App of the Week: Spanish Smash vocabulary game
Filed under: Android, app of the week, Apple, education, language
After 3 years of Dora the Explorer and all her friends and don’t forget the backpack, I was good and ready for a change.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Dora and I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on her goods to keep my child in check but we all grow up and look to learn in different ways. In this case it’s Spanish Smash on demand via an app.
I happened on this app by Native Tongue through my education networks here in Melbourne, and I’ve enjoyed my Spanish lessons with or without my little Dora fan at my side. We play on my phone or her tablet when I get home, and then later play something more sinister like Fruit Ninja.
Spanish Smash comes in a flashcard format with a neat series of levels, common items fall from the sky in an arena and the names are spoken out loud in Spanish.
The first thing I learned was “jeans” which is a Spanish word and the English word “jacket” sure sounds like the Spanish translation “chaqueta”.
There are many levels within each category. The first level is dead easy, and is intended to teach one word at a time. We’ve spent quite a few hours on this level. There are loads of words in categories ranging from veggies, clothing, animals, numbers, colours and more.
Every level afte gets harder to achieve some with up to 4 objects to select from. As you progress through the arcade style game it gets faster and faster. Your learn either by being shown the printed word, or sometimes only speaking the word, and occasionally you get offered both printed and spoken text. Variety is key to keeping me interested.
All up, I think this is a pretty engaging way to learn Spanish and so might you if you have a play with it.
You can get this as a free or paid version. I went for the paid version on Android but you can get it for all these devices.
How about you and your kids? DO you use apps to learn a second language?
