Revisiting my Duolingo Experience

Almost three years ago, I shared my experience using Duolingo in the classroom. Reading again that post, I realized that I shared few details about the implementation of the project. In this post I will give you some tips about how to bring the "Duolingo Challenge" project to your classroom in El Salvador

How to get started?

Before announcing that you want to use Duolingo in your classroom, you have to lay the groundwork. What does that mean? Well, first you must get the English teacher on board, otherwise you will not be able to teach English with Duolingo. After that, you have to sit down and write a project proposal that you must submit to your school's principal for approval. If you want to get an idea of how to write a proposal, you can check mine here. It is not perfect but you can get a general idea of what you need to submit to your principal. 

Once you get the approval, you have to plan the logistics to launch the project. That means preparing the IT equipment, creating two Teacher Accounts, and creating the accounts for the students. If the students lack IT knowledge, you must plan ahead and put some time aside to improve their technology skills. It will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. 

After getting everything up and ready, bring the students in and teach them how to use Duolingo. It will be very difficult the first two weeks, but after that it will be a cake walk. Students learn fast, don't underestimate their skills. At the same time, start preparing a separate virtual classroom where you will create online exams to test their newly acquired knowledge. You can use Claroline, Moodle, or you could use mine: PiGo LMS. 

Why giving the students online exams if Duolingo already scores their knowledge?

You need to gather data in order to know whether or not Duolingo is working. Even though we already know that Duolingo is somewhat effective, you need to demonstrate the progress of the project. After all, the continuity of any project depends on the results and that's why you must do it with online exams. Talk with the English teacher and ask for help in building the exams. I recommend a 50 questions test each month and one final exam at the end of the project.

Finally, why should do this?

If you are wondering this, you are working in the wrong field. Teachers improve the life of students with knowledge. Everything you teach them, will help them to get a good life, a better life. Of course students will not recognize this effort, and some will not care. However, as the years go by, they will appreciate everything you did for them. 

If you wanna read more about my experience with Duolingo in the classroom, you can do that here.