons you have not solved yet are gray. The color of the courses you complete turns into orange. According to the color of the courses you leave halfway, it turns into red or green.

Some of the questions in the lessons are supported by visuals and some of them are answered by recording your voice.

However, many questions in the application usually in the form of translate from Turkish to English or from English to Turkish.

The most favorite feature of this application is that when you give the right answer, it says 'Your answer is correct!' and when you give the wrong answer it says 'You answered wrong!' and warns you by saying the right answer.

The application also aims to have fun competing with friends to increase the amount of fun a bit. In addition, after passing the levels, the application gives you langots and you can visit the app's shop and buy power-ups.

The application aims to teach only two languages (English and German) for Turkish speakers, but for English speakers it offers many language learning options from Spanish to French, Japanese to Catalan.

If you download this application on your mobile device and start to use it, I recommend you to solve the placement test at the beginning of the application.

You can visit the website of this application just by clicking here.

You can download this application by clicking here.

The picture above is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

BEST FRIEND APPROACH

Hello everyone.

Today, I would like to talk about an approach of my own which is originated from colloborative group works. I have been experiencing this approach for 6 months with youngers.

Those who follows me from social media and those who read my previous post 'How To Deal With Young Learners In 5 Steps?' certainly know that while I am studying at university, I also work part-time as an English teacher in two kindergartens. In general, we follow a TPR-based approach in education, but I have developed a system that will enable children to focus more on the lesson and feel more secure.

While using The Best Friend Approach, I basically try to create a more relaxed environment by pairing students with their best friends in team works. I detect the best friends with the technique which I will explain in the next paragraph.

First I tell the kids to close their eyes and start imagining. In an amusement park, I tell them they were together with their favorite friends walked hand in hand all day and ate ice cream with details.  After a five minute-imagination, I tell the kids to open their eyes. And I ask them the critical question; 

'Who was there in the amusement park with you?'

According to the responses I received, in conversations, hand-held dance activities, group works, etc., I am matching the children with their best friends.

Pros;
-With this approach, children are more comfortable while participating in lessons.
-Children can express themselves more easily to their close friends.

Cons;
-Children's communication with other students is broken for that activity.
-This approach is difficult and time-consuming to apply to students who are not preschoolers.

I hope I can help you.

This gif above is taken from here.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN REALLY LEARN IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

With the development of technology, education technologies and modern educational terms that have entered our lives have laid the foundations of today's 21st century education.

The methods of education that are used today and which should be preferred should be appropriate and understandable to modern children of modern age, connected with technology.

In this context, in today's education, students should be more interacted with each other. For this reason, today, problem-solving skills, ability to analyze the data should be gained and the motivation of the students should be kept high.

In my opinion, an ideal student profile can be provided by team works and student-teacher collaborations. In this way, the student gains self-confidence without much responsibility and can be ready for his future life.

Thank you, Oğulcan Özdağ.