Recently, we have looked closely at a few iPad applications that would help assist ESL learners and teachers through the process of teaching the English language. After more research, I gave British Council‘s LearnEnglish Grammar (US Edition) a try to illustrate a preview for future use.
In beginning this application, one is able to Practice, Test or Purchase Grammar help through an Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced level packages. The grammar help ranges from simple past tense to present perfect. Each set of questions covers 12 grammar topics, with over 20 activities per topic. This is a free application and offers a few free activities and tests; however, it does ask for you to download more questions for a fee as you continue using the application.
Despite that, there are some positive attributes to this application, found in detail on the British Council website, and I recorded in the following:
This app will help learners ranging from beginner to expert. By giving the option to chose what level they want, a teacher is able to better assist all of their learners appropriately.
This app will help learners to achieve better grammar accuracy. This app will not only give you a variety of multiple choice questions, but also fill-in-the-blanks, reordering words and labeling activities. Ultimately, learners won’t feel like the learning is repetitive and instead advance in their grammar knowledge.
This app provides in-app help. If you or the learner is having trouble answering a question, there are help files for each activity type and is supported by multiple languages.
Overall, as being a free application for both iPhones and iPads, I think that this app is useful for any ESL classroom. The only downside is having to pay a fee for extra activities and tests; however, if learners are enjoying the application and one does not mind paying a little extra for more help, then it would ultimately be a successful application to use.