Your local library has language apps for free use! Hurray!
Who: You, Your Library, Your Student, and His Teacher
What: Free language learning apps
When: Prior to kicking off an official school level course.
Where: Your local library, either in person and/or online
Why: Advanced students seeking enhancement to their language studies will enjoy the opportunity for enrichment. If your student experiences learning challenges, I would encourage him to pick up a free language app the summer before school starts. The apps present a great way to keep the foreign language anxiety monster at bay. However, struggling language students should not attempt to use a language app while simultaneously undergoing formal language classroom study without the teacher’s permission.
How much: FREE, with a library card! Check your local library!
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Please understand that, despite their glitzy commercials, Rosetta Stone and its kin do lack the ability to make anyone fluent in a language.
That does not mean they’re not useful or entertaining, however. I myself used the Transparent language app to get crackin’ on learning Russian while I was in bed for a couple of weeks with COVID.
Count on language apps to offer numerous languages to choose from, to help you not feel too lame when you travel to a new country, and to revive the 3rd year French class highlights in high school that you wish you had paid better attention to. Yes! The apps do make for great refresher study opportunities for mom and dad, too!
