We’ve not long finished the first two weeks of the first school term and already our Fun Club kids are up and running and quickly acquiring a new language. Starting school with no English must be extremely daunting but our new learners are pretty resilient. Our fun clubbers are already mastering one of the many IPAD apps to help them become confident in their second, third or even fourth language.
One fun, hands on app for helping new learners acquire English is Book Creator. Students learn to take and upload a picture of an object they don’t know the name of. The English name is added, the word in the student’s home language/s and a recording of them saying the word in English and in their home language/s. This is all done by the students themselves. The app creates a page by page book of pictures, vocabulary and recordings of the students saying the names of objects, both inside and outside the classroom, they didn’t know before. It’s also a great way of them becoming comfortable in their new learning environment. It can then be used as their own walking library to study anytime at school.
Maria, whose home language is
Portuguese, is now many pages into her new book and is learning English at a
rapid pace. She is becoming very confident in her new language, loves to be
challenged and is always on the lookout for something new to add to her
collection. Awesome job Maria !!!
