The ACORNS application suite employs digital technology to facilitate language learning. These applications are language-independent; in other words, they are appropriate tools to facilitate the learning of any language.
The ACORNS project includes a series of applications (ACORNS, HARE, WOLF, and ELK). This effort was conceived to support the language revitalization efforts of Native American tribes. The acorn is sacred to the tribes of Northern California and Southern Oregon who helped start this project. The name ACORNS ([AC]quisition [O]f [R]estored [N]ative [S]peech) is chosen in their honor. This being said, all of this software is freely downloadable and usable for any non-profit use.
This particular application (ACORNS) enables language teachers and their students to use their desktop/laptop to create twelve categories of language lessons. Wen executed, they provide a fun and immersive user experience. With a single click mechanism, ACORNS generates Webpages and mobile versions of created lessons. Students can then easily execute them, either from Web-browsers or by using the Apple ACORNS mobile gallery application. ACORNS supports custom fonts and keyboard layouts. These are automatically embedded into the lessons created.
Full documentation, including a detailed users manual can be found at either cs.sou.edu/~harveyd/acorns or at acornslinguistics.com. Additionally, those sites include downloadable samples to assist new users in their efforts to get started.
Additional ACORNS software projects are introduced below
