Spanish Stagecraft
© 2014 Playmation Studios Inc.
Update 1/10/15: Playmation Studios changed the name of this app from Playmation to Spanish to Spanish Stagecraft. They also released another version of the game, Spanish Stagecraft Pro (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id952089417?mt=8), that does not have an in-app purchase and is $4.99. The main menu is confusing, the background music bothersome and the voice quality grainy. There's also in-app sales. But these shortcomings are not what's important about this innovative app, specifically designed to give you an introduction-level Spanish course. Note: A sister app is also in French. The secret is that you can build your own sentences by actively manipulating sentence parts. In other words, this is not your typical flash card language model (finally). Instead, you learn new Spanish words in an active, meaningful way as you fluidly explore the semantics and syntax of the language. The visual scaffolds make it all possible. An example is below (plus we've made a video to help you see how it works, at http://youtu.be/eZrFt8Xq57o ). You might see and hear a sentence like "La mujer cierra la ventana" or "she closes the window" with five items shown on the bottom of the screen. Two items are needed to make the sentence -- a woman and an open window. When you drag and drop the items into the screen, a "draft" sentence describes what you are doing. You learn that you can build the sentence by arranging the items correctly (in this case, when the woman touches the window, it shuts automatically, complete with sound effects). There are three modes: free play, reading challenge and listening challenge. Each offers a target sentence and set of items that you can use to make a match. Features let you adjust the read back speed, read back volume and sound effects volume. The initial app costs $1.99 to download (which includes 4 puzzle sets with associated practice challenges for both reading and listening comprehension). You can then upgrade to unlock an additional 8 puzzle sets for $3.99. Created by a brother/sister team: Jen and Justin Helms. Note that a French version is also available.
$1.99, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch (iOS 7.1 or later)
Teaches: Spanish
CTR Rating: 87.5%