Estonian education service ALPA Kids helps global families to stay connected to their roots
Nowadays, many global parents wish their children to be connected to the language and culture of their origin. ALPA Kids provides the solution by developing e-learning games in native languages and helping parents worldwide to keep their children connected to their roots.
Studies suggest that children in their foundational years learn best in their native language. It is predicted that out of 7000 languages spoken worldwide, only 10% will be spoken by the next century. This is due to globalisation, migration, and the difficulty of passing on one’s native language to children. “We felt this ourselves when we lived abroad with our young children. We couldn’t find quality digital learning content in our native language. As Estonia is a digital country, and at the forefront of education, we decided to fill the gap ourselves and saw an opportunity to develop ALPA e-learning games,” says Kelly Lilles, co-founder and CEO of ALPA Kids.
Together with local teachers and researchers, ALPA Kids creates digital learning games for 3-8-year-olds, where they can learn about the alphabet, shapes, nature, writing, math, and more in their native language and through examples of local culture. The app is easily adaptable to any language and culture. “We stand for making the time a child spends on a smart device educational and enlightening. The games are age-appropriate, without advertisements, integrated with off-screen activities and can also be used offline everywhere (also in car, plane etc.). In each market, we work with local teachers and researchers to develop game content tailored to the local language and culture of that country so that they can be used in educational institutions on a daily basis,” Lilles explains.
At the moment, the app is available in Estonian (70 000+ users), Ukrainian (120 000+ users) and Indian languages (600 000+ users) and is used in more than 170 countries. Also, many educational institutions, from kindergartens to schools, use ALPA for diverse learning. Digital technology provides opportunities for interactive and playful learning and supports the consolidation of new knowledge at home. In 2023, the team plans to conquer the Scandinavian and German markets; Poland, Indonesia and Brazil are also considered.
“Many parents living abroad have shared the information about ALPA Kids in local expat groups and we are very thankful for that and hope this continues. We also have had very effective partnerships with telecoms and media companies and we would be extremely grateful if any of the readers could help us seek similar partnerships in their respective locations,” Lilles says.
ALPA Kids is the winner of the 2021 Estonian Language Achievement award by the Ministry of Education and Research and the With Children and For Children Award issued by the Estonian President and the Chancellor of Justice.
You can download the ALPA Kids app for your children from Google Play or the App Store. See more about ALPA Kids here.
Kelly Lilles
CEO & Co-Founder
ALPA Kids
