In our world of mobile technologies, we use a variety of apps to assist us in solving everyday management dilemmas. We may even catch ourselves thinking, “I wish I had an app for that.” These ubiquitous technologies have become part of us in many ways to make life easier. We use apps for financial budgeting, lesson planning, exercising and health management, entertainment, social media, and many other areas of interest. We use apps to assist us in music theory, grow our artistic talent, and if we want to cook a gourmet meal, well there is an app for that as well. I’ve recently discovered that there is an app to help build language vocabulary using your smartphone. Microsoft’s new language learning app uses your phone’s camera and computer vision to teach vocabulary. It is called, Read My World. Just point at a specified object with your smartphone. Currently, this app has a library of 1,500 words in its database. Perez (2019) states, “It will then show the word’s spelling and speak the phonetic pronunciation of the identified vocabulary words. The photos corresponding to the identified words can also be saved to a personal dictionary in the app for later reference” (Perez, 2019). This app also provides a way of three built-in vocabulary games to assist in memory recall.
As an educator, involving technology in the classroom is a common practice to nurture an environment that engages students in the development of skills, knowledge, and understanding in effective and appropriate ways. This type of technology would benefit students that speak a language other than English. It is not to replace formal instruction for it has limits in its vocabulary words and it isn’t considered a teaching tool. However, it is best used as a training tool to assist throughout the day of ESL students. In addition, Read my World allows users to input photos of objects and their English word to the app’s library to grow ESL students’ language skills.
Source:
Perez, S. (2019, May 23). Microsoft's new language learning app uses your phone's camera
and computer vision to teach vocabulary – TechCrunch. Retrieved May 27, 2019, from
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/23/microsofts-new-language-learning-app-uses-your-
phones-camera-and-computer-vision-to-teach-vocabulary/
Image Source:
Pixabay. (n.d.). Free Image on Pixabay -The Digital Artist. Retrieved May 27, 2019,
from https://pixabay.com/photos/eye-information-technology-digital-3374462/
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