The rapid increase in the use of ICT within schools has changed the way that young people learn and, although there is still a need for traditional text books, there is a growing demand for educational resources that use leading edge technologies including software, video, games and animation.  This is where Red Snapper has the power to engage children of the Xbox and Playstation Age.

More modern language teachers are female than male and many more primary teachers are female. Girls tend to develop language skills earlier than boys, so it’s hardly surprising that the number of boys taking a modern language at GCSE level in secondary schools is falling.  Red Snapper redresses this imbalance by engaging learners in a range of tasks and activities that will appeal particularly to boys, such as the Zap the Spiders – a challenge which reinforces counting up to ten whilst shooting anything that moves!  Other themes include sports, hobbies, pets and travel as children investigate the ghostly goings on at Snapper Hall.Imagine a staff meeting in a small primary school. The head teacher announces, “We have to start teaching our pupils a modern foreign language by 2010, so what are we going to do about it?”  The lucky schools may have a teacher or teaching assistant who is keen to take on this responsibility; other schools may have support from parents or foreign language assistants; and some education authorities will provide visiting specialists.

But a significant number of schools may struggle to introduce modern languages in a way that excites and motivates children.   Many primary teachers lack confidence in speaking in a foreign language themselves, let alone teaching French or Spanish or German to their pupils!  Red Snapper not only provides an immersive learning activity that children can do individually, or in groups, but it comes with an extensive teacher guide detailing supporting activities and interactive resources. For example, there are specific tools to cover the weather, the time, dates, greetings, colours and more, and all of these have a selection of native speakers to reinforce correct pronunciation.

While the ghostly Red Snapper puts ‘mystery’ into this modern language experience, it makes learning a new language much less scary for teachers and pupils!

www.learningcurve.info.

About Learning Curve

Learning Curve has an established reputation as one of the UK’s most innovative developers of resources for education, with an extensive portfolio that caters for every stage of education, from nursery schools to adult learning.

The foundation for their success is the innovative and creative nature of their products.  In recent years Learning Curve has gained 4 national awards for excellence, including a Scottish Government Award for Excellence in 2008. 

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