Capstone’s K–2 online resource PebbleGo has added new Spanish materials. The latest offering, contextually translated to maintain proper academic vocabulary and supported by natural voice audio, will begin to roll out later this fall.
PebbleGo’s database is used by students in nearly 20% of the country’s elementary schools. With more than 1,000 articles connected to K–2 curriculum topics, PebbleGo exposes students to the concept of research and credible sources to begin developing good digital citizenship skills at an early age. Each article is supported by natural voice audio, recorded by professional voiceover artists, which engages students and improves comprehension.
In the past, PebbleGo offered its Animals content in Spanish. With this expansion, PebbleGo’s Science, Social Studies, and Biographies modules also have Spanish counterparts. Students at schools that subscribe to both the English and Spanish language versions can toggle between the two at the article level.
“Capstone is thrilled to introduce more Spanish options to our popular PebbleGo resource,” said Darin Rasmussen, the vice president of digital product development. “‘More Spanish’ is one of our most common requests.”
The expansion of Spanish content is enhanced by audio that guides students with follow-along text in the student’s first language to foster understanding. The professional voiceover models correct pronunciation and fluency with no robotic text-to-speech, which helps learners develop necessary speaking skills in their second language.
“Over and over again, educators share that PebbleGo helps their students foster engagement, independence, and critical thinking skills,” Rasmussen said. “We’re happy to help educators make sure that every student has access to curriculum-connected content that can teach them foundational research skills, such as finding facts from credible sources, and expand their content area knowledge. Good digital citizenship is good digital citizenship, no matter the language.”
Spanish content is increasingly seen as a matter of equity. The read-aloud audio helps promote listening skills, which are often ahead of reading comprehension when it comes to developing content knowledge and academic vocabulary. The ability to listen and follow along in the text in the students’ first language helps ELLs develop their English literacy more quickly.
To learn more about PebbleGo, visit PebbleGo.com.