APP OF THE DAY: THE PHRASAL VERBS MACHINE (CAMBRIDGE)

I am always on the lookout for new apps to help me in the classroom, and my digital savvy students outside it. One of the most original I have come up with is the Phrasal Verb Machine from Cambridge University Press. I just checked and it is available for android (I use OSX and IOS) and can be used on both the Iphone and the Ipad. If you want to go to it directly, you may click here:

http://www.cambridgeapps.org/vocabulary.html

Or go to the corresponding app shop (apple or android)

What's so good about this app? It is specific about phrasal verbs and it also refreshing in its appearance. It makes me think of the aesthetics in the latest blockbuster film version of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It also makes me think of the kind of cartoonish drawings I could find in my school books as a kid. 

Here are some screenshots to give you an idea:

You seldom see such original graphics in an app of this kind. It is refreshing. But it doesn't stop at the gates. As you go on, it is consistent throughout. But what about the content? It is very straightforward: you have a number of options:

You can go to the phrasal verbs view, where you can become familiarized with them thanks to "The incredible Phraso".

You can go to the help section, where you will learn what you need about this unusual hybrid of Victorian machinery and twenty-first century technology. If only H.G. Wells could see it!

Do you feel up to the challenge? Go for it in the exercise section. But beware! You are only given a certain number of chances for mistakes! However if you do it well, you can post it to Twitter or Facebook!

All in all I think this app is a success in many aspects: it is original, it is entertaining and funny while it is certainly educational. The big but for me (I know this is a very personal opinion) is that the approach it follows doesn't make sense of phrasal verbs at large (see my post about phrasal verbs). However, if only because of my experience in learning german vocabulary with visual elements, I think this might be useful, at least to those learners who, like me, are of the visual kind. Probably it will be very useful with  children and teenagers (it brings to mind the kind of Nintendo game like "Doctor Layton".