Learn English With El Chavo

The idea of watching engaging videos to introduce language and reviewing and cementing new vocabulary with interactive activities is great, but this free app misses the mark. It's great to see a program specifically targeted toward Spanish-speaking families. Much of the text is in Spanish, which can support non-English-speaking parents in helping their kids -- and themselves -- learn English. Unfortunately, Learn English With El Chavo really misses the mark. The videos may make kids laugh, but the humor is often mean-spirited. Though there's a short section of the video in which kids hear new vocabulary words, there are often so many words introduced at the same time -- and without context -- that it's hard to remember them all. The rest of the time, only a simple text label marks new words, forcing kids to read the label to learn the word without ever hearing it said out loud. Activities are dry and minimally interactive and missing many standard learning supports. For example, once kids make an answer choice, they can't change it. And at the end of the activity, kids see how many responses they got wrong, but they don't know which were wrong, so there's no opportunity for them to learn from their mistakes. While it has a great premise, it needs some improvements before it's worth a spot on your app playlist.