Recently, teachers of the Spanish department, including Julie Ann Melville and Anne Reinhard have begun adding an app called Duolingo into their curriculum.

Duolingo is a website and also a free app for iPhone and Android devices with which one can learn a new language “on the go” through games that test reading, writing and speaking skills. Duolingo offers nine languages and 50 games, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Irish, Danish and Swedish. With the different games offered, one can achieve high scores, earn badges and compete against friends.

Melville told her class to take an assessment, register for Duolingo, and practice with it even though she said she is still trying to figure out how to fully implement Duolingo into her lesson plan. Melville is familiar with the app because she uses it herself and allows for her students to see her progress, but she is not as familiar with creating a classroom via Duolingo.

“It’s very practical and even addictive,” Melville said. “I would tell myself to play one more game and end up playing six more.” Melville said she believes that Duolingo is good in the sense that it teaches conversational Spanish vocabulary, whereas the textbook her class utilizes teaches more of a scholastic vocabulary.

Junior Henry Gurgenyan, who is in Melville’s Spanish 3-4 class, said that Duolingo is a helpful app. “In my free time I’ll open the app and practice my Spanish,” Gurgenyan said.

Sophomore Arka Khechoomian, who is also in Spanish 3-4, said that Duolingo is a good app, but he does not like to use it for Spanish. “I use it for German,” Khechoomian said, “I learn a lot from the German section, especially because the vocabulary is good. But the grammar is terrible.”