For school children, learning maths can be challenging; as can learning languages. But learning them together can make both easier. That’s the theory behind Emile, a new browser-based education platform.
Bolton-based Cyber Coach is behind Emile. The company already offers products that support the teaching of physical education. Founder Glen Jones (pictured above with other members of the team) says around 15 percent of UK schools have subscribed to its products. Now the company has worked with Manchester Metropolitan University on a playful approach to combining maths and languages.
Emile (a French term for ‘bilingual education’), consists of a series of games that will be familiar to players of titles like Tetris, Flappy Bird, Where’s Wally, and the tower defence genre. Each game has four levels that teach a maths concept and require students to use their understanding of foreign languages to play.
Blending languages with other subjects to enhance the learning of both isn’t an idea that’s new to Emile. There’s an entire field of education called CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) dedicated to it. But Emile, which is aimed at 6-8 year olds, takes a fresh approach.
Jones says that kids have been really engaged in the game’s testing. “We went to (education sector convention) BETT and got 80 retailer enquiries covering 130 countries,” he adds.
The interest likely stems from the paucity of ‘real’ games on the ed-tech market, Jones suggests. “There are very few real games out there,” he says. “Most are more like online work sheets.”
Emile is officially launching at an event at Manchester Metropolitan Univeristy on 28th September. It will feature a panel chaired by Tech North’s own Kirsty Styles. Register to attend.
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