Jonathan Harris, OFLA Early Language Learning Chair
Spanish Teacher, St. Gabriel Consolidated School

Before I proceed with this article, let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Harris and I have been teaching Spanish in grades K-8 at St. Gabriel Consolidated School for nearly twenty years. One of the questions parents regularly ask is a recommendation of an app. I love this question because it shows a passion for the language and a willingness to learn the language on their own time. Listed below are a few apps that have been recommended by NNELL, the National Network for Early Language Learners. The list below are their descriptions and recommendations by their advocacy committee as their recommended apps for parents. Please feel free to use any of these apps and if you are aware of a great one that isn’t included, please notify me (in the comment section) with the name of the app with a brief statement on why you like it. 

Planet Geo

The free part of this app allows users to practice locating world heritage sites on six continents. A picture and a brief description are displayed for each site. Users tap the spot on the map where they believe the site is located. The app shows the correct answer, scoring the performance. After five tries the turn ends, but the game can be played multiple times with a variety of heritage sites to practice.

The app can be accessed in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan or Russian.

Additional games are available in iTunes for $1.99.

GeoExpert Lite

The free part of this app allows users to practice a few countries, capitals and flags for North America, South America, Europe and Africa. Users tap a continent, and then choose to study or play. When studying, information about the capital, country area, population, density and flag are provided.

The app can be accessed in English, Bokmål, Norwegian, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, and Turkish.

The full version is available in iTunes for $4.99.

Haiku Deck

Access to high quality images for slide show presentations are only a tap away. Search this free app for images of famous people, tourist attractions and groups of people to enhance instruction when teaching about other cultures. This is available in iTunes.

Oy Ahoy

This App presents two cultural stories, Oy Mexico and Oy China, intended to let toddlers explore the world with their fingertips, in a series of apps each representing a unique country or culture and its traditions. This is available in iTunes.

Touch, Look, Listen – My First Words

This app works like a board book, so it is appropriate for very young learners. It covers 14 different pre-school subjects and uses rhymes, and pop-up 3D scenes. This is available in iTunes and Google Play for $1.99.