How Generative AI Can Help Your Child Learn a New Foreign Language This Summer

Overview

What if your child (and you!) wanted to learn a new foreign language this summer? Looking toward to an AI driven future, what tech can you access today to make learning easy and fun?

There are two approaches that you can easily blend:

• Foreign Language Learning Apps - Geared for School Aged Children (Ages 4+)
  
• "Infinite" Custom Tools - based on carefully crafted Generative AI prompts and Targeted AI Tools
  

Some Notes:

• While apps for learning foreign languages are mature technologies, they are just starting to incorporate AI technologies. Look for rapid evolution of AI capabilities in existing apps as they slowly feel pressure to stay relevant.
  
• Generative AI is generally a "free" resource, and works from the best collective knowledge on the planet. While it may not know many things and it does make mistakes, it knows far more than any group of us and can deliver results well beyond what any group of us could produce.
  

Asking the Right Questions

While Generative AI can assemble a wide array of resources to monitor and drive learning of a foreign language, it is important to develop carefully worded prompts to get the best results:

For example, "I want to learn French" is a very open ended prompt. Most generative AI programs will automatically cut back the scope of such a prompt.

Far better would be "Prepare images of flash cards to help my three year old learn about the French names for common animals."

Perhaps even better would be: "Plan a chatbot to help my three year old learn the French words for all the common barnyard animals in 'Old MacDonald had a Farm' and include flashcard images as well as fun sounds and hand gestures."

It's not quite that easy to produce a working chatbot on many Generative AI apps, but you get the idea regarding understanding how important it is to ask the right question. It's also important to continually experiment with different AIs to learn what they can and cannot easily do ( That is a fast moving target toward more and more functionality with easier and easier usage).

Foreign Language Learning Apps for Children

Here are four relevant tools for children to learn foreign languages:

• Gus on The Go: Learn vocabulary and stories in over 30 different languages for ages 4+ along with free printable flashcards and more.
• Mondly Languages: Learn 41 different languages for free for ages 4+. Top features include hands free daily lessons, an AI Chatbot that never gets tired of conversation, and plenty of conversations where you can listen to native speakers.
• Duolingo: Learn 40+ languages for free for ages 4+. The OG of foreign language apps. Quick, bite-sized lessons. Plenty of practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing to build your vocabulary and grammar skills. Uses AI to adaptive lessons based on performance.
• LingoPie: "Bingewatch your way to fluency" is a recent LingoPie tagline. You can learn 12 languages for ages 12+, watching tv and video in target foreign language (and listening to content on the app like the daily news). While app pushes upsales into an impressive library of foreign language content, even the free resources are impressive.

Some quick ideas for Generative AI

Google's Little Language Lessons: Look at Tiny Lessons, Slang Hang (a Chatbot), and Word Cam

How to Use Open AI's ChatGPT for French Learning- Free & Easy

3 Exceptional AI Tools for Language Learners: NaturalReaders, Google Gemini, Google Translate

Guest Blogger:

Bill Franklin, the CEO of Internet4Classrooms, is our guest blogger this month. He has been on the faculty at The George Washington University, has years of platform instructional experience, was a career Army Special Operations officer and also has decades of experience as a youth sports coach.