Using E-Learning to Teach Foreign Languages #179

Foreign Language Training  #179: Challenge | Recap

Can you learn a foreign language online? You bet you can!

E-learning has made it easier than ever to master a new language. Language training courses can incorporate a variety of e-learning interactions, including:

• Using characters to simulate interactive conversations, scenarios, and instant messages
• Punctuation and grammar games
• Soundboards, interactive audio, and spelling bees
• Video interviews, quizzes, and training videos

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to share a short lesson or interaction to help students learn a new language.

NOTE: Your entry can be anything from a rough concept to a polished example. The challenges are open to everyone, regardless of experience or skill level. If you need technical or creative help with your project, please ask in our forums and reference the challenge number you’re working on.

Common Turkish Phrases

If you’re looking for inspiration on designing language training, you should bookmark Ridvan’s examples. This is one of my favorite examples because it lets learners rate their understanding of each phrase while visually tracking their responses.

Click here to view the example | Ridvan Saglam

Parli Italiano?

Learn to speak Italian in this app-inspired game by Yekaterina. The lessons are designed around an IM chat and offer a creative drop-down menu for selecting the correct word. If you get stuck, you can click the language icon to toggle between Italian and English.

Click here to view the example | Yekaterina Martynova

Drop-Down Selections

Great use of drop-down menus for vocabulary practice. This type of example would also work well for teaching idioms in a language training course.

Click here to view the example | David Tait

Letter to Santa

Here’s your chance to practice a new language by copyediting a child’s letter to Santa. Vocabulary words are highlighted using Storyline’s data entry fields to capture learner responses.

This is one of my favorite examples because the model can easily be adapted for a variety of topics.

Click here to view the example | Adriana Bertolani

Resources and Related Challenges

• Spelling Bees and Interactive Vocabulary Quizzes #37
• 20+ Examples of Drop-Down Lists, Menus, and Navigation in E-Learning #164
• E-Learning Games to Improve Punctuation and Grammar #75

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you dive into this week’s challenge, check out the creative sorting activities your fellow community members shared over the past week:

Keep It File It Interactions RECAP #178: Challenge | Recap

Wishing you a great week, E-Learning Heroes!

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.