The new “Poptropica english word games” app is here!

“To learn, our brain needs an interesting initial stimulus that sparks our curiosity and excitement and opens up the windows of attention, which is necessary to build knowledge.” This is a statement by doctor Francisco Mora in his interesting book called Neuroeducation.
There’s no learning without emotion. This is not a new idea, all teachers know that, but now it’s scientifically proven by neuroscientists, so there is clear proof that we can include it in our lesson plans with the confidence that it really works.
Along with other teaching techniques and resources, technology comes embedded with this initial stimulus.  Because, by its very nature, it is interactive and provides the learner with immediate feedack which gives her increased autonomy.
Once, I asked one of my students how interactive games would help him to learn and he told me, “You know, they usually ask you to do something, and sometimes I don’t understand the message at the beginning, but when I do it, then I understand what they where telling me.”  This is a great way to explain the idea of “learning by doing.”
While they are trying, failing and achieving they are building their own knowledge.  So what could be a better analogy for this kind of learning than construction? In the game, the protagonist constructs his own building…as he constructs his own knowledge through fun and adaptive games and by using appropriate topics for our younger learners.
Through the game they will learn about food, animals, clothes, free time, houses or people as you can see in the picture below.

 

screen shots big

Try it! You can download it to your IOS or Android device from here:

appstoreajustada

Google Play

2014 Advent Calendar

Advent CalendarDear teacher,

We’re delighted to be able to tell you about our Pearson ELT 2014 Advent Calendar with a whole range of great ideas for this special time of the year.

From now on and right up to Christmas Eve there’s a special box to open up every day with a little Christmas-based surprise for you and your students, including things like:

  • Christmas songs for your teen and adult students.
  • Christmas crafts for the younger ones.
  • Reading texts for this special time of the year.
  • The origin of Christmas.
  • Activities, recipes, jokes, tongue-twisters and much more…

There really is something for everyone! Don’t miss a day on our Pearson ELT Advent Calendar!!!

Wishing you a great December and of course a happy Christmas!

The Marketing Team
Pearson ELT Spain & Portugal

PS. You can also see our Advent Calendar suggestions every day on our Facebook site.