Meet DINGO: English Grammar You Can See and Hear

By Denis M., English teacher and creator of Hibiscus Teach.

100% grammar, with images, audio and a clear next step after each set.

I have created DINGO, my new English language app on Hibiscus Teach, to bring focused grammar practice together with visual situations and audio. You work through short challenges, see which grammar points need attention, and follow links to lessons that help you understand them.

The aim is simple: to help you notice how English works and know what to study next.

Why put grammar at the centre?

In my experience, many other language apps almost completely neglect explicit grammar teaching. You may spend a great deal of time choosing answers while receiving very little explanation of why a particular sentence works the way it does.

That is the gap I wanted to explore. My aim with DINGO is to make grammar the focus of every activity and connect that practice with useful explanations. The emphasis is 100% grammar: the structures, choices and small differences that shape what we mean.

How DINGO works

1. Choose your level. Start at A1 or select a higher level, up to C2, according to the challenge you want.
2. Complete a set of ten questions. Match each picture to the correct sentence, choosing from three possible answers. Look closely at the situation and use the available audio to listen as well as read.
3. Review your results. Your answers highlight the grammar points that are worth another look.
4. Follow the lesson links. At the end of each completed set, DINGO links the grammar behind your mistakes to relevant Hibiscus Teach grammar lessons, so you can review the explanation and practise further.

You do not have to stay at one level. I encourage you to explore all the levels from A1 to C2 if you wish, and to work at several levels at the same time. Even one mistake in ten questions, or in twenty questions across two sets, can make the activity worthwhile: it gives you something specific to understand and practise. VIP membership saves your scores and completed sets across those levels, so you can move between them and return to your recorded progress. It currently costs $3 a month and is free for my current students.

This connection matters to me. A mistake gives you a useful starting point: something specific to understand, a lesson to open and a reason to try again. You can move directly from the challenge to the material that helps you work on it.

Grammar you can see and hear

The visual and audio elements are central to my approach. A picture gives the language a situation. Spoken models let you hear the words, their rhythm and the way they fit together. The sentence choices draw your attention to the grammatical detail.

I want those elements to work together. An image can make you consider who is doing something, when it is happening or who an object belongs to. Listening adds the spoken form. Choosing the sentence asks you to connect that meaning with the structure of English.

My intention is to make grammar concrete, approachable and worth paying attention to.

I want grammar itself to be fun. With Dingo, I feel I have just about found the right combination: meaningful pictures, spoken examples, short challenges and a clear route from a mistake to an explanation. My aim is for learners to enjoy noticing how English works, feel curious about the choices they make and want to try again.

Why DINGO?

I chose DINGO after Australia’s native wild dog. Dingoes are intelligent and curious, with an independent nature, and their packs help care for the young. For me, those qualities make the dingo a fitting mascot for English learning: curiosity to explore, independence to choose your own path, and support when something is difficult. Our smiling DINGO gives that idea a friendly face and a playful invitation to keep learning, one challenge at a time.

My research idea, shaped by years of teaching

I have taught English full time since 2009. I also hold a Master’s in TEFL, during which I wrote my thesis on materials design.

That background shapes how I think about learning activities: what a task asks a learner to notice, how examples communicate meaning and what happens after an answer is given.

DINGO is my research idea, growing out of those academic interests and many years of teaching English. I want to explore how focused grammar challenges, meaningful images, audio and relevant follow-up lessons can work together in a practical learning tool.

That is the idea I am putting into practice: a clear grammar focus, an engaging way to work with language, and a useful connection between the answer you give and the lesson you need.

I see DINGO as a powerful grammar tool, not an all-in-one language-learning system. It can help you build your knowledge when you use it thoughtfully: look closely at your mistakes, follow the lesson links and practise what you have reviewed. I encourage you to use it alongside other language-learning habits, including regular reading, listening, speaking and writing. My aim is for DINGO to be a useful part of your wider English learning, supporting the work you do independently and with your teacher.

Try DINGO on Hibiscus Teach: choose your level, complete a set and see which grammar lessons are worth exploring next.