For class, I was required to go through several iPad to discover some that might help within our classroom. Our ESOL teacher also just got iPads for the classroom as part of a grant so I can actually apply this knowledge. Woohoo! I am feeling a lot of frustration regarding the lack of apps in Spanish as, for many bilingual teachers, the use of an iPad for intervention with Spanish dominant students in language arts and math would be very helpful. However, I found two apps that seem really great (though they need to be purchased) that I decided to review.
This app, called
Deep in the Rainforest , states that in it, "children will learn about the Amazon Rainforest through fun and
games by traveling with Amanda. The journey begins when Amanda meets a
native boy, Yapariwa, who is looking for his lost brother Atu. As they
walk through the rainforest they will discover interesting facts about
animals and learn important values of diversity and respect. Our story
includes animated text to encourage children's listening and reading
skills." It allows students to jump around and play different games while learning facts about the rainforest so it allows for differentiation as well. This is also available in SPANISH--a huge and rare plus as far as apps are concerned. It connects to the Core Curriculum's Module 2 on the rainforest as well so I hope to make use of it.
Another, by the same company, called Amazon Rainforest teaches specifically about the Amazon and the unique creatures that inhabitat it.
The Barefoot World Atlas App allows children to explore:
- A beautifully illustrated 3D globe with multimedia features, including zoom and animated icons
- Music and effects soundscapes for each region of the world
- 3D rotations of historial objects from the Royal Geographical Society
- Live country facts from Wolfram | Alpha
- Audio narration by acclaimed BBC TV presenter Nick Crane
- Enhanced graphics for the new iPad
- Available for iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®
-
Switch in seconds between English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German and Japanese
This app is very individualized as well and allows students to explore the world in an interactive way.
Hi Hannah!
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking into these bilingual apps. I am a middle/high school Spanish teacher working on my master's degree in TESOL. As I was looking through the iPad apps, I too found it frustrating that there were not many that featured Spanish as a language. The best I was able to come up with as far as the free apps were concerned was an app called "Sentence Maker" which was in English but had a voice recording option. I was thinking that this could be utilized to record the featured vocabulary words in the students' native language and in English to make that connection to the L1. However, this would require some significant prep time on the part of the teacher.
With that said, the apps that you found seem to be a great option for elementary level ESOL and bilingual students. I could definitely see using the World Atlas App with my Spanish classes as well, when we are learning about the geography and culture of Spanish speaking nations. It seems like a great cultural app, whether the language were set to English or Spanish! Again, thanks for these great finds!