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Mind the Gap! Learn English Language – not just Grammar and Vocabulary

Mindprint Rating

Tags

ELA: Reading ELA: Writing MS/HS/College iOS App

Skills

Flexible Thinking Expressive Language Working Memory Verbal Reasoning

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • Students should be able to find a topic of interest which can make this challenging activity more enjoyable.
  • Provides a practical, enjoyable and potentially more effective way to teach students proper grammar and vocabulary.
  • There are a few alternate versions of the game, including filling in prepositions only and a faster-paced arcade game.

Considerations

  • The task can be quite challenging and students might get discouraged.
  • The play screens are quite dull looking.
  • Students who are weaker spellers could easily be discouraged even if they can figure out the right word.

Mindprint Expert Review

This is an excellent app for those who enjoy word games or to help students practice grammar, reading comprehension and spelling in an unconventional format. The app includes over 500 famous texts and idioms on topics as diverse as Cinderella, fortune telling, DNA, and Louis Armstrong. Students pick a topic and are presented with approximately 15 lines of text that has 30 words or partial words missing. Students must read the text and figure out the missing words or partial words by inferring the context. There is no timer and students can go back and correct their work at any point. Once they submit, they can see the complete text, the words they got incorrect and have the option to look up unfamiliar terms. The app tracks performance with the option to compete in game center. However, non-competitive students can easily enjoy the challenge without feeling bad if they make mistakes. In the process, they can read about interesting topics, improve their inferencing and comprehension skills, and develop their vocabulary and spelling. Although the app is easy to use and the screens to select topics are attractive, the game screens are relatively dull and may feel intimidating to students. Overall, this is a superb app for students but they may need some prodding to put in the effort to use it.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
  • Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Has a free or trial version
  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
  • Multiple users can save a profile
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can play without sound and not distract others
  • Students can save work between sessions
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Attention
    • Promotes purchases or upgrades to students
    • Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
    • Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Organization
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Reading Basics
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Reading Comprehension
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Spelling
  • Visual Discrimination
    • Promotes purchases or upgrades to students
    • Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
    • Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement

Manufacturer Description

Have you ever solved a crossword puzzle in context?
You are just looking for a high-quality time killer app? You want to work on your natural feel for language.You want to prepare for an English exam. No matter what Mind the Gap offers an exciting platform for language lovers and word nerds.

Take an interesting and authentic English text and erase parts of words. In Mind the Gap you have to reconstruct the missing fragments.
Sounds easy – it isn‘t!
You won‘t believe how difficult this is!
Take the challenge and see how far you can get.

Interesting trivia from all parts of culture, science and life.


Mind the Gap offers a natural and instinctive way for you to improve your language skills.
It is at the same time a word game and a learning app with over 500 texts covering interesting facts and trivia from all parts of culture, science and life.
Language is way more than vocabulary and grammar! It‘s understanding in context.

Challenge yourself under time pressure in the Arcade Mode and complete damaged idioms, proverbs and common sayings. This will definitely demand your multitasking skills.

Mind the Gap is an offspring of the well-known educational initiative science-to-touch, which already launched the popular science and art app iOrnament which is rated five stars on many app stores.

Have a fun time improving your English and knowledge with this interactive language game.

Mind The Gap offers a whole range of features:

LARGE DATA BASE - 15 subject areas with over 500 texts on different levels
FEEDBACK- feedback and statistics on your results
DICTIONARY - look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary
PREPOSITION MODE - gap prepositions only (on iPad)
AE vs. BE - choose between American and British English
HINTS - integrated hints and rewards
STATS - individual stats covering your progress
ARCADE MODE - fill gaps in proverbs and sayings
POWER UPGRADE - unlimited access to hints, the arcade mode and user-defined layouts

The app is available for iPod, iPad and iPhone.

Mind the gap is about language, not just words!