It seems as fast as I was excited about spring, winter showed up again! These storms sure do break up the flow of teaching! 

As I was perusing the alerts this week, I found two articles that have information I want to share with you. One is about a few up and coming language apps I think will be engaging for EL students, and the other is how language technology is trying to be improved.

In the article, 5 language apps on the rise, these start-up apps are destined to help language learners to communicate more efficiently. The first one is Chatterbox. This app's teachers are refugees looking to help others learn their native language. This app is basically online classroom teaching. The second app is called Voice Blox. This app is interesting as it takes your voice frequencies into a 3D form where you can trace it with your finger and adjust your pronunciations (Macaulay, 2018). The third app, Linguisticator, is a memory based language learning app. There are grammar maps that are used to advance the learning of a new language. The fourth app, Lexicum, can be used as a personal word dictionary. Learner's look up words and it then gets stored in the ap for future use. This app will expand the language learner's vocabulary!



The fifth app is the one that I will find most useful! It is Wibbu. Wibbu "makes language learning fun through educational video games that emphasise interaction, engagement and enjoyment" (Macaulay, 2018). Check out this game, Ruby Rei, that the kiddos can learn with while they play! Ruby Rei is the the second language game the company has launched. The first one taught Spanish learners English based on the most common language mistakes.

Here is the trailer to get a glimpse of the game: Ruby Rei Trailer
It looks like just the thing to engage and promote our students into learning their target language, maybe without even realizing it! Do you agree?

Macaulay, T. (2018, March 07). 5 UK language learning and translation startups to watch. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.techworld.com/picture-gallery/startups/seven-language-learning-translation-startups-watch-3673282/

The second article on Contextual Relevance is pretty interesting! The article found in Media Update states,

"Contextual relevance is a unique challenge for natural language processing. If machines don’t know the context in which language is being used, the meaning of words can be ambiguous. It is this ambiguity that artificial intelligence (AI) seeks to decode through advances in technology, database management, and natural language learning" (2018).

We all know we have sent a text or email and the message may have gotten misconstrued because the context was misunderstood When this occurs, we realize that what we meant to communicate isn't actually what was communicated. Or, we have been at a party and join a conversation late. We quickly become aware that we missed "something" that would help us understand the meaning of the discussion. 

This can also occur with our translation apps and programs. But, this is beginning to change!! Media Update explains, "The different technologies that make up AI are becoming better at storing and sifting through vast amounts of data. This will enable machines to have previous knowledge to draw on to understand the context of used language" (2018). 

Media update. (2018, February 16). What is contextual relevance within language processing? Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/143410/what-is-contextual-relevance-within-language-processing


Language technology is amazingly on the rise! There were so many articles to choose from this week. I read that developers are trying to teach Alexa to do instant translations to mimic the ear buds that already do this work. I also read how as much as these instant translation devices are fabulous, it still doesn't mean that actual language learning should cease occuring. Studies show that being bilingual or multilingual still provides more opportunities mainly because of personal connections!

ESL teachers, and all teachers who teach language, be proud of what you do, and keep finding the wonderful technology being created to assist you in your passion!
                                       
                                                                    THINK SPRING!