iPad English

Welcome to iPad English!

Among other things, the iPad is a wonderful tool for language learners. I've already posted several articles about iOS apps for learning English on The English Blog, but having recently become the proud owner of a new iPad (I had an iPod Touch before), I thought it would be fun to start another blog where I could talk exclusively about ways in which teachers and learners of English can use Apple's magical device. So welcome to iPad English!  Of course, without apps the iPad is "just" a (very) expensive media player cum web browser, so I'll be separating the wheat from the chaff and bringing you the best English learning applications. And if you have any ideas, tips, or suggestions about learning English with the iPad, please get in touch via the comments link below or by email—I'd love to hear from you!

iPad Apps for London 2012 Olympics

The London Olympics are fast approaching, so I thought it would be a good idea to present a roundup of some of the apps which have been especially created for this sporting extravaganza. Note that all these apps are free.

• Reuters Olympics London 2012 - delivers the best live Olympics photos & moments captured by Reuters award-winning photographers (screenshot above)
• NBC Olympics - news, video, photos for every sport and all Team USA athletes; results & Schedules for all 32 sports: updated in real time; Destination London: learn more about the host city with video, photos and news
• London 2012 - Official Mobile Game - train the ultimate athlete and compete in 9 fast paced events 
• London 2012: Official Results App for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
• BBC Olympics - live video and catch-up highlights, as well as news, schedules and results 
• 2012 Team USA Road To London - follows the making of Team USA and their experience in London during the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games
• LearnEnglish Sports World - sports-themed, hidden object and word game app 

LearnEnglish Sports World App

DESCRIPTION
The British Council has released a free sports-themed, hidden object and word game app for the iPad. In LearnEnglish Sports World, players have to find the hidden sports objects and earn medals while learning about sporting events – just in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The game features 290 sports objects, categorised in 36 Olympic and Paralympic sports events, hidden in a beautifully illustrated sports scene. LearnEnglish Sports World has a unique twist – in addition to finding objects, players need to recognise and correctly spell the hidden sports objects to earn medals. Clues are available to help users identify and learn about various sporting events, and detailed information about the events is provided in the app.

LearnEnglish Sports World is aimed at English learners, as well as sports and casual game fans.

The app is available for download in the iTunes App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/app/learnenglish-sports-world/id536158063).

COMMENTS
A great way to prepare for watching a spectacular summer of sport. Learners of English will find the audio pronunciations and translations particularly helpful. 

ALSO SEE
• iPhone English: Sports World (London School of English)

The New New iPad Ad

Here is Apple's latest ad for the new iPad.

TRANSCRIPT
Send a note. Stay informed. Catch a show. Make your point. Make a memory. Make a masterpiece. Read something. Watch something. And learn something. Do it all more beautifully with the retina display on iPad.

QUESTIONS
1. What do you think of the ad?
2. What do you use your iPad for?

Wordflex Touch Dictionary

The Wordflex Touch Dictionary uses intuitive "mind-mapping" technology to turn word entries into dynamic trees that you can move, shape, rearrange, save and share with touch gestures. Developed exclusively for iPad in association with the Oxford University Press.

COMMENT
I've already got a whole bunch of dictionary apps on my iPad, including the excellent Dictionary.com, which is free, so I hesitated for quite a while before dowloading the Wordflex Touch Dictionary. However, having read a couple of very positive reviews (see below), I decided to take the plunge. The fact that the app has just been reduced from a hefty $24.99 to a more affordable $11.99 was the clincher. And I have to say I don't regret my purchase. This is an amazing app which turns exploring the meanings of words into a fun experience. The audio pronunciations in U.K./U.S. English are a real bonus for learners too.

TEACHING IDEA
Use the app to create 'word posters' for your students. Share screenshots using email/Twitter/Facebook, display in class with PowerPoint, or print a hard copy.

REVIEWS
• New Wordflex Touch Dictionary version released! (iPhone Life)
• A Chance To Win A Wordflex Touch Dictionary Promo Code For iPad (AppAdvice)

Dynamic English Lessons 3 - Idioms

DESCRIPTION
Dynamic English Lessons 3 (€0.79) helps you learn some of the most common idioms with interactive games and practical examples. Use the dials to select the right words to complete the idiom illustrated by the picture. In the example above, it's 'bite the hand that feeds you' (though the girl is actually biting the arm). The idioms are grouped into six categories: Animals, Body Parts, Objects, Action & Sport, Food & Drink, and Miscellanious (sic).

LEVEL
Intermediate and above

FEATURES
• Fun graphics and audio to help you learn and remember idioms
• Quiz yourself on how to use idioms
• Idiom Dictionary
• A sealed section with adult uses for idioms
• Audio recordings to hear pronunciation and example uses

VERDICT
A well-designed app, and great value for less than one euro. The illustrations are fun, and I particularly liked the fact that audio recordings are provided for the examples. One criticism I do have is that having found the idiom, you have to consult the dictionary to find out what it means. It would have made more pedagogical sense to have the definition available while you're trying to find the idiom.  And there are a few bugs and spelling mistakes which need to be fixed. All in all though, I'm giving this one the thumbs up (= to show approval for something).

ALSO SEE
• Brush Up On Your English With Dynamic English Lessons - Idioms (AppAdvice)

NOTE
Dynamic English Lessons has two other apps which I haven't tried: Prepositions and Phrasal Verbs. Both are available in the App Store for €0.79.

The Guardian iPad Edition

As a learner or teacher of English, you are probably familiar with most of the national UK newspaper websites (see here for a list). Most of these newspapers now have iPad editions, and we'll be looking at some of them over the coming weeks, starting with The Guardian.

DESCRIPTION
The Guardian iPad edition beautifully re-imagines the newspaper for the iPad. Each issue showcases The Guardian's comprehensive international reporting, thoughtful commentary, award-winning sports journalism and unique approach to coverage of culture, science, the environment, media and technology. The Guardian iPad edition is free for a two-week trial period then available via an auto-renewable subscription costing £9.99 per month, with six issues published each week.

FEATURES
• daily editions from Monday to Saturday including all content from the main section of the Guardian newspaper
• copy and select text or look up words using Apple’s inbuilt dictionary
• editions from the last month available in the archive
• all article and picture content downloaded for reading offline
• stunning photojournalism and full screen cartoons
• in-article image galleries
• video embedded in articles viewable when online
• share stories via Facebook, Twitter, Instapaper and email
• related articles within the edition highlighted
• related online articles open in an in-app browser
• “back page” showcase of the latest news, video and comment from the Guardian website

COMMENT
As a longtime Guardian reader, given the choice, I would prefer to buy the print edition. However, that costs over 3 euros in France and is not available on the day here in Le Havre. Of course, you can get most of the content on the Guardian website for free (unlike the paywall-protected The Times), but the iPad edition offers a far cleaner, more user-friendly experience. Even if you're not interested in the paid subscription, you should certainly sign up for the two-week trial, if only to get an idea of what a cutting-edge newspaper app looks like. I did miss the crossword though.

ALSO SEE
• Guardian iPad Edition review (Macworld)
• The Guardian’s iPad edition (long review from Phil Gyford's website)

English Grammar in Use: Activities HD

DESCRIPTION
English Grammar in Use: Activities HD offers a big  library of fun grammar activities written specially for intermediate learners of English. Imagery, sound and extra support across all key topics make studying simple and enjoyable. Based on the world’s best-selling grammar book by Raymond Murphy.

FEATURES
• 306 activities  2,800+ questions, structured into 16 grammar areas
• 145 units, to help shape your learning.
• Study methodically, or shake it up with randomised questions from your chosen focus areas.
• Audio & Recording Hear phrases spoken aloud.
• Record your own voice and compare.
• Progress Tracking Beautiful bar charts visualise your statistics, to keep you informed as you improve.
• Review and retry exercises you’ve worked on, and email your results in a tap.
• Glossary Tap a word for its definition.

VERDICT
As one would expect from a major ELT publisher, the EGIU app has a very slick and professional design. However, Cambridge's description of app as 'the ultimate grammar study tool' is extremely misleading since there are no explanations given as to why the answers to activities are wrong or right, and no reference section either. They should have made it clear that the app is really a complement to the EGIU book and designed to test not teach. £5.99 ($9.99) is a lot to pay for an app that only does half the job.

ALSO SEE
• Review of English Grammar in Use Activities App (Eduworlds Knowledge)

Conversation English HD

DESCRIPTION
Conversation English ($2.99) is one of a series of language learning apps from Red River Press, and allows you to practise and improve your English conversation skills with 20 complete Conversation English Lessons. You will learn over 200 common English Idioms and Expressions, improve your Listening Skills, and develop your Speaking Skills.

 Each English lesson has tasks in 5 important skills – Conversation Listening, Conversation Reading, Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Sentence Completion. An Idiom Dictionary with Audio Pronunciation is also included.

VERDICT
Although this app doesn't do anything particularly original, it does have a good range of activities and is very professionally produced. The conversations are fairly basic but do contain a lot of idioms, so even more advanced learners would probably learn something new. And translations of all 200+ idioms are provided in several languages, which is a useful feature.  There's enough material for several hours of study, so $2.99 seems like pretty good value compared to some other English-learning app courses available (although, to be honest, there aren't that many!).

ALSO SEE
• English App Review—Conversation English (English with Jo)

SpellTower Word Game

SpellTower is a challenging word game that was recently updated to version 3.0. This latest version includes retina graphics for the new iPad and local multiplayer support. Similar to Bookworm and other word games, SpellTower has a grid of letter tiles that you use to spell words by selecting adjacent letters. Each correct spelling removes tiles and earns you points. The goal of the game is to remove as many letter tiles as possible. Continue reading  on TUAW >>

COMMENT
I really like SpellTower. The design is very pleasing and there's a great tutorial to get you started. What's more, SpellTower is currently on sale for half price at  just $0.99 in the App Store, so if you're a fan of word games, this is one you shouldn't hesitate to get.

Read It Later With Pocket

How often have you discovered an interesting article, video or web page, but not had time to go through it? What you need is Pocket, a free app that lets you save articles, video and images from around the web for offline reading or viewing later. You can read an article during a flight, see a web page while you wait in line, or watch a video while relaxing at home.

VERDICT
I use Pocket all the time. It's not the only app which lets you save web content, but having tried others such as Instapaper ($4.99) and Readability (free), Pocket is the one I prefer. It's easy to use and has a beautifully clean interface. A particularly useful feature is the search function, which allows you find any article you've saved. You can also tag articles. Much better than those long lists of browser bookmarks! Sign up for a free Pocket account here.

ALSO SEE
• Introducing the all-new Read It Later – now called Pocket (Pocket Blog)
• Read It Later Rebrands As Free App, Pocket (TechCrunch)
• Pocket Video Review (The Verge)

Animal Idioms and Metaphors

The English language is full of idioms and metaphors relating to animals. For example, do you know what it means if someone calls you "a dark horse"? And do you know what "a wild goose chase" is? If not, then you should have a look at the Animal Idioms and Metaphors iPad app ($1.99).

DESCRIPTION
This app presents 75 of most useful and popular animal metaphors. Each animal metaphor comes not only with an explanations but also with useful day-to-day examples. In addition, there are also fun facts and animal sounds for the learner to better appreciate the meaning of the idiom and metaphor. The app also has a quiz section to encourage deeper learning by allowing students to drag and drop animal tiles to answer questions in an interactive and creative way. The student will be rewarded with beautiful animated animal stickers if he can pass the 1 minute time-quiz with flying colors. There are a total of 150 questions and 25 beautifully designed stickers to be won. 

VERDICT
Although this app is aimed at primary school children, older learners (including adults) could get a lot out of it as well. However, there is one big weakness—the English is very dodgy in places, and some of the explanations are just plain wrong. For example, "to go to bat for is to describe showing support for someone." In fact, this expression has nothing to do with the winged mammal, but is a metaphor from the game of baseball. You would think that, having invested time and money in developing an attractive app, the author (obviously a non-native speaker) would have had gone to the trouble of having the English checked. For an app designed to teach English, that's an unforgivable omission.

The Rebus Show Word Puzzle App

If you're not familiar with rebus puzzles, then this quick introduction will explain all you need to know. They are essentially little pictures, often made with letters and words, which cryptically represent a word, phrase, or saying.

The aim of The Rebus Show ($1.99) is to guess words represented by pictures. In the simple example above, CAT + BURGLAR = CAT BURGLAR (don't worry, they're not all as easy as that!). If you do get stuck, touching an image will reveal a hint—but you'll lose some points.

This is not the only iPad rebus app available (see here, for example), but I really liked the old style Vaudevillian era atmosphere with animated velvety curtains, antique Underwood typewriter keys, and vintage sound effects.

LESSON IDEA
Teachers could use this app for a classroom quiz by connecting their iPad to a video projector or big-screen TV.

ALSO SEE
• Review—The Rebus Show for iPad (iPad Insight)
• Say What You See: This Rebus Puzzle App Looks Like Fun [Review] (Cult of Mac)

Terminology: A Browser for the English Language

DESCRIPTION
Terminology ($2.99) is a browser for the English language. Part dictionary and part thesaurus, Terminology is designed to make it easy to explore words and phrases, diving down to more and less specific terms -- accessing the web and other apps for more detail and sharing.

FEATURES
- Pleasant, book-like, readable interface.
- Offline use.
- Definitions, synonyms, antonyms.
- Keep list of favorite words for quick access.
- Lookup words from Phraseology, Instapaper, Mr. Reader, Writing Kit and a growing list of other apps.
- Customizable font face and size.
- Customizable links to other reference and sharing apps.
- Customizable links to web resources for each term.

VERDICT
There are plenty of good free dictionary apps available for the iPad, not to mention the iPad's own built-in dictionary, so why would you want to pay for one? Well, it really depends on what your needs are. If you just need a basic definition and few synonyms, then one of the free apps (such as (Dictionary.com), will probably suffice. But if you're looking for a tool which allows you to explore the meanings of words in greater depth, then Terminology is well worth your investment. One thing it doesn't do, however, is give any indication as to how the words are pronounced, which represents something of a disadvantage for learners of English.

ALSO SEE
• Terminology Review (Macworld AppGuide)
• Review: Terminology for iPad (iPad Insight)

How to capture a screenshot of your iPad

I use a lot of images in my PowerPoint presentations and have a wonderful program called SnagIt installed on my PC which enables me to capture all or part of what's on my computer screen. (Of course, if you don't have a screen capture tool, you can always press the PrintScreen key to send a copy of your entire screen to the clipboard, and then edit it with Paint, for example).

Unfortunately, there's no SnagIt app for the iPad, but it is possible to capture whatever's on your iPad screen. Just press the Power (or sleep/wake) button at the top right of the iPad app and the Home button at the same time for a second or so (see image above). The screen will flash white for a moment and you will hear the camera shutter sound. The resulting screenshot can be found in your Camera Roll album in the iPad's built-in Photos app. You can use Photos' Edit function to crop, rotate or enhance your image. For more advanced photo editing work, you'll need a third-party app, such as Photogene or Snapseed.

EXTRA TIP
Use the free Skitch for iPad app to add arrows, shapes and text to your images.

The Economist: World in Figures

ALSO

DESCRIPTION
The Economist World in Figures iPad edition (free) displays facts and figures for more than 190 countries around the world. Rank and compare countries, test your knowledge of country-related trivia and share fun facts via Twitter and Facebook.

VERDICT
A very useful app for teachers or students of economics or geopolitics, and anyone who's interested in what's going on in the world. The app also features a nice world map. There's a problem with the A-Z glossary, however, which causes the app to crash when you try to consult it.

LESSON IDEA
Use the Compare tool to create bar graphs comparing data on selected topics for the countries of your choice. Great for practising numbers, figures, comparatives, superlatives, etc. The Country profiles are also a good source of data.

SIMILAR APPS
• UN CountryStats (free)
• World Bank DataFinder (free)
• The CIA World Factbook ($2.99)