At the Play store

Using online apps & games

An online shop offers smart users a wide range of apps and games to play, learn or just get informed. Many of them are free and you just need to connect your phone to the Net and download to use them.

At the end of this section, you will have:

written down and talked about the use of some apps.
expressed capacity and possibility.
searched further information about other apps and games.
designed a digital poster on your favourite apps and games.

A smartphone or any other smart device can be very useful and can make our lives easier. There are plenty of apps and games that you can run for different purposes: for entertainment or for learning and doing homework.

Look at the picture and answer the questions below.

geralt. Medios de comunicación social (CC0)

Apart from calling and texting, what can you do with your smartphone?

What can you do with apps such as Twitter or Instagram?

Watch one image about app uses. Can you add more categories below?

Social Networking
Entertainment
Learning
Shopping

The process that you are about to follow will help you meaningfully in your next mission: the elaboration of a digital poster. So we recommend that you read carefully the steps below.

Your teacher will divide your classgroup in groups of five students. Each group will be assigned with one of the categories above or one that you may have added.
Create a board on Pinterest in which you all will include names of apps that share the same use.
Invite the other groups to add more names of apps to your category.
Help enhance other groups' boards by adding names of apps related to categories different from the one in your board.

Tip: remember to include images representing the apps in your board.

The site Techradar can help you in your search. This web presents information about top apps and games. Enter the site and read about their characteristics.

In order to get some more information about apps, read the article entitled Facebook, Instagram and Social Advice at commonsensemedia.org.

When finished, you will be able to include a link to your board from your weebly site, in the vocabulary section that you have created in the previous session.

Creating a digital poster

Focus on four of your favourite apps or games and take notes about their use. You can also refer to online games by explaining how people play them. The information that you write down will be included in your final mission: the design of a digital poster.

Use "can" and "can't", useful forms to say sentences such as:

You can take and edit photos with this app.
It can't play MP4 files.
Can Youtube play videos?

For further practice of these verbs, enter the englishexercises.org site.

Also, you will probably use "must", "mustn't" or "have to" when you refer to the rules in a game. Practise these and other verbs at agendaweb.org, where you will find a great variety of interactive activities. Remember that you can check your own answers after completing the activities.

Tip: try to practise these language contents as much as possible because you will use them in the presentation of your final challenge: a videotutorial about your favourite apps and games.

geralt. Árbol (CC0)

Speaking task

Get together in groups of four students and compare the apps and games that each of you has chosen.

Take turns to ask and answer the other members in the group about the uses of some apps and, in the case of games, about their rules.

Your digital poster

Click on "show feedback" below and read the instructions to create your poster, which you must publish on a new page entitled 'My digital resources' in your weebly site and share on Pinterest with your mates.

You will work on your poster more easily if you know about the 'Rubric for assessing a digital poster' (download in editable odt format, download in pdf) that your teacher will consider for assessing your mission.

Feedback

There are several tools with which you can create your poster. Choose the one that best fits you or ask your teacher for advice.

Notice that all the tools have four main characteristics in common:

you can include images, video, text and audio;
you can share your poster with other people;
you can embed it anywhere on the Internet;
you can check how many people have viewed your poster.

In your poster, include some images or videos of your favourite apps and games and a brief explanation of what you can do with them.

In case you do not know very well how to use these tools, several tutorials are available on YouTube, in which experts tell you about how to create a digital poster.

When you finish, publish your poster in your site so that your classmates can see it. The classgroup will vote for the best poster, which will be awarded with a badge from your teacher.

Learning diary

How is it going? Open again your Learning Diary (download in editable odt format, download in pdf) on your site and write down your reflections on your work progress.

your learning diary Peter O'Shea. Writing tools (CC BY)

Create a new post on your blog with the title 'At the play store' and answer the following questions:

What are the most difficult aspects?
What tool was the most difficult for you to work with?
What do you think is the most important aspect you have learned?
Are there any aspects you didn't understand?

Do not forget it would be great if you shared these feelings and thoughts with your classmates. You will have 10 or 15 minutes to complete this part.

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