FIVE USER-FRIENDLY APPS FOR
THE NOT-SO-USER-FRIENDLY
CELL PHONES
Teresa Nguyen, CSUF
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresaxn
Annie Tran, UCI & CSUF
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-tran-1ab45476
Meet the Apps
■ ELSA Speak
■ Learnist
■ Fun English
■ Duolingo
■ Grammar Up
ELSA Speak Features
■ Stands for English Language Speech Assistant
■ Is a virtual, personal pronunciation coach with a mobile application
■ Has the following features:
– Varied topics, ranging from business to relationship to IELTS words,
for the users to have more practice
– Instant pronunciation feedback based on the speaker’s native
tongue
– Pronunciation dictionary for the speaker to look up words that are
difficult to pronounce and nail the pronunciation on their stress and
syllable
ELSA Speak Advantages
■ Has the goal of improving language learners’ ability to speak
English with ease and confidence through personal
feedback
■ Prepares language learners for a speaking test, an
interview, or a public presentation
ELSA Speak Implementations
Use in the listening/speaking integrated skill , pronunciation,
and presentation classes:
– Stress
– Intonation
– Phonetic recognition
ELSA Speak Discussion
How can you use this app in your own
classroom?
Learnist Features
■ A crowd-sourced and organized collection of the
world’s knowledge, with curated web, text and video
content and Learnboards™ with sequenced lessons
and resources on tens-of-thousands of topics
■ Seventeen pre-selected categories that are relevant
to real-life situations and current news
■ Most of the generated articles and lesson plans are
free
Learnist Features & Advantages
■ Connectivity with friends and colleagues on your mobile
address book
■ “Share-ability” with friends on social media platforms
■ Learnist Collect (an extra feature):
– Adds webpage, article, or video to your Learnist Profile
– Lets the user create a summary by adding a title and up
to 100 characters to share your summary, opinion, and
reaction
Learnist Discussion
How can you use this app in your own
classroom?
Fun English Features
■ A mobile app that provides structured lessons and animated
games
■ Has the following features:
– 6 or more unique games in each fun-packed lesson
– Original music, songs, sound effects and beautiful
cartoon artwork
– Engaging learning games will keep the user entertained
as they learn
Fun English Lesson Topics
2 Free Lessons - 14 Learning Games:
• Colors - Say and spell the major colors
• Animals - Meet many animals alone and in groups
Available for in-app purchase:
• Numbers - Learn how to count
• The Body - Learn the major parts of the body
• Fruits - Talk about the fruits you like
• Food - Learn how to say the food you want
• Clothes - Describe the clothing people are wearing
• Vehicles - Describe things, like cars and bicycles
• The House - Learn furniture, rooms and where they are
• Sea Animals - Compare things, like sharks and turtles
• School Bag Lesson - Learn classroom objects and whose they are
• Actions - Learn how to use action verbs
Fun English Advantages
■ Teaches core vocabulary and presents words in several
contexts to assist learning and retention and games that are
meaningful for the language learner to learn more English
■ Uses male and female voices with both American and
British accents
Fun English Discussion
How can you use this app in your own
classroom?
Duolingo Features
■ Learn English anytime and anywhere
■ Provides a fun way to learn English with the following
features:
– Gamification in every lesson with streak count to record
how many days in a row the user spends learning a
language and hearts to show the answers that they
missed
– In-lesson grading to show how much the language
learner has improved
Duolinguo Advantages
■ Duolingo lessons give each student personalized feedback
and practice, preparing them to get the most out of
classroom instruction.
■ The app can be used for a flipped classroom and aims at
motivating students via technology and gamification while
retaining the integrity of language skills within each lesson.
■ Now teachers can track all their students in one place
through our brand new dashboard.
Duolinguo Discussion
How can you use this app in your own
classroom?
Grammar Up Features
■ Is a multiple choice quiz system for English which provides over 1800
questions across 20 grammar categories
■ Was designed to replicate questions with a business focus commonly
found in the popular TOEIC English proficiency test
■ Features:
– Over 1800 multiple-choice questions
– A new module, "Progress Meter" keeps track of how you are
performing in a particular topic or mock test
– Own timer settings
– Special algorithm that randomizes questions every time the user
takes a test
Grammar Up Advantages
■ Research suggests that kids and adults learn most quickly
when playing learning games with real-time error-feedback.
■ Advantages:
– Provides learners with an opportunity to improve
strategies for grammar success.
– Help learners to improve their grammar, word selection
and vocabulary.
– Assist learners to improve response times under exam
time constraints.
Grammar Up Discussion
How can you use this app in your own
classroom?
THANK YOU
Teresa Nguyen, CSUF
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresaxn
Annie Tran, UCI & CSUF
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annietran-1ab45476