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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Dec 01, 2010 by World Languages Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
"Lenguajero" is a virtual community of language learners designed for and by students. The sites registered users meet online to practice their writing and conversation skills in English or Spanish. They may also use flashcards to study vocabulary and verb conjugations.This website allows student to meet other language learners and native speaks of Spanish or English in a virtual environment to sharpen their conversational skills. Students can use the site to practice not only their language skills with students from around the world, but they have the opportunity to make social connections with students of all ages from different countries. Students also have other tool available, flash cards with vocabulary and verb conjugation, to improve their language skills. |
| Learning Goals: |
Lenguajero provides a space for language learners to connect via e-mail, instant messaging, Skype and blog writing. The flashcard feature allows them to quiz themselves while tracking their progress. |
| Target Student Population: |
Because this is a social networking site that does not screen its users, the ideal population is post-secondary students. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
Users represent an array of skill levels from beginner to superior. They must have basic communication skills in Spanish and should possess native or near-native English fluency. |
| Type of Material: |
Social networking tool and drill and practice.This site is a conversational skill builder with tools for learning vocabulary and grammatical concepts |
| Recommended Uses: |
The site is ideal for educators, intermediate, and advanced language learners who want to improve their conversational skills in Spanish or English.Students may contact each other to practice the language they are learning while offering help with their native language. |
| Technical Requirements: |
Skype (with or without web cam) |
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| Strengths: |
Lenguajero's strength resides in the community forum where users may contact each other to have real-time conversations. To start a conversation, students can search the database of users and contact people or have people contact them by posting a topic they wish to discuss.
The questions posed on the blog represent a wide array of issues and interests, from pets to the legalization of drugs. Users can respond to each other and/or edit each other's responses.
If a user wishes to visit the site without receiving instant messages from other users, she may click on "unavailable." |
| Concerns: |
Inevitably, the peer edits of users' blog responses may contain grammatical errors or reflect subtle stylistic differences. However, there are several diacritical errors in the questions posed by Lenguajero in the original blog entries. Other minor grammatical Spanish errors can also be found.
This site is accessed by a global community and younger students need to practice caution while talking to other adults around the world. Also, the grammatical errors, inevitable when using e-mail, blog or text messaging, may create a hindrance along the way for students that are learning a new language. Another concern is all the advertising, on the side of the margins, proclaiming sales on ‘language learning products’. Students could get confused since there are a lot of free resources but there are also many materials for sale.
You may view "Lenguajero" in English or Spanish by clicking on a link at the top of the page. The Spanish-language site contains some information in English. The topic headings under "Club de escritura," for example, are listed in English. When you click on a topic, such as "If you were president," the question appears in a subsequent window in Spanish as "Si t[ú] fueras el presidente." When clicking "Ayuda" at the top of the page, a list of Frequently Asked Questions appears in English. |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
Educators can use the site to improve their own language and cultural knowledge regarding Spanish and English by conversing with native speakers. Students can learn from other students by teaching their native language to others while leaning a new one. This is a good tool to have to improve one’s conversational skills and it is available any time and place. |
| Concerns: |
Everyone must exercise reasonable caution in the use of social media and conversation web sites. |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
Except for the aforementioned lapses in English to Spanish translation on the Spanish version of the site, the site is visually appealing. The availability of users' profile photos and personal descriptions engenders a more intimate and friendly environment among users. “Lenguajero” is an easy site to navigate for educators and students, its appeal is universal since you find people of all ages and countries, and many of them include personal descriptions with photos in Spanish or English. Language educators can update their knowledge about contemporary issues, from the peoples prospective, in each respective county. This communication can be achieved through e-mail, text messaging, blog, and Skype in a social manner. |
| Concerns: |
N/a |
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| Other Issues and Comments: |
Although "Lenguajero" is intended to facilitate communication between Spanish and English speakers, some users are from countries where neither Spanish nor English is the native language. Due caution must be used when engaging in conversational websites. |
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