ThePolyglotsinthePlayroom

The playspace has fun incidental animations and accompanying audio. These playful elements repeat the language used throughout the app.

The Polyglots in the Playroom includes a play area called the ‘playspace’, which offers both an entry into the language activities and a playful area for children to explore. Children can tap and discover touchpoints, play music (including the ‘Hello’ song), discover different ways to use the seesaw, or enjoy playing hide and seek. The ever-changing environment creates a sense of time and narrative.

This learning experience focuses on the language of greetings and goodbyes within an informal phone context.

Children participate in a pretend video phone call with a character of their choice. The character speaks to them in the chosen language and children can say anything they like in reply. Children’s responses are then recorded and played back in different funny voices. Children take part in conversations, record their voices, explore the sounds of the chosen language and experiment with their own home language. Characters model greetings in the chosen language and give children visual cues such as hand gestures to prompt responses.

This activity focuses on expressing likes and dislikes.

On the playmat, children offer different items to characters of their choice. The app responds playfully to children’s actions. For example, offer some food and the character will eat it; flick the food and that food will splat against the wall. Children explore the concepts of ‘like’ and ‘don’t like’ when characters react and tell children whether they like or don’t like the item they have been given. The playmat also reinforces greetings that children have heard in other activities.

Greetings are a focus in the maze, reinforcing what children have heard in other activities. Children may also hear other language, including ‘I found you!’

In this playful experience, children discover hidden characters and problem-solve a path through the maze. They can even change the maze! Each discovery exposes children to more language, with a focus on greetings. The maze also includes cultural elements, placing children within a cultural context.

Greetings are also a focus in the rocket ship, reinforcing what children have heard in other activities.

Children enjoy an enhanced role-playing experience in a rocket ship. They sit at the rocket ship’s dashboard and interact with everything from windscreen wipers to flying controls. Characters in space fly past, offering language and greetings. Children play freely as different experiences unfold before them. The rocket ship offers children a high level of control and is well placed for a range of scaffolded learning both within and beyond the experience.

Greetings are also a focus in the sandpit, reinforcing what children have heard in other activities. Children may also hear other language, including ‘I found you!’

Children can be creative in the sandpit’s rich learning space. As they play with the sand children can, for example, draw in it as well as make patterns at different depths. Children can also add characters and objects to the sandpit. Moving characters into the sandpit triggers speech in the animations. At any stage children can pick up the tablet and shake it to reset the scene.

‘Hello’ song lyrics

The many benefits of song and music are well recognised in early childhood educational programs. Music and song enhance creative, linguistic, cognitive, physical, social and emotional developmental outcomes.