A new game to help newcomers learn Swedish

In today’s Sweden, non-native students and adults need comprehensive knowledge of the Swedish language, both written and spoken, to increase their chances for future work and success. In 2015 and 2016, Sweden received over 150,000 applications for asylum. The new game, Sweet City, launched this spring will help newcomers learn Swedish in a new and stimulating way.

Sweet City focuses on supporting of opinion expression and communication in Swedish in various situations. The game is a motivating and flexible study material that can be played on computers or tablets in school.

The game is launched by Inläsningstjänst (ILT), one of the biggest actors providing different tools for immigrants through their service “Studiestöd på modersmål” (Study support for immigrant students in their mother tongue). Universal Learning Games (ULG) company was responsible for pedagogics and concept, while Sigma provided all the software development and design.

Collaboration with Linnaeus University and specifically Gudrun Svensson, a language expert, made Jonas Lidén, CEO at Universal Learning Games, confident about the project:

Since the launch of our first EduGame in 2013, we have been asked to do something for SVA students, but not until now have we got the resources to realize it. We are very curious to see the response from the users.”

Niklas Malmros, CEO at Sigma Technology Solutions, says:

“We are proud to be a key player in this educational initiative, and we have done our best to develop a comprehensive and robust game. It will help those who study Swedish as a second language to improve their knowledge and ability. Sigma has also performed some tests with the help of course attendants at  our language meetings for foreign engineers, and the results were good.”

Sweet City is an innovative product that follows the curriculum of SVA and combines modern methods of language learning, EduGame techniques, and modern science.

Sigma and Universal Learning Games have previously produced The English Minnits, today played internationally by 20,000 students. This game was developed with support from the National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools of Sweden and is applicable for learning English in grades 4-6. ULG is planning to launch the next product in the Minnits series in 2017 with the focus on mathematics.

See the video about Sweet City on  YouTube.

For more information, please contact Niklas Malmros at +46 706 21 44 43 or niklas.malmros@sigmatechnology.se

For more information about our Swedish language meetings for foreign engineers, please visit www.sigmatechnology.se.