Learning a new language is no easy task, and for students whose first language isn’t the same as the one their school uses, it doesn’t make learning any easier when they are struggling to grasp a language and acquire new concepts at the same time. Technology can be an excellent tool to bring down language barriers; that’s why schools choose devices like the Surface Pro 3 to do so.
The Cicero School District near Chicago is an excellent example of where the Surface Pro 3 makes a difference in schools. More than half of Cicero’s students speak Spanish as their first language and are learning English as a second language at school, and the school has adopted the Surface Pro 3 to not only help students acquire new languages in an interactive way, but to also improve the way in which the school provides education in general.
The school uses several language solutions and apps that you can download from the Windows Store including Microsoft Translator and BrainPOP ESL, an interactive learning app that uses animated movies to carry out model conversations. Read&Write Gold is another solution; it is a Windows application that uses Text to Speech to read content out loud while highlighting text so students can follow easily. Then there’s OneNote of course that helps students manage notes from all the different classes that they take in an organized way, it also allows teachers to check in on individual student progress and grade homework as soon as a student emails it in.
The Surface Pro 3 being the flexible PC that it makes it easier for students to interact with the content in whichever way suits their individual needs. They can opt to type with the keyboard, use the trackpad or a mouse, touch the screen or write with the pen. Being forced to use technology in a certain way doesn’t need to be another barrier to learning, and it isn’t thanks to the Surface Pro 3.