Learn to Speak Spanish at the Library

I chose the Spanish School Bus for Kids iPhone app by Chungaboo for my third play portfolio report. Although the title includes the word “kids,” this app can be helpful to anyone who is beginning to learn Spanish. In this case, I believe a library could use this app as a tool within a larger program.

There are 22 categories in total and the user must complete three levels per category. The categories are common themes that one would encounter in everyday life. For example: numbers, colors, food, school, verbs, and so on.

There are four modes of learning that appear throughout each level. Learning and memorization, which is set up as flash cards that the user can go through as many times as they wish. 

Quick choice, which has the user choose the correct flash card from three possible choices.  

Matching, which gives all the answers at once and asks the user to choose the correct card when the word is said. 

Finally, Piñata mode, which tosses the flash card around and the user must act quickly to select the correct one.

These levels became a bit repetitive after a while; but nonetheless, I was still retaining the information. I don’t know how well a young user with a limited attention span would do with this type of learning. However, there are also music videos within the app containing songs that are meant to help the user remember some of the vocabulary. The videos can be streamed to an Apple television so more than one person can view them at a time. This would be a good tool to use for those who struggle with reading or have trouble sitting still.

After completing the three levels, the user earns an Achievement. The Achievements are historical Spanish landmarks or icons. There is a small description of each Achievement to educate the user on Latin American culture. For example, the Achievement for Numbers (11-20) is Machu Picchu. I thought this part was very interesting, and makes this app seem less childish than some of the others I found. It stresses the importance of language as a culture rather than simply a form of communication.

 At the end of the curriculum the user will earn a Certificate of Completion. It would be very easy to create a program around this app because there is an end goal that the user must reach, and the categories are broken up in a way that would allow a librarian to expand on each topic. 

 One thing I noticed is that there is not a section that asks users to spell or write out these words. Therefore, it would be very important to supply additional tasks and activities within the program so that users have a better understanding of the material. This app is also only available on an iPad or iPhone. A library must have access to these, and limit the amount of time spent on them if there is a large number of people involved in the program. Otherwise, this is a great app to have for beginners, and I will continue to use it until I get my Certificate of Completion.