Linguamedia is an app that allows you to watch foreign TV stations online. Originally launched earlier this year with French channels,  Linguascope announced today that their Linguamedia app has been updated so you can now watch German, Spanish, Italian and English channels as well as French ones. They’ve also improved video playback, and updated it for the iPhone5 screen.

The app costs 69p and offers 16 French, 6 German, 12 Italian, 12 Spanish and 5 English channels (NB the channels are in that language not necessarily from that country so there is an Austrian and a Swiss channel for German) It is possible to access TV online e.g. by searching “RTVE” you can watch the stream of RTVE1, RTVE2, Telesport and Canal 24H, but for convenience, this app is great. You need a wifi connection to view the stations, and as Linguascope warn

I’ve mentioned Linguatrivia Spanish and Newshound previously but there are many other apps from Linguascope available. Worth a look!

Having been playing with Linguatrivia French ever since ILILC2 in February, I was pleased to see that a Spanish version has been released!

As with the French version, it features hundreds of questions at 3 levels with the difficulty and number of questions increasing with the level.

As the blurb says –

Put your Spanish knowledge to the test with this interactive quiz, based on Linguascope’s Linguatrivia competition. With a bank of hundreds of questions on Spanish language, culture, geography and more, this app will put you through your paces whether you are revising for a test at school or college, or just want to practise and improve your Spanish. As an added incentive, your correct answers will enable the little runner to jump the hurdles successfully – whereas incorrect answers leave him flat on his face!

I like playing the French version as I no longer teach French and I need to keep myself on my toes, especially as I never know when I’ll need to use it! And the Spanish one will also keep me on my toes – if I get less than 100% I’ll be back to heavy duty study ;o)
Linguatrivia Spanish costs £1.99 and works on iPod (3rd and 4th generation), iPhone 3GS and higher, and iPad – if you’ve got iOS4.3 or higher, you’re fine!

The blurb mentions a Linguatrivia Competition – this is in French and details of the next one, taking place next February, are on the Linguatrivia site. I wonder if there’ll be a Spanish version to come…?

Just discovered the following via Linguascope’s Facebook page.

To celebrate the second Linguascope Conference in Brighton we have decided to create a series of awards aimed at rewarding and highlighting outstanding achievements by individuals, companies and organisations involved in the field of Modern Foreign Languages.
The categories are as follows:
Language Teacher of the Year
This award aims at rewarding excellence and encouraging best practice in Language teaching.

Language Company of the Year
The award is aimed at rewarding a company for its outstanding contribution and service to the Foreign Language Teaching Community.

Language Product of the Year
This award aims at highlighting a product that is considered outstanding or innovative in the field of Languages.

Language College of the Year
This award is aimed at rewarding the College that has fostered outstanding achievement, elevated standards of good practice and has contributed to the local community.

Language Organisation of the Year
This award is aimed at rewarding an organisation that has raised the profile of Languages in the UK.

Language Speaker of the Year
This award is aimed at rewarding the speaker who has contributed innovative and inspiring ideas within the Language conference circuit.

Language Personality of the Year
This award is aimed at recognising the contribution of an individual in helping to raise the profile of Languages.

Language Blogger of the Year
This award is aimed at rewarding the most interesting and helpful blog in the field of Modern Foreign Languages.

To nominate someone is very easy and FREE! Just click on the relevant award, then download and fill in the form, making sure that all fields are completed. Then, fax or post it back to us (Linguascope) using the details below.
All nominations must be made via fax or post and submitted by the end of March 2011. The finalists will be announced at the end of May 2011. The Awards will be presented at the Linguascope Conference in Brighton on July 1st and 2nd 2011 at the Thistle Hotel. The VIP Guest Speaker for the event will be the Comedian John Moloney.
In order to keep the selection impartial we have appointed an independent panel of judges with extensive knowledge in the field of education and Languages.

So, get nominating! There are lots of great language ‘professionals’ out there who deserve a pat on the back!

I’m currently having a marvellous time playing with my new iPad and finding new apps for it, and my iPhone, so I thought I’d share one I like at the moment.

I’m starting with one that’s great on an iPod Touch or an iPhone – Newshound from Linguascope.

It’s an app that captures the news feed from Yahoo in French, Italian, German, French and English, allows you to browse the headlines, shows the first few sentences so you can decide if you want to read on, then takes you to the Yahoo article if it floats your boat!

I rarely get time to check the headlines online in English let alone Spanish, French or any other language, so having this on my iPhone allows me to check when I have a spare moment.

And if your school is lucky enough to have some iPodTouches, I’d definitely get this onto them.

Best bit – it’s free!

Here is the Slidecast of my second presentation from Brighton.

Apologies for the audio cutting out before the end – no idea what happened there!  Perhaps the iRiver overheated!

Apologies to @wizenedcrone for forgetting her real name – it’s Fiona Joyce!!!

And the German site I mentioned was called GenkiGerman.

Two weeks after the event I’ve finally got around to editing and synching the audio of my presentations from the Linguascope Conference in Brighton.

Here’s the first one – You and Youtube about the use of Youtube and other online video / slideshow sites in the language classroom.

First conference in which I am taking part is the Linguascope Conference in Brighton at the end of June.

Entitled Inspiration for Motivation, the two day conference taking place at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton promises to run at a more relaxed pace than the usual frenetic conference with one hour sessions punctuated by  30 minute breaks to allow brains to take in what they’ve heard before being filled with ideas once more.  It also allows time for viewing the exhibition and for networking.

You can find out more by accessing the conference site and downloading the PDF.

My sessions are entitled Using Youtube in the classroom and Tips to motivate in the Primary Language Classroom.

Very much looking forward to this conference, not least for the seaside, the conference dinner (which promises to be spectacular) amd meetiong up with friends