iPad literacy & Disciplines

Chinesepad offers different settings, including practice mode, tutorial mode and users can also choose either simplified character or traditional character.

It allows beginners not only to learn how to say a word but also to offer them a chance to practice how to write characters by demonstrating on the iPad.

Essentials free app offers couple hundred vocabulary with pronunciations and meanings, so learners can easily follow the app to progress, however it mainly focus on helping learner building vocabulary and pronunciation and it does not show learners how to handwrite the characters. In addition, it only offers traditional version, which means learners who have been learning simplified characters might find it is hard to use it.

Learn2play is a very integrative app. It is organized in different themes, such as fruit, sports, animals and so forth. It offers two different modes to integrate with the app. First One is to present a picture with different objects and learners can tap the different objects to see how to say in Chinese and then the characters will pop out. Second mode is to say different objects in Chinese and then students can paint them. If they paint the wrong ones, the app will make a sound to tell students they did not get the right answers. Students can use the first mode to learn the new words and then move on to the second one to check and see how much they really understand after the first mode. It offers a chance to repetitively practice until students fully comprehend it. The whole process is interactive so students might find themselves actually enjoy the learning. 

Spelling Test is a simple app for teachers to design an electronic test instead of paper-based one. It allows users to type in words and record the pronunciations. A designed test lists words on the left, and recording on the right side. Students who take the test can listen to the recording and then write down the spellings. If students do not give the right answers, the app will show the right answer immediately. This immediate feedback helps students remediate right then and by showing the correct answers further reinforce the learning process. However, when I tried to use this app to design a Chinese character test, it does let me record the sound and type characters, but when it comes to taking the test, the app doesn’t recognize the characters and the recording. 

Dictionary is a free app that I have been using in my daily life for almost two years. I mainly use it to look up the new words I encounter. It offers two types of phonetic symbols and one of them is IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)  which is what I was taught in School. It offers sound recordings, meanings, examples, synonyms, antonyms, origins and translator. In addition, it has Word of the Day and How Word Blog. The Word of the Day send users a new word or phrase everyday, which can help English learners build up their vocabulary. The How Word Blog explains how the word has been used and how the word evolved. I think Dictionary can be beneficial for both non-native and native English speakers.

Another dictionary that Ben and I use a lot is the iCED ABC, which is a Chinese dictionary. It is mainly designed for non-native Chinese learners. But Sometimes I use it to look up some Chinese idioms and phrases in order to teach Ben how Chinese people think differently. It really helps the communication between my husband and I.

Show Me is such a great and user-friendly interactive app. It allows me to create my own short videos and share with people. It can record my sound and what I write on the screen. I think this is a great tool for teaching students how to write Chinese characters. I have been designing a series of short video for Ben. I also use it to record a short video to send my friend birthday wishes. Recently I have a chance to help a Chinese girl who cannot speak any English. I am going to use this app to design short video lessons to teach her English. Here is the link to one of the lesson Color I made. But it does have its drawback. I can only use one page at a time so if my video requires a lot of demonstrations, then I have to spit my lesson into different parts. Overall, this is a great tool!

Storykit is a really neat free digital storytelling app. Users can use camera to take pictures or import pictures from photo albums to the editing page and add texts to go along with the pictures. They can also add audios to record the story. After this, users can also use paintbrush to draw. It is also a really interactive app. Students can use it to create digital stories. It is so easy to use that all students need to do is to add a picture from photo album or taking one with embedded camera, write text, record story and if they like, they can use brush to paint on the page. After this, students can start reading or sharing stories with others. Students can also go back and edit it again. Overall, Storykit is a simple, easy app that even young little kids can learn how to play. More importantly, it engages students in creating, writing, and learning.