BLOG #12 Technology

Since technology plays a big part in education, I wanted to ask parents for their input about technology and/or web sites that are a part of their child's second language learning at home and at school. I was surprised to see that more technology is being used at home. I was fortunate to teach at a school that purchased Rosetta Stone for the entire school. I had access to all languages! My students were given a password and were able to log into Rosetta Stone at home. They were also encouraged to share the password with their family in order to involve their families in their language learning. 

Learning a second technology at home is easier today than it was when I was growing up. Technology can be taken with you on trips and used when you have time. Internet access while traveling and being away from home also makes it easier to be able to login into a language learning web site or open up an app on your iphone, ipad, or Kindle.

Does your child use technology or web sites to learn a second language?

Home	35	51%
School	33	49%

Please list technology or web sites

Software 

Edmondo

Rosetta Stone

Mango

Apps

Flash card app

stories on ipad

apps on iphone

Hand held technology

Leapfrog

Web sites

Polish cartoons on Youtube 

Babbel.com

Google Translate

Libratus.edu.pl

lilutoteach.weebly.com

duolingo.com

livemocha.com

http://www.frantastique.com/partner/adw-7days

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

http://english.cri.cn/08chinese/  (Chinese)
http://www.chinese-tools.com/

http://www.learn-japanese.info/ (Japanese)

http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/ (German)

http://italian.about.com/ (Italian)

http://www.elanguageschool.net/italian

http://www.skritter.com/ (Chinese and Japanese)

http://www.eflclassroom.com/ (English language learning)

http://www.lingq.com/ (all languages)

http://lang-8.com/

http://www.italki.com/

Television

Dora the Explorer

tv shows and cartoons in different languages

I researched all of these web sites and am impressed with the amount of free language lessons that you can receive! Many of the require you to sign up, receive a login, and pay for certain things. Some web sites, like the Japanese learning one, offer cultural and historical background of the country you will be studying. There are breath taking pictures and videos of landscapes and beauty that different countries have to offer.