Teaching with Digital Technology
Interactive English Dictionary and Games
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- Details
- Category: Mobile Learning
- Last Updated on 15. Dec 2013
- Published on 28. Oct 2013
- Written by Anabel Nowak
Looking for a Christmas present I came across the interactive English-German dictionary for school children, age 6 to 10, from Ravensburg. The dictionary is part of the Tiptoy collection I referred to in my article preschool learning.
Having a close look at the dictionary I wished there was such a dictionary for older children and students because of the main tool, which is the pen, the pen speaks to you when you point at something on the pages and because the book is really a mobile learning toy, besides you don’t need a screen to use the toy. At the bottom of the dictionary pages you find pictograms. When you tip the pictogram and then the picture or word you want to learn in the book you get one of the following functions:
- the pronunciation of the word (eye)
- the translation of the word in German (German flag)
- stop (stop sign)
- repeat (arrows)
The book has also games to review vocabulary with more pictograms:
- you can hear a story (speech bubble)
- learn more about the word (lamp bulb)
- play the game (square with points)
One more advantage is that the vocabulary is separated by topics like house, school, sport etc. and every word has a picture. Watch the film on the tiptoy concept here.The dictionary is not the only thing I found to spend Christmas with children; I also discovered apps for older children where they can train English vocabulary with fun. The apps would also be a nice present. And of course there is a site with free online games for the whole family. To my surprise board games have been digitalized; some have even been made multi player games in English language. You will find more English games here. While playing some of the games it occurred to me that some children might be learning German and their parents might have difficulty finding adequate material. If that is the case, look at Wiesoweshalbwarum a site full of learning games, some of them are on Facebook. Onlinespielwelt has more games you can play together for free.
