'How to Speak English' App Nominated for Award

Students at all of Kaplan International’s schools worldwide benefit from use of the How to Speak English app: An iPhone and Android app that enhances students' language learning experience and improves their English by guiding them through specific sounds of the language.

The success of the app was celebrated recently at the British Council’s 2014 ELTons Awards. The ELTons is a prestigious annual award ceremony that celebrates innovation in English language teaching. From engaging courses to exciting learning materials, the awards reward education organisations that continue to invent and create new ways to learn English.

But what makes the Kaplan How to Speak English app so innovative and worthy of this award? The app sets itself around the learner. It tailors its support around the needs of the individual user by considering the needs of English language students from different linguistic groups. This means that whether your first language is Portuguese or Chinese, the app will work to help you improve the areas where you need it most.

The app highlights common areas of difficulty for non-native learners of English, of all proficiency levels, and allows users to compare their pronunciation to that of native speakers through the use of both audio and video recordings. This will help identify areas of pronunciation that they need to focus on, so that they can improve their English more efficiently.

Another way that our students can really start to benefit from the use of the app is with its use in classroom lessons and modules, via our interactive whiteboards. In lessons Kaplan students are able to practice together and receive face-to-face support from their teacher to help them make the most of the language tool.

Matthew Spragg, our Senior Teacher and Blended Learning Specialist at Kaplan International Manchester, had this to say about the How to Speak English app:

“I have downloaded it myself, and am particularly impressed by the L1 selector and subsequent focus on problem sounds for that L1; the videos are excellent too. I also like the fact that it is not level specific and comes across as being accessible and user friendly whatever the student's level may be.”

How to speak English is available on iOS and Android for smartphones and tablets.