Hello Duo!

I have been bothered about not speaking a second language for a long time. It is an ability which I admire and respect in other people; I am not a little bit jealous! Moving to teach in an international school, the prevalence multi-linguists has made me all the more conscious of my lack of linguistic skills. I read a great set of advice from media entrepreneur Kevin Kelly who said the key thing to change is to focus on specific behavioural habits which make the change happen. With that in mind, I thought I’d give Duolingo another try.

I’d first tried Duolingo back in 2020 but with no real motivation, so it quickly petered out. This time, with more of a festering motivation, I’m in my third week of daily usage learning German. I’m quite enjoying it. Some of the content is a refresher from my schoolboy German, which I had all but lost from my conscious memory. A fair amount of the content now is new though, which adds to the enjoyment.

Using Duolingo has also allowed me to reflect on the app’s model of learning and to think about what makes it work:

1. Learning is broken into bitesize chunks, avoiding both boredom and cognitive overload.
2. The content of each short series of bitesize lessons is dominated by the continuous revisiting of prior learning, with limited new content introduced each time. I’m sure Barak Rosenshine would have approved!
3. Alongside the structured scheme of lessons, there is an option to do additional practice. This practice is tailored to your existing learning and areas for development.
4. Each lesson finishes with revisiting any mistakes you have made and you cannot complete the lesson until you correct your mistakes. Just like giving students focused feedback to act upon.
5. You pick your pace of learning, going through as many lessons and as much practice as you like each day.
6. Lessons and practice include a variety of activity – speaking, writing, listening, etc. There is also a brilliant story activity which requires you to apply your learning in a different way.
7. Some of the activities are more game-like, with tapping at speed required. All of the activities come with different points and rewards, giving you incentives to keep learning in each session and over time.

Beyond the technical pointers you can take from a well-designed educational app like Duolingo, my other important takeaway is the experience of being a learner again. Being able to reflect on the highs and lows of learning helps keep us connected to our students. Sharing stories of hardship and overcoming difficulty makes students see that learning is a universal activity and sends a message that we all face (and can overcome) challenges at different moments of learning.