This year, as a Windows Champion Ambassador on behalf of SpanglishBaby, I will be exploring all this new platform has to offer you, with a focus on information, tips, and apps for bilingual families.

For this first post, let me just give you a general idea of what Windows 8 is and highlight a couple language apps my family has enjoyed so far.

Windows 8 is the new version of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and as a lifetime Windows user, I can tell you it is very different from any other previous version. For one thing, the familiar desktop, while available, is not your start screen, and speaking of “start”, that button is nowhere to be found. Windows 8 is optimized for touchscreen devices, (such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 Windows 8 convertible Ultrabook I’m using.)

Here’s a quick video to show you what Windows 8 is like, because really, it’s more fun to see it in action than to simply describe it.

The first day I was a little frustrated trying to get the hang of things, although my 11 year old seemed to jump right in and figure things out intuitively. I am less than one month into using Windows 8 and so far, while I prefer my old Desktop with Windows 7 on a day-to-day basis for working, the Windows 8 computer is much more fun and as you can see, very visually appealing. The kids are drawn to the touchscreen como una polilla a una llama! (Like a moth to a flame.)

The standout feature of Windows 8, besides its optimization for touchscreens, are the apps available in the Microsoft Apps Store. You can browse apps by category, price, etc. There are plenty of free apps, (all of which install with a single click), and those that are paid often come with a free trial and are only a couple dollars. My only “complaint” is that the Spanish-language learning apps tend to use Spain Spanish so if your children are learning Latin American Spanish, a word here and there may be different than the one you’ve taught them. Here are five apps we recommend.

Five Windows 8 Apps For Bilingual Learning

• Babbel – 3000 vocabulary words with images, pronunciation and example sentences in Spanish. This is completely free with registration. This is recommended for ages 12+ but I think children as young as 10 could play on their own, and even younger with assistance.

• Tablee – This game teaches English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The free version covers only colors. The full version costs $1.99 and covers farm animals, shapes, and fruits and vegetables in addition to colors. Recommended for ages 3-6.

• VocabulandHD – A simple vocabulary app to learn Spanish or English. Free and for ages 3+

• Toddler Flashcards 1.1 – A simple but effective flashcard game to learn vocabulary in English, Spanish, or French. Free trial is very limited. Full version is $2.49. For ages 3+

• Merlion Words – This app is totally free and really amazing. Available for Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. I like that you can trace the letters/characters on the screen. (My kids have even played it a few times in Chinese. Who knows, maybe they’ll be trilingual!) Ages 3+

Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll cover some awesome apps which aren’t intended for bilingual learning but can still be used that way.

Disclosure: I am part of the Windows Champions Program. As a Windows Champion, I am loaned a laptop, and, on occasion, Microsoft products such as software to assist me in developing content for my blog posts. All opinions are my own.

I am impressed with the range of animals included, given that many animal-centered apps are limited to the most popular ones. I even learned a couple new words from watching my son play (like la nutria and la morsa) and refreshed my memory on some I always forget (el alce!).

The Animals in Spanish app includes four activities, all equally enticing. There is coloring and “scratching off” the animal for the youngest users, matching figures and forming the names of the animals for older toddlers/preschoolers.

With adorable graphics and music, simple and accurate Spanish narration, and straightforward directions, this app has all the ingredients necessary for the bilingual family stamp of approval.

Find Animals in Spanish iTunes

Available for iPhone and iPad

Recommended for toddlers and preschoolers

Price $2.99

We review a lot of family-friendly apps that kids can discover on their own, but I’d like to share a useful one that is intended for therapists, teachers, and parents who want to help students of all ages with Spanish pronunciation. Spanish Artik from Smarty Ears is a thorough app whose structure is based on the science of phonemes, a linguistic term referring to the smallest units (sounds) of a language.

This app allows you to add multiple students and have them participate one at a time or alternate turns. The instructor or parent can select the particular phonemes (for example the two “r” sounds, r-trill and r-flap) for each student and the placement of those sounds within the word. The app then generates a list of words that meet the criteria. Once you begin practicing, each word shows up with a picture, and you can click to hear it pronounced and even record the student’s voice. Indicate whether the student pronounced the word correctly, and the app will keep track of the results, which can be emailed or printed.

With over 450 words and customizable settings including rotating images (for group use), this app is a long-term investment in keeping Spanish skills fresh. It would be an excellent refresher for a nonnative speaker like myself and a great way to record a child’s speech progress, but can also be used in a formal classroom setting.

If you know anything about phonemes or are interested in finding out how breaking down words can help with fluency, visit the Smarty Ears list of resources about language learning and technology.

Find Spanish Artik in iTunes

Available for iPhone and iPad

Recommendedfor speech therapists and parents

Price $19.99

For other Spanish apps from Smarty Ears, check out this page. Also find Smarty Ears on Facebook and Twitter.

This game is surprisingly simple, and incredibly addicting. Watch the skeletons pop up in different boxes, wait to see the icon for which element of the ofrenda they need – flowers, pan de muerto, prayer, or tequila – and then race to give it to them before they go back underground. Sometimes, two or three of them will pop up at one time! And watch out for the bar at the top that fills as you miss opportunities to feed them; that indicates they are “pulling your feet.”

Find Día de Muertos on iTunes

Available for iPad and iPhone

Recommended for ages 12 and up (mild alcohol reference)

Price: FREE

Check out WashaWasha on Facebook and Twitter

Calavera Abecedario: A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book by Jeanette Winter

A fun take on the interactive storybook, this app allows you to record yourself reading the story of Don Pedro Linares, a famous Mexican calavera maker. The narrative is in English, but the latter half of the story is the abecedario with words like candelera and tortillera. The illustrations are beautiful, and kids will love to hear their parents’ voices (or their own!) coming from the app.

Find Calavera Abecedario on iTunes

Available for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android

Recommended for ages 4 and up

Price: $7.99

Day of the Dead – Experience the Tradition by University of Notre Dame

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the Día de Muertos traditions and history, this is a great crash course. It’s a beautifully designed, interactive textbook (in English) with embedded videos and pictures that flip and spin. It would serve as a wonderful resource for any children doing a school project about the Mexican holiday. It’s also just a fun thing to read together at home to incite discussion about the theme of death in a positive light.

Find Day of the Dead – Experience the Tradition on iTunes

Available for iPad and iPhone

Recommended for ages 4 and up

Price: FREE

Check out Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies website

Day of the Dead Me by Simply Sweet Apps

I thought this would just be car entertainment for the kids, but then I spent forever taking pictures of myself to get the perfect frame for a “dead me” face. Take a photo of anyone, edit it with traditional tools, then place all kinds of fun and creepy decorations on top: hats, roses, painted eyes, and masks. Halloween and Día de Muertos in one cool app!

Find Day of the Dead Me on iTunes

Available for iPhone and iPod Touch

Recommended for ages 4 and up

Price: $0.99

Check out Simply Sweet Apps on Twitter and their website. Also, see this video for a how-to.

Rosita y Conchita by Peek ‘n Play Story Apps

We’ve been anxiously waiting for this app to hit the iTunes store because we’re already huge fans of the bilingual book, Rosita y Conchita by Erich Haeger and Eric Gonzalez of Muertoons. This interactive app beautifully brings to life the storybook tale of two gemelas  – Rosita y Conchita — that were separated when Rosita passes away. On Day of the Dead, Conchita prepares an altar for her beloved sister and we go along with Rosita’s journey to find her way back home during the one day her spirit can breakthrough. The app allows your child to choose to listen to the rhyming story either in English or Spanish, or, if old enough, read the text on his own. Kids will also love tapping the screen to find the interactive delights and surprises on each page.

Find Rosita y Conchita on iTunes

Available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Recommended for 4-7, 8-10

Price: $4.99

Check out Peek ‘ PlayStory Apps.

For more Day of the Dead goodies, check out all activities, videos, crafts, recipes, books and much more we’ve collected in this page and on Pinterest.

We may have a bookshelf full of bilingual books in our house, but sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. The world of apps makes it easy to do just that. Instead of simply reading a story and maybe talking about it for a few minutes, we can extend the benefit of Spanish stories by letting our kids explore apps like Learn Spanish: Little Blue Jackal by Niyaa.

This iPad app is a high-quality learning tool that can be used to encourage both English and Spanish proficiency. Your preschoolers or elementary schoolers will love touching the pictures and learning over 50 Spanish words in Level 1, but it doesn’t end there. Then, they will advance to Spanish phrases in Level 2, and finally, listen to the story about the (un)importance of outward appearances in either English or Spanish in Level 3. After reading, they will get to play Memory and Feed the Jackal, as well as color some of the pages from the story.

What I love about this app in particular are a couple unique features: the Parent/Child Comprehension activity, which promotes excellent discussion of the moral in either language, and the Sleep Mode, which can be turned on if you only want to listen to the story without visuals. A great bedtime option!

Watch this video to see the app in action. Check out other apps from Niyaa by following them on Twitter or Facebook, or visiting their website.

The Giveaway!

FIVE lucky winners will receive a promo code to download this iPad app for free!

a Rafflecopter giveaway