Penpal is a prototype of a free web service for schools and pupils with a Google Classroom account. Pupils worldwide share their culture through Penpal. It makes language learning natural and fun while creating international bonds between schools.
Google Penpal
Why we do it?
Impediments in the learning process
Many students follow language courses for years, without remembering anything. Why? It is probably due to a lack of motivation: the learning process occurs at the earliest (around 5 years old), but it is truly hard for a young kid to understand the interest of assimilating foreign languages. Also, pupils are teached how to speak and write in the class but the language they learn is not used on a daily basis.
Penfriending as a solution
Penfriending helps the pupil to project himself in a foreign culture, and gives a good motivation to the children. Curiosity is triggered by direct feedbacks such as human relationships and play: It’s no extra work but fun. Our service helps to develop behavioral skills such as openness to other cultures, respect of others and public speaking.
Who is the service for?
We chose to assist young kids, between 6 and 9 years old, in their language learning process. At this age, they are really curious about their environment, and unaware of the surroundings. Offering them a multi-cultural overview of students’ life abroad, it is in our minds a nice way to exchange knowledge and vocabulary, having numerous international penfriends.
Why we do it?
Impediments in the learning process
Many students follow language courses for years, without remembering anything. Why? It is probably due to a lack of motivation: the learning process occurs at the earliest (around 5 years old), but it is truly hard for a young kid to understand the interest of assimilating foreign languages. Also, pupils are teached how to speak and write in the class but the language they learn is not used on a daily basis.
Penfriending as a solution
Penfriending helps the pupil to project himself in a foreign culture, and gives a good motivation to the children. Curiosity is triggered by direct feedbacks such as human relationships and play: It’s no extra work but fun. Our service helps to develop behavioral skills such as openness to other cultures, respect of others and public speaking.
Who is the service for?
We chose to assist young kids, between 6 and 9 years old, in their language learning process. At this age, they are really curious about their environment, and unaware of the surroundings. Offering them a multi-cultural overview of students’ life abroad, it is in our minds a nice way to exchange knowledge and vocabulary, having numerous international penfriends.
Scenario
In class, the teacher shows the video of a foreign student talking about a specific theme, before to discuss about it.
In their turn, pupils have to record their own video (in groups or alone), sharing experiences about this theme.
Then, the teacher can recommend the pupils some special exercices corresponding to personal difficulties.
Using Penpal at home is a fun way to play and learn at the same time, to correct spelling, grammar, or pronunciation.
In class, the teacher shows the video of a foreign student talking about a specific theme, before to discuss about it.
In their turn, pupils have to record their own video (in groups or alone), sharing experiences about this theme.
Then, the teacher can recommend the pupils some special exercices corresponding to personal difficulties.
Using Penpal at home is a fun way to play and learn at the same time, to correct spelling, grammar, or pronunciation.
BENEFITS
School teachers now have a new service to present foreign cultures to the class: they will get to know the pupils better, open their minds on the world and motive them doing team works.
Students will have a concrete knowledge of our world’s diversity, integrate them in a global network, increasing the value of their daily experiences while having fun.
Parents can be comforted by the utility of this autonomous service, teaching the kids foreign languages from a reliable source, and will feel the motivation of the kid sharing daily feedbacks.
BENEFITS
School teachers now have a new service to present foreign cultures to the class: they will get to know the pupils better, open their minds on the world and motive them doing team works.
Students will have a concrete knowledge of our world’s diversity, integrate them in a global network, increasing the value of their daily experiences while having fun.
Parents can be comforted by the utility of this autonomous service, teaching the kids foreign languages from a reliable source, and will feel the motivation of the kid sharing daily feedbacks.
How it works
Using the technologies of Google existing services, we created a complete experience for teachers and students.
“OK GOOGLE, please show me english schools.” The speech recognition and the search function of Google Assistant are used to answer the requests expressed by the user, and to guide him/her in his/her user journey.
Linking the artificial intelligence of Google Assistant, and the abilities of Google Translate and Google Images, the service automatically identifies the terms and subjects mentioned in the pupils videos, proposes visual examples, and permits a consistent sorting.
What's next?
This was a short project about conceptualisation. We created some wireframes, models and mockups to represent the structure of the service, but it needs improvement. We need to define the features of the teacher’s profile, and add some useful functions like a “save for later” list where he/she can save videos while preparing the classes. We can also think about particular partnerships between schools, or direct chat between students. Before to launch the app, it will need some tests (with kids and teachers) to confirm the intuitive user path and the understanding of the service.
Project Context
This project was led in a 3-day workshop context, supervised by Morgane Sanglier, Corentin Fatus and Germain Rufflé, Google fellows and former students at READi Design Lab. Our team was composed of 5 designers: Anne Lefèvre, Capucine Gorenbouh, Thomas Lautredou, Gwénolé Coulomb and Romain Warion. We had to choose Google existing services to work with, and a specific user to study. This is how we came up with this concept.
Morgane, Corentin and Germain, thank you very much for sharing your experience with us. Visitors, thank you for your interest in our work. Do not hesitate to express your thoughts regarding this project.