It is the question parents ask most these days. There are so many English learning apps, so why bother with paper worksheets at all? The short answer is that the two do different jobs, and a child who gets both in the right proportion goes further than a child who only gets one.
What a screen does that paper can't
An app gives your child a native speaker voice that you can't. It gives instant feedback on every question, and its reward system is very good at making children want one more round. For listening and pronunciation the screen wins outright, so let the app be the source of spoken English in your house.
What paper does that a screen can't
Handwriting fires up the memory parts of the brain far more than tapping a screen does. Study after study points the same way: children remember letters they have written better than letters they have only touched. Paper also has no next button to hammer. A child has to stay with the hard question until the answer comes, and that patience is precisely the muscle the smoothest, slickest apps are quietly wearing away.
Paper also leaves room for you to sit down beside your child, point with a finger and praise them on the spot. In the research on how young children learn, that turns out to matter more than any medium does.
A mix that works in an ordinary home
- App, 15 to 20 minutes a day, ideally while you are busy with something else. Its job is to be the native speaker voice.
- Worksheet, 10 to 15 minutes a day, while someone is sitting alongside. The focus is writing, and reading aloud to the person next to them.
- One house rule: the screen comes after the worksheet is finished. In that order, paper never turns into the thing your child dreads.