Use the app "Fun English" in your classroom

Hi colleagues out there!

In this blog post I want to share information about an app you can work with in your classroom. It is called “FUN English”, by Studycat, (you can download it from app store) and it is made for teachers who teach english as a foreign language, and it is suitable for children from age 3 up to 10. There is a free version to download in appstore with lots of material to use. It is also possible to pay for more material and lessons inside the app - if you want.

The good thing about this app - and that is why I think you are going to like it - is that it is developed for and by teachers. Every day approximately 4.500.000 pupils around the world use it. Now then, how can you use this app in your classroom and why should you?

“Fun English” provides lessons with different themes, for example colours, and there are games within every theme to help pupils acquire new skills. The lessons aim to teach vocabulary, listening, speaking, singing, spelling and grammatics in a fun way. For example if you want your students to practise colours you can use this app in various situations. You can let the whole class take part in playing a game on your smartboard or in pairs on an ipad. You can play memory with colours and every time a student turns around a brick the app says the name of the colour. There are many songs you can sing in the class. In some exercises pupils get to hear and see the colour at the same time as it engages them in a game. Another thing you can do with this app is to record your own voice inside games. That is very clever if you ask me. The pupil first hear a voice that says the name of the colour on different things in the picture. The voice says “it is red” and then it is time for the student to copy this phrase which get recorded in the game. Later in the game the pupil hears its own recorded voice again and shall choose the right picture as belongs to the phrase. I think this is genius because it lets pupils train their producing skills with no risk of feeling anxious about talking in front of others. The student can take an ipad to a private space and play this game and then I (the teacher) can hear the recordings. You can also do it in front of the whole class and record when the class repeat words in chorus.

In summary this is an app you can use as a complement to the ordinary teaching. I don´t mean that it can replace your english book, but it can be fun and rewarding to try out. The best thing about it is that the pupils get to speak, which are a rare activity in most lessons. The pupil can hear their own recordings in the game and play recordings to the teacher and classmates. If you like to involve the parents it also has a user guide just for parents and most games and lessons in the app are free. At last I just want to say - thank you for reading and keep inspire those young stars.