Do you know a good educational app? Suggest it for review!

As you may be aware, the French Linguistics site's first foray into the world of iPhone/iPad apps began a few days ago with the launch of a new vocabulary learning app.

However, perhaps you know of another educational app (either for French or another subject) that you think other teachers/learners should know about? In preparation for a new section of the site dedicated to reviews of educational apps, I am inviting people to suggest their favourite educational apps for review.

It doesn't matter whether you are the author (or affiliated with the author) of the app or whether you're simply a user who recommends it: please send in your suggestions!

New French Vocab Games app on sale

The new French Vocab Games app for iPhone/iPad finally goes on sale in app stores today. For more details, I encourage you to check out the App store description as well as the brief announcement that I put up on the French Language Forum a short while ago.

The app is designed for students who are beginners through to around GCSE level (i.e. the first few years of a typical school French course). The vocabulary, divided into around 20 topics, is chosen to coincide with UK GCSE syllabuses, but with some adaptations to suit US learners. For a list of some of the topics, please see the App store description above.

As I'm planning regular updates for the app, I am eager to hear people's feedback. For that reason, as well as the usual App store facility to review the app, the program contains a "feedback" button where you can leave your comments/suggestions.

Imminent retirement of French mobile games

Once upon a time, when the likes of the iPhone was not even a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye, I wrote some extremely primitive French vocabulary games for Java-enabled phones. Although they had a small vocabulary update and bug fix in 2005, they were basically written around 1999 and well, to put it bluntly... it shows.

So, these games will shortly be retired in the wake of a new French vocabulary games application for iPhone to be launched on the site in the next week or two. If you are still using an old-school Java-enabled (Java Microedition) phone, now is your last your chance to grab a copy of the Java phone games before their imminent retirement.

The first version of the iPhone app, simply entitled "French Vocab Games", is currently pending review. When available, it will be announced on this blog and on the main French Linguistics web site.

If you have not already done so, you can also subscribe to my Twitter feed @BitterCoffey where updates about this app and other news relating to the site will be announced.