David Valente, IATEFL YLTSIG Joint Coordinator, explores the pedagogical principles that mobile apps should reflect in order to be beneficial for the primary classroom, as well as providing advice on how you can use apps in a teaching context.
What makes a good app for the primary classroom?
Children have freedom to navigate
Based on the principle of individualising learning by enabling children to work at their own pace, a good app provides children the ability to navigate freely. They choose what they want to do first, for example on Word Fun World, children can choose to do the spelling game first or the matching game to check their understanding of the key words needed for the YLE tests.
The app gives the child useful feedback. Word Fun World gives the learner a child-friendly visual record of which words they have learned by changing icons and colours. It also informs the child as to whether a particular activity has been completed. This aligns with the pedagogical principle of giving the learner a clear sense of progress in an age-accessible manner. It is done via pop ups with motivating praise to encourage and positively reinforce.
Teachers and parents / caregivers are informed of progress
Good apps also have a function where teachers, parents / caregivers can clearly and easily chart the child’s vocabulary learning progress. These are usually paid apps as there are very few good free apps on the market as app development needs to be sustainable. Paid apps also help ensure that there are no adverts which push products on to children.
How can you use an app in the classroom context?
Just as with other learning tools, we need to ensure our use of apps is purposeful and productive. It can be challenging to use class sets of tablets in the classroom because they are not set up to be used in this context. You should adopt the same principles to using apps as when using a coursebook in the primary English classroom to craft ways to enable the children to collaborate meaningfully.
A good idea is to have children share a device and understand they need to take turns (teach them functional language in English for this). Monitor to check they are on-task and helping each other. Review question formation and allow them to ask and answer questions about the games in the app as well as about the meaning, spelling and pronunciation of the target vocabulary.
When teaching lower primary children who are preparing for the Starters exam, pre-teach app related vocabulary such as tablet, screen, click on, go back, scroll up/down, swipe, etc. See Lane Smith’s picturebook, It’s a Book as an engaging and child-friendly context to introduce this kind of high-frequency lexis. Integrate use of the app into your lesson plan, so it is not seen as a filler or optional extra for the children. For example, use the videos accompanying the app to set the context for presenting the target vocabulary perhaps with sub titles or even with the sound off for the initial viewing.
What do you need to know before choosing an app?
Know your device
Go to settings and see the list of features such as location / photos / camera / location – ensure these are turned off for children’s apps for safety.
Use restrictions
If you are managing a class set of tablets in your classroom, make sure children do not have the option to add new apps or delete the apps you have chosen!
Settings → General → Restrictions
Select guided access
Guided access is very useful for a classroom context when using apps. Search on ‘my tablet’ and lock the device on to a single app using a pass code. Know the market place. Both iOS and Google Play enable you to view permissions via a pop up. This means teachers can check which permissions the app will ask the child for. Try to really explore the app and do your homework before you use it in class. In this way, you can ensure the apps are safe for classroom use.
Understand app habits / app addiction
How many of you teach primary children who seem addicted to apps such as Candy Crush Saga? Most apps which have gamification features can be very addictive with children spending long periods of time using them. It helps for us as primary teachers to understand the cue routine reward cycle. For example, if the teacher rewards good behaviour with tablet use, then it becomes compromised when trying to use apps as a pedagogical tool. Once we become aware of this process, we can be more principled in the way we present apps to children. Educating them about responsible screen-time is also part of our remit in developing good digital citizenship skills.
Protect children’s privacy
Many apps (including high quality ones) ask for access to certain types of data, which can be for a valid reason, such as to help the provider to make the games and educational activities as relevant and useful as possible. This includes information about how much time children spend using the app, what their favourite songs and videos on the app are, how quickly they lose interest and so on. This anonymous user-data is important in order to enhance the quality of apps. However, compare this type of data with personal information such as asking for a child’s phone number or age – remember that no children’s app should ever ask for this kind of information!
You can find the full ‘using primary apps in the classroom’ pdf resource on the World of Fun website, along with tons of useful prep materials for the Cambridge English: Young Learners exams across all levels.
Help children understand and use vocabulary for the Cambridge Starters, Movers and Flyers YL tests by downloading the Word Fun World app.