You know from my previous posts (German Lessons and German Vocabulary) that we have been studying German for a while now. I am totally against 'forcing' them to learn it - as this was done to me as a kid and I learned absolutely nothing! So I want to find a balance between guiding them into a direction and pushing them a little bit for their own good. After all, it has been proven many times how beneficial foreign languages are.
So besides speaking it here and there with our visitors, Coqui remembered that there was an app called Duolingo. It is a free program that teaches many different foreign languages. You can use it for the computer or laptop as well as other devices like phones or ipads. Coqui is learning German and I am actually learning some Italian - something that has been on my wishlist for a while.
We love this program. It teaches vocabulary through repetition and Grammar through games. One progresses through the lessons by practicing translating back and forth, by dictating or rather writing what was said, and by filling in the blanks. In both languages! For example, at some point, the program has you listen to a sentence in the foreign language and you have to write that down, and next time, you have to translate it into English. In the next task, one has to repeat the foreign sentence which is done by recording it on the device.
The success of the learning is seen pretty instantly. It is an easy way to practice it without laving a native speaker in your circle of friends. And the lessons are quick, so one can easily fit it onto a busy schedule. Wonderful program.
0 comments:
Post a Comment