Ojala! Spanish learning app for refugees

After months of developing and testing ¡Ojalá!, the world’s first Spanish language learning app for people on the move, we are very happy to announce that itis now available for download on Google Play! We want to thank all of you involved: to those of you who donated to us through the fundraising campaigns, those who have shared our work amongst your own circles, and to the incredible team of volunteers who contribute their time, energy and expertise. But there is still much to be done: we must now ensure that the app reaches its users, and we can only achieve this with your help.

On February 18th, we presented ¡Ojalá! at the ‘Semana Práctica de la enseñanza de idiomas’ (practical week of language teaching) organised by ProfedeELE. The aim of this one-week online congress was to share best practice Spanish teaching methodologies and ideas. The presentation was a real success, with over 130 people attending our session and expressing their interest in helping to disburse the app. 

We are now starting the pilot phase. The aim of this phase is to test ¡Ojalá! with potential users and gather their feedback to continue improving the application and to ensure that it meets the needs of refugees and migrants arriving in Spain. To achieve this aim, two different courses of action have been taken: 

- We are conducting workshops with the NGOs that manage the refugee camps on the Canary Islands to introduce ¡Ojalá! to their team members.  

- We hosted a webinar for ELE (Spanish as a Second Language) teachers and social workers who work directly with refugees and migrants across Spain. 

The participants of these events have committed to support us with the testing of ¡Ojalá! and the collection of feedback to ensure a smooth and successful roll out of our pilot phase.

Last year we raised 5,000€ through crowdfunding campaigns and received €1,000 from Catch-A-Smile, €560 from Zoe Education Trust, two grassroots NGOs. With this funding, we conducted an in depth field research to understand the urgent needs within the Canary Islands’ refugee context. We discovered that one of the most pressing needs is the language barrier. Therefore, we established a pro-bono collaboration with the app developing company Cobalt Sign, who has invested approximately 20,000€ in time to ¡Ojala!. We recruited over 40 volunteers to work on the content of the app (Spanish teachers, translators, illustrators, video producers and cultural mediators) both remotely and on the ground. Now, we published the first version of ¡Ojalá! on Google Play Store. 

This year we need to ensure that ¡Ojalá! reaches its targeted beneficiaries. For this we will run the pilot phase and continue improving the application so that it meets the language needs of refugees and migrants arriving in Spain. It is for this that we need your contribution and continued support. A small amount of money allows us to make big steps in the development of the application and can have a great impact on the thousands of people arriving to the shores of the Canary islands.

Thank you for your contribution! You can download ¡Ojalá! right here if you want a sneak peek.