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Quick Pitch: MindSnacks are language-learning games for your brains.
Genius Idea: Fun, interactive games that help users learn 13 different languages and SAT vocabulary.
Memorizing flash cards and reading from a textbook aren’t just ineffective ways to learn a new language – they’re also, well, really boring.
So to make learning a new language as much fun and as effective as possible, Jesse Pickard and two of his colleagues launched – an educational app that uses games to teach essential vocabulary, reading, writing, listening and conversation skills in 13 different languages.
Each language app has six interactive games, 50 levels to complete and more than 1400 words to master. Every level features up to 25 words and phrases with pictures and matching audio clips from native speakers. To reach a new level, users have to complete fun challenges and unlock new games.
One game, “Fish Tank,” gives users a time limit to match words with their accurate translations. If a player doesn’t choose the correct translation in the given time, a swimming fish falls to the bottom of the screen and dies.
“The idea behind MindSnacks is to make learning as much fun as possible,” Pickard told Mashable. “Over 26 million words have been mastered because the games are fun and addictive and users want to go back to beat challenges, unlock new games and watch their scores improve.”
Each game takes approximately 25 minutes to complete, but users can pause and return to the games whenever they choose.
Although the first level is free, the price for all 50 levels is $5.
MindSnacks apps are available for 13 languages – for English speakers, there are French, German, Italian, Chinese, Portugese and Spanish apps. For non-English speakers, there are Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese apps.
MindSnacks also has an SAT Vocab app that has 25 game levels and 500 SAT-level words to master. The app includes a new game that incorporates antonyms, which are important to know for the critical reading section of the SAT.
MindSnacks was launched in 2011 and was voted by Apple as one of the best education apps of the year. It is currently only available for iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices.
Image Courtesy of MindSnacks,
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