iPad English

iPad Apps for London 2012 Olympics

The London Olympics are fast approaching, so I thought it would be a good idea to present a roundup of some of the apps which have been especially created for this sporting extravaganza. Note that all these apps are free.

• Reuters Olympics London 2012 - delivers the best live Olympics photos & moments captured by Reuters award-winning photographers (screenshot above)
• NBC Olympics - news, video, photos for every sport and all Team USA athletes; results & Schedules for all 32 sports: updated in real time; Destination London: learn more about the host city with video, photos and news
• London 2012 - Official Mobile Game - train the ultimate athlete and compete in 9 fast paced events 
• London 2012: Official Results App for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
• BBC Olympics - live video and catch-up highlights, as well as news, schedules and results 
• 2012 Team USA Road To London - follows the making of Team USA and their experience in London during the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games
• LearnEnglish Sports World - sports-themed, hidden object and word game app 

LearnEnglish Sports World App

DESCRIPTION
The British Council has released a free sports-themed, hidden object and word game app for the iPad. In LearnEnglish Sports World, players have to find the hidden sports objects and earn medals while learning about sporting events – just in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The game features 290 sports objects, categorised in 36 Olympic and Paralympic sports events, hidden in a beautifully illustrated sports scene. LearnEnglish Sports World has a unique twist – in addition to finding objects, players need to recognise and correctly spell the hidden sports objects to earn medals. Clues are available to help users identify and learn about various sporting events, and detailed information about the events is provided in the app.

LearnEnglish Sports World is aimed at English learners, as well as sports and casual game fans.

The app is available for download in the iTunes App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/app/learnenglish-sports-world/id536158063).

COMMENTS
A great way to prepare for watching a spectacular summer of sport. Learners of English will find the audio pronunciations and translations particularly helpful. 

ALSO SEE
• iPhone English: Sports World (London School of English)

The Rebus Show Word Puzzle App

If you're not familiar with rebus puzzles, then this quick introduction will explain all you need to know. They are essentially little pictures, often made with letters and words, which cryptically represent a word, phrase, or saying.

The aim of The Rebus Show ($1.99) is to guess words represented by pictures. In the simple example above, CAT + BURGLAR = CAT BURGLAR (don't worry, they're not all as easy as that!). If you do get stuck, touching an image will reveal a hint—but you'll lose some points.

This is not the only iPad rebus app available (see here, for example), but I really liked the old style Vaudevillian era atmosphere with animated velvety curtains, antique Underwood typewriter keys, and vintage sound effects.

LESSON IDEA
Teachers could use this app for a classroom quiz by connecting their iPad to a video projector or big-screen TV.

ALSO SEE
• Review—The Rebus Show for iPad (iPad Insight)
• Say What You See: This Rebus Puzzle App Looks Like Fun [Review] (Cult of Mac)

Ottercall: English Practice for Kids

DESCRIPTION
Ottercall is a free app that helps learners of English practise their pronunciation and learn basic vocabulary. There are six topic-based lessons in the free version, each with eight words. An additional 13 lessons can be purchased in-app for $0.99 (€0.79). Having chosen a lesson, you tap the picture to listen to the word. You then have to record yourself saying the word. The closer your pronunciation is to the model, the higher your score. You can try a demo version here.

COMMENT
A nicely-designed, fun app which, although primarily aimed at kids, could also be useful for older learners at lower levels.

EM Normandie Business Words App Gone Free

I'm pleased to announce that the Business Words iOS app I created for learning business vocabulary is now available for free in Apple's App Store. So don't delay, download it today!

DESCRIPTION
Business Words is a ‘hangman’ type game aimed at students or professionals who have a good level of English but wish to improve their vocabulary in the field of business and management. Business Words is also a useful resource for anyone preparing for a professional exam such as the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication). The game uses a database of 2,000 words and is similar to the game of hangman. Players have to find the missing word in a sentence relating to a specific business topic by guessing individual letters. Each game lasts 10 minutes, and the aim is to score a maximum number of points. The words and sentences are organized into 12 topic areas: Economy, Law, Industry, Trade, Marketing, Human Resources, Banking, Travel, Retailing, Finance, Communication, and Technology. There is also a ‘Mixed Bag’ featuring words from all categories. Translations of all words are given in French. The author of Business Words is Jeffrey Hill, who teaches English at the Ecole de Management de Normandie in France.

VERDICT
A totally awesome 5-star app (even if I do say so myself!).

COMMENT
This app was originally released in July 2011 when it cost €1.59. It's now being offered free for a limited period of time as part of the EM Normandie's admissions campaign.

Wurdle: A Fun Word Game

DESCRIPTION
wurdle ($1.99) is a fun, flexible and fast-paced word game in which you have to find and trace as many words as possible before time runs out. Can't find any more words? Shake the board to mix up the tiles! You can customize wurdle the way you like it (timer, minimum word length), and see how you measure up against your friends and the world with online high scores.

VERDICT
A very addictive game. The same screen multiplayer (well, two) mode works very well on the iPad. At the end of each round,  all the possible words are displayed, which makes it a useful vocabulary building tool for learners. In the classroom, teachers with a videoprojector (and a VGA adapter) could organize a wurdle tournament and get pairs of students to compete in a knock-out contest.

Titanic Trivia App

Yesterday we featured some apps which commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, so why not test your new-found knowledge with this Titanic trivia app ($0.99).

The app contains 120 multiple-choice questions relating to the Titanic and is designed to be played with up to four people (or teams) on the same device, at the same time, which makes it great for the classroom.

LESSON IDEA
If you've got a videoprojector, you could use this app with a whole class. Divide the class into four teams and begin the quiz. There is a problem, however. As soon as one player selects an answer, his score is modified, so the other players will know if the answer was correct or not. This means that you'll have to get all the players to enter their answers simultaneously. It would be much better if the scores were not updated until all the players had answered.

Words With Friends HD vs Scrabble for iPad

Word games are a fun way to improve your vocabulary skills. The App Store has dozens, and we'll be reviewing some of the best ones over the coming weeks and months. But let's begin with an old favourite and a new competitor.

If you think that Words with Friends HD ($2.99) is similar to Scrabble, you'd be right. It's almost identical. However, the Scrabble app is more expensive ($9.99), and unless you have a UK or US Apple account you might find it difficult to get hold of the English version (on the French app store you can only get the French version). The Scrabble app does have one big advantage though—you don't have to be online to play (you can play solo against computer opponents). Still, it's probably more fun playing against real opponents, and WWF allows you to play multiple games with multiple friends online (and interact with them using chat messaging). Visit the WWF website or read the reviews below for more info.

REVIEWS
• Words with Friends HD for iPad (For iPad)
• Apple iPad App Review - Words with Friends HD (YouTube video)

NOTE
There is a free version of WWF available, but if you like word games, it's probably worth shelling out for the ad-free, iPad-optimized version.