Rosetta Stone in the Classroom

            Online tools for language learning is starting to grow in and outside the classroom. Rosetta Stone is one of the first companies people think about when they are learning language online. This company started in 1992 and since then has grown into the cooperation we know today. When I started this blog, I never thought Rosetta Stone would be used in a classroom, but I was very wrong. There are many schools that are incorporating this program as a supplementary tool as well as home school parents teaching their children through Rosetta Stone.

      Rosetta stone can be used on 

       computer, tablet or smartphones 

            Rosetta stone is most commonly used a supplementary tool in the public school system like Druid Hills Middle School in Georgia or Bennett Elementary School in New York. For both of these schools the link to Rosetta Stone and their username and password is on the website. This allows the parents to be actively involved with their child’s foreign language learning. However, they are also being taught the foreign language by licensed teacher, so this is seen as support work for the students.

            Rosetta Stone has many benefits because not only does it include reading and writing practice, but there is also a voice recognition that also picks up on accents. This makes this device very advanced because it can be used for dialect as well. Jessica McFadden from weareteachers.com listed six different ways Rosetta Stone can be used successfully in a classroom. The first way is to encourage students who are in an ELL program and speak and write if they are shy to do so in front of others. Her second point is that it personalizes learning because the students only go as fast as they are learning and grasping a concept. She also believes it encourages real bilingualism because the voice recordings are all recorded by natives. I do not necessarily agree with this statement because the speaking component is not the same as being fully emerged in a language and being able to speak freely with no hesitation. However, she states it allows for schools to offer more language learning opportunities than just the standard Spanish and French. It also makes learning available everywhere and helps the students review and work later. Rosetta Stone is filled with fun language learning games for students including the one pictured below. 

Arcade Academy is a gaming system used for 

language learning for students 

            With all this being said Rosetta Stone is not perfect. Rosetta Stone is expensive and costed a Chicago area school $55,000 in 2013 according to Wes Venteicher from the Chicago Tribune. In 2014 this school started to review the use of Rosetta Stone in their school and if it was worth the cost. Multiple schools in the area decided to stop using Rosetta Stone due to the cost and how often it was being used. However, there were some schools in the area that decided to keep the program due to TAG students and ELL student use. Ian Quillen from edweek.org told the story about a school district in Colorado that had to do a lot of budget cutting, and they decided on foreign language and Rosetta Stone would replace the teachers. The teachers from this school were very upset, and gave a good argument that Rosetta Stone cannot offer the rich and meaning cultural and grammar instruction that a teacher can give . This is another area where Rosetta Stone falls short, the cultural aspect of the language is not as highly valued as it is in a normal foreign language classroom.

               Overall, I believe Rosetta Stone would be a good source for supplementary work in a classroom, but it falls short because of the cost and cultural aspect of the language. The grammar and speaking bring in a unique aspect of language, but cannot fully provide the cultural experience a student will get in a classroom. 

Duolingo in the Classroom

 21st century teachers are always looking for ways to engage their students, and technology is now becoming the main avenue for teachers to do this. In high school, most students will have cell phones or access to mobile device. These devices have unlimited access to information through applications. There are many different applications that can be used in a classroom setting. However, for a Spanish classroom there is own type of application that is extremely useful. Language learning applications are being used worldwide to learn many different languages.

These applications can be used as a supplementary tool for teachers in a foreign language classroom. These applications can support learning by giving students a fun and engaging platform to use anywhere they are. According to Beatriz Redondo on Fluentu an educator blog these applications can be a good break for the students in a comfortable environment with the technology. She also mentions that these applications allow for differentiation because the student advances when they become an expert at the subject. This can be a good source for teachers to see where each of their students are with the target language.

Duolingo is one application created by Luis Van Ahn and Severin Hacker in 2011. The application is free and the user can learn multiple different languages. Duolingo has a special platform for teachers in Duolingo for schools. This platform allows the teacher to make a classroom dashboard where he/she can keep track of the students’ progress. The dashboard is easy to navigate and shows either a green arrow pointing up for progress or a red arrow pointing down symbolizing student setbacks. This can be an easy way for a teacher to reach out to a student to see where he/she is struggling and needs a little extra scaffolding.

Lisa B. is a foreign language teacher in Pennsylvania who uses Duolingo as a supplement in her classroom. Lisa has her students use Duolingo when they are done with an activity to make the extra time useful and engaging. Lisa’s school only has Spanish and French, so she allows her students to use Duolingo in any language they want. This is an interesting take on using this app in a classroom because it is not in her target language. There are many parts that Lisa loves about Duolingo, but she says that it would be better if it had a better cultural aspect. Lisa is not the only one experimenting with Duolingo in a classroom. There are many studies being conducted using Duolingo.

Pilar Munday conducted a study using Duolingo on college Spanish students. The students had to complete five lessons on Duolingo per week for the semester. He then had the students fill out a survey on how easy and satisfying Duolingo was to use. 54.3% of students said it was easy to use and 41.3% of students were satisfied with Duolingo. Pilar also found that these students preferred Duolingo over normal book homework because it is more accessible.

Form the research done over Duolingo, it seems as though this application would best be used as a supplementary tool in a foreign language classroom. It gives students access to the language where ever they are and provides easy feedback for the students and teachers.