I discovered Duolingo in a scramble to find something to replace Yabla (language immersion with video) for my Spanish and Italian classes. The district cancelled our subscription to Yabla because of the cost, so I needed something to replace our biblioteca Friday classes. Duolingo is a language learning platform that includes speaking, listening, translation, and multiple choice challenges, and it’s entirely free.

In an attempt to make my language classes more dynamic, I made Friday Learning Commons Day. I book the computers and my students work on their language building skills. Duolingo is great for all abilities and levels. Students can begin at the beginner level and work their way up through the lessons and collect lingots (coins) along the way. Once they’ve collected enough lingots, they can unlock levels such as “flirting” and do exercises that teach them how to sweet talk! Another feature I like is they  can see their stats and be mindful of how they are progressing.

Duolingo also has a teacher’s dashboard, where I can check my students progress. The best thing that has come out of using this platform is that my students look forward to Bibloteca Fridays. They get so immersed in the program that many have the app and use it throughout the week on their devices to challenge their friends. What has been most beneficial for me is that I now spend less time teaching vocabulary and grammar because my students are learning it via games. We have more time to to work on collaborative projects and other activities because of the work Duolingo does in expanding their knowledge of the language.