5 Must-Have Apps for FSL

by Lindsay Deschamps 10:49:00 1 comments Boukili CEFR FSL Miitomo Oral Interaction Oral Production Pixton Plotagon

It's not easy being an FSL teacher.  You need to juggle second language learners while making sure they acquire listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Here are a few useful apps that I believe all FSL teachers could use with their students to help strengthen French language skills.

Boukili

Focus: Reading Skills, Listening Skills, Oral Skills

Boukili aims to stimulate children to read and help them attain different levels of reading proficiency by exploring the 54-book collection developed by Mini TFO

This app also includes mini games, quizzes, and a passport system to help motivate students to achieve higher levels of reading.
Students have 3 options when opening the app:
    -mode narration
    -mode solo
    -mode enregistrement
The more students read, the more activities they can unblock from their passport.

Scratch Jr 

Focus: Writing Skills, Reading Skills

Bring Scratch Jr and coding into the FSL classroom by simply switching your keyboard's language to French!  This engaging app allows students from all levels to code games and design projects in French.  Test your students with teacher-created challenges or provide them with step by step instructions that they must follow in order to be successful.

Miitomo

Focus: Reading Skills, Listening Skills, Writing Skills, Oral Skills

Nintendo uses Miis as the basis for an intriguing new social experience (...) The real fun begins when your Mii starts asking about everything from your favourite food to what you did last weekend.

This interactive app allows students to create their own avatar or "Mii" to interact with the game and their classmates.  The purpose of the app is for students to learn more about each other through their Mii's.  By switching the language setting to French, students can practice each essential language skill: listening, reading, writing, oral.  This app is not recommended for beginners.

Plotagon 

Focus: Writing Skills, Oral Skills

Plotagon is a 3D video making app that allows students to create their own animated stories. This app features loads of options for characters, emotions, backgrounds, and actions. Take it a step further by having your students record their own voices when creating their animations! 

The downfall of the free version is if students want to share their videos, their only options are to publish to Youtube or the Plotagon site.

Pixton Comic Maker

Focus: Writing Skills, Reading Skills

Finally, an alternative to BitStrips! Pixton Comic Maker is a free app with endless possibilities.  Some key features include fully posable and expressive characters, a searchable prop library and backgrounds grouped by theme. FSL students can use Pixton to tell a story with words and pictures, describe emotions with customizable characters, or even explain a new concept learned in class.