Mobile Apps for Adult Literacy

MOBILE APPS FOR ADULT LITERACY by Harvey Pressman and Andrea Pietryzk, Central Coast Children’s Foundation  http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102474671827-87/adult_literacy_apps_5_30.pdf viewed August 2011

Adult literacy programs are just beginning to use smart phone apps for tutoring.  This article provides an overview of the use of phone applications for all types of learners.  The Apps are categorized by Reading Skills, Vocabulary, Grammar, Spelling and Apps that parents could use with young children.  It includes the title, link, purpose, cost, platform and reviews if available.  The authors stress the value of parents using these with their children as a way to help the children and reinforce their own learning.  Here is a sample related to English Language Learners.

Easy to Read Wikipedia

Simple English Wikipeida http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Did you know there is an easy to read version of Wikipedia online for those who can not read English very well?  Students can contribute to it.  Check it out today.

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Creating Learning Games

There are tools online that tutors can easily use to make lessons more interesting.  Study Stack provides a way for students to memorize information.  Students can play the games online or download them to a smart phone.   Once you create cards, they can be used in a variety of ways ranging from matching activities to creating a crossword puzzle.  Check out Study Stack and tell us what you think.
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FREE Podcasts for English Language Learners

WWW.ESLpod.com is a site of free podcasts on a wide variety of topics.  The podcasts are free for you to listen online or download to your ipod.  Additional items, like the learner's guide, from this site do cost.  You can purchase a guide for each podcast or subscribe. 

The speaker talks slowly.  I listened to the podcast English Café 309.  It is about the movie, West Side Story, but also includes questions from listerners on the meaning of terms like “ship” in friendship.  Music helps adds to the slowness of the session and  you can move the recording ahead. 

There are a variety of ways you could enhance this lesson about a classic movie.  For example, the student could borrow the movie or listen to the musical sound track after listening to the podcast.  Then he or she could come to a tutoring session prepared to talk or even write about it as part of a lesson or independently.   

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New Instructional Tool for ELL -- Grant Application Due September 30, 2011

The Florida Literacy Coalition is partnering with IBM again to offer up to ten Reading Companion grants to eligible ABE, Literacy and Family Literacy programs throughout the state of Florida. Here are last year's grant winners. This grant (valued at $10,000) provides free access to IBM’s Reading Companion software.

Reading Companion uses innovative speech recognition technology that "listens" and provides individualized feedback to the user, enabling emerging readers to practice their pronunciation as they acquire fundamental reading speaking skills.English Language Learners really like the program.  You need higher level equipment and band width to use the program.  Because of that libraries and schools may be better positioned to apply for the grant.  The actual specs are below.

For more information on the Reading Companion Program, and to view a 4-minute video demonstrating this software, visit http://www.readingcompanion.org and click on “explore”. For more information about using technologies for adult literacy go to this report published last year.  To get the application: