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A to Z Challenge: Aps
Apr. 1st, 2015 12:14 pmWhat are your favorite smart phone aps and why?
I don't have very many. In fact, I only currently use two.
Plants versus Zombies
This is a strategy video game. You are in a world where zombies roam the earth but where you can defend your house by planting zombie-attacking plants. You start with pea-shooters and work your way up to more powerful plants. Meanwhile, the zombies start finding more and better protection.
Everything is sooo cute. I know it's wrong, but even the deaths are cute. The zombies die so dramatically! (Not with blood, but the way we used to play when we were kids. It was especially fun to get "shot" while jumping on the bed. Another example is how guy who plays Pee Wee Herman died in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie.)
This game was designed to be played on smart phones and works very well there in spite of the small size. It's good for waiting in lines.
Warning: Don't get Plants versus Zombies II--it's just a money grab.
DuoLingo
DuoLingo is a free ap designed to teach you a foreign language (many languages are available) scientifically. It introduces you to concepts step by step and then also makes you review those concepts at ever increasing intervals so that it all stays in your brain. Once your knowledge is strong enough, they let you practice by translating real writing in the foreign language. (Getting multiple people to translate the same passages leads to a translation they can sell which is how they make their money.)
It's set up to reward you sort of like video games do. You get rewarded for long streaks of working on it at least a little every day. And you get rewarded for finishing units. You can use your points to buy units that teach you bonus phrases.
Obviously with a computer program you won't be able to have natural conversations or write creatively. But being able to read and listen in a foreign language is pretty awesome.
You are supposed to learn by example and memorization, but I learn best when people explain things to me. There is virtually no explanation available. This is probably why I like this ap far less than most people who use it. Also, those bonus phrases are way too hard for me. But then I suck at foreign languages.
Still, I've been playing around with it anyway in Spanish. I like my actual Spanish class better than this ap, and my text, and the online resources I've found such as about.com, Sr. Jordan's videos, and learning telenovelas. But I find that I'm liking DuoLingo as a way to review things and a way to get exposed to additional vocabulary. So I've been using it almost day for months now.
You can use this on a smart phone or a regular computer or anything in between. It's better if you have a microphone, but it's okay if you don't. You will need a speaker, though.
I don't have very many. In fact, I only currently use two.
Plants versus Zombies
This is a strategy video game. You are in a world where zombies roam the earth but where you can defend your house by planting zombie-attacking plants. You start with pea-shooters and work your way up to more powerful plants. Meanwhile, the zombies start finding more and better protection.
Everything is sooo cute. I know it's wrong, but even the deaths are cute. The zombies die so dramatically! (Not with blood, but the way we used to play when we were kids. It was especially fun to get "shot" while jumping on the bed. Another example is how guy who plays Pee Wee Herman died in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie.)
This game was designed to be played on smart phones and works very well there in spite of the small size. It's good for waiting in lines.
Warning: Don't get Plants versus Zombies II--it's just a money grab.
DuoLingo
DuoLingo is a free ap designed to teach you a foreign language (many languages are available) scientifically. It introduces you to concepts step by step and then also makes you review those concepts at ever increasing intervals so that it all stays in your brain. Once your knowledge is strong enough, they let you practice by translating real writing in the foreign language. (Getting multiple people to translate the same passages leads to a translation they can sell which is how they make their money.)
It's set up to reward you sort of like video games do. You get rewarded for long streaks of working on it at least a little every day. And you get rewarded for finishing units. You can use your points to buy units that teach you bonus phrases.
Obviously with a computer program you won't be able to have natural conversations or write creatively. But being able to read and listen in a foreign language is pretty awesome.
You are supposed to learn by example and memorization, but I learn best when people explain things to me. There is virtually no explanation available. This is probably why I like this ap far less than most people who use it. Also, those bonus phrases are way too hard for me. But then I suck at foreign languages.
Still, I've been playing around with it anyway in Spanish. I like my actual Spanish class better than this ap, and my text, and the online resources I've found such as about.com, Sr. Jordan's videos, and learning telenovelas. But I find that I'm liking DuoLingo as a way to review things and a way to get exposed to additional vocabulary. So I've been using it almost day for months now.
You can use this on a smart phone or a regular computer or anything in between. It's better if you have a microphone, but it's okay if you don't. You will need a speaker, though.