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Language software for Orphans in Tanzania | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| swahililearner Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 4127 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Swahili | Message 1 of 6 07 August 2013 at 1:55pm | IP Logged |
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Dear Sirs/Madams,
I am writing to you on behalf of an orphanage in Tanzania hosting 30 children, ages 6 -12. Quite recently a "computer house" was built and four laptops bought to go in it. Our hope is that these children could get, so to speak, a head start in life by learning to use computers. My hope is that these computers could facilitate their learning in other subjects as well, especially English. What English language software would be suitable for Tanzanian, Swahili speaking children, ages 6 -12, who are complete beginners in English? Note: I have emailed DynEd as their product seems to suit our needs. Thank you very much for your time and thought. Sincerely, Henrik 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5016 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 2 of 6 07 August 2013 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
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Do you have tv in Swahili ?
Do you have foreign movies or tv series dubbled in Swahili ? If yes - then first step make the learners watch an episode of tv series or a movie dubbled in Swahili. Step 2 which could be step one if you don't have Swahili material - watching the same episode in English. Step 3 extract the sound track of the episode and make the learners listen to it without watching the pictures. Each of the 3 steps can be repeated more than once - you can redo step 1 after step 2 or step 3 and you can redo step 2 after step 3. Of course redoing all with other movies or episodes. Come back to the first episode after a few days or weeks. The most important step is the 3rd one. It could also be interesting to cut the audio into scene by scene files. This method could lead your children to a higher level than any courses for a lower price - it could even be for free. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ezy Ryder Diglot Senior Member Poland youtube.com/user/Kat Joined 4348 days ago 284 posts - 387 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 6 07 August 2013 at 8:34pm | IP Logged |
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Anki is a great piece of software for learning vocabulary (though maybe You could also use it for
grammar rules). It is a space repetition system (SRS), sort of like flashcards, but You don't need to handle thousands of them, and it also calculates by itself when it's best to review each word. It's free to download and use too, and is compatible with various operating systems. I've been using it for a few months now (learned over 4,000 words with it), You can get my, and numerous other people's recommendation. There's no single method that will teach You a language, and Anki isn't an exception, so it'd have to be supplemented with something (e.g., a grammar guide and graded readers). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| swahililearner Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 4127 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Swahili | Message 4 of 6 07 August 2013 at 9:08pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you! I like the movie idea. We have one tv but not a lot of movies dubbed in
Swahili but I am sure that would be possible to get a hold of. I myself use Anki and I definitely consider it to be the best software out there but I believe it would be a bit difficult for these kids, especially as their Swahili writing/reading skills are low. However, I realize, creating decks, Swahili (text/sound/picture) -> English decks, is possible. In the future I will do that. As a starter I believe it would be easier and better to start with, more of a, game-based software. These kids are new to computers as well even though they learn very fast. An easy-to-use and fun software is what I am looking for as there will for most of time not be any English speakers around. Also, quite easy to set up would be a bonus as I will not be able to go there in the near future but will have someone else bring it with them. Any more suggestions? I realize that for serious learners these game-based applications etc are usually not the most efficient way to learn. If I could find a software that these kids would enjoy playing, that would be terrific. The price is not too much of a worry. I'd love to hear more from you! Thank you! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 5016 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 6 08 August 2013 at 11:25am | IP Logged |
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Games are a great way to learn anything - particularly for children.
However in language acquisition the input phase is the most important and should come first. So listening to a lot of native material. Little House on the Prairie The Simpsons are both pleasant to watch for children (I have never watched them in English so I have no opinion about accents or language level - a native could give you a better idea about that). The Star Trek series have a lot of dialogues and most not speaking passages are sound identifiables making it easy to follow without the pictures. Star Trek The Next Generation is my first choice because the captain accent is a lot more standard than the one from Star Trek Voyager. The original serie dating from the 60ies was great at the time but now is very less pleasant to watch in front of all others more recent. Star Trek Deep Space Nine is also interesting. In Star Trek Enterprise there are short passages where alien languages are used which could be a problem at an early stage of learning. Woody Allen movies have a lot of dialogues but could be less pleasant for children. Children could role-play what they watched on the screen later either in swahili or in English when they are ready. I was not thinking of watching the tv series and movies on a tv set but on the computers. VLC is a free software allowing to run the media on the computer. It is even possible to run it at a slower pace for a better understanding. It runs media from dvd or from the computer hard disk or directly from the internet - you can get material from internet legal or not - rent or purchase dvd and copy them on a usb memory key. It is possible to use Anki as a game - however any game without any English speaker around - and with more children than computers - will be problematic. It is very important to explain to the children they will not hear anything but noises when they listen to the dialogues the first times. Remember them they did not understand swahili the first week after they were born - it tooks them a few months of intense listening. Also very important they don't have to understand each and every words - they should first go for the general sense and enjoy the music of language. With more listenings noises will change into sounds, sounds into syllables, then words, sentences. Each learner should learn at its own pace. With 4 computers for more children - I would put each computer in a separate room and run different level in each room - one could be a slow pace episode run for the fifth time - another could be an audio only at normal speed of a never watched episode and the 2 others something between. Another way would be to run Star Trek in one room - The Simpsons in another and so on because it is very important the children to be interested in what they watch and listen to. Edited by Michel1020 on 08 August 2013 at 11:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ross Newbie China anylano.com Joined 5486 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English | Message 6 of 6 10 August 2013 at 4:59am | IP Logged |
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swahililearner, if you like the movie idea of Michel1020, you can have a try on anylango. In Michel1020's idea, you can use anylango in step 3. But, no need to extract the sound track of the episode, just convert movie into the courseware format anylango used.
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