(I have no idea if the German is right—that’s what Google translator came up with.)
My latest micro-obsession is Duolingo, an app that teaches foreign languages through a quiz-based game. It’s a nice interface, and the different question formats keep things interesting. I’ve taken a ridiculous amount of Spanish, but the game has helped me brush up a little. I’m hoping to get to some new material soon (you can test out of levels to move up faster).
My girls have a friend from Portugal, so they’ve decided to try to learn some Portuguese using Duolingo on the iPad. I had this identical conversation with both girls at different times this weekend:
Child: Mommy, what’s the Portuguese word for “woman”? I have to choose it from this list.
Me: I have no idea.
Child: I don’t either! How am I supposed to play this game?
Me: You guess, and it tells you whether you’re right.
Child [a few minutes later]: I didn’t pass the level! I have to start it again?
Me: Yes, but now you know the word for “woman,” don’t you?
In school, learners follow a pattern of instruction -> practice -> assessment. In Duolingo, instruction, practice and assessment are simultaneous. You learn from trial and error, from doing. Failure isn’t a setback, it provides critical information.
Life is more like Duolingo, isn’t it?
Magda Gerber approves. For Edu-carer Grandparenting, I read her books.
She writes (and I agree) that every thing the EduCarer teaches / shows the infant how to do,
that much the “teacher” deprives the infant of learning for herself.
I delight in watching the struggle (and failure) of smaller / younger grandchild now.
Also observed this as a parent, through time to enter college / university.
It continues.
When our offspring would ask for the answer to a question, my response would be
let’s go find out (how to go about finding out). Failure is an excellent teacher.
My own father, born 1916, calls it “the school of hard knocks.” It is a hard-knock life (Annie).
It is sooooooo hard for me, a 3 on the enneagram (the achiever), to put into practice.
I’m loving Duolingo. David and I are spending 10 minutes each morning on our Spanish skills.