Eric Learns a New Language: Review #4

Website:http://www.rosettastone.com

Level & Skill: I would have to say just from the demo it was for a beginner reading, writing, speaking and listening. But, for the amount of money this thing costs I am assuming it can be used for higher levels.

Interactive: That is a big Yes. ESL/Non-ESL: ESL

What makes it good: This seems like a great program. There are a lot of languages and the beginner level was constructed perfectly. It started out with a voice speaking, picture and you could read the line that was spoken, and the program would build from this; slowly introducing new words and separating the written word from the spoken word. This allowed the learner to slowly learn the language, or remember phrases and then apply them to the picture. By the end of the first activity man, woman, horse, dog and cat were burned into my memory. The activity got really interesting when it introduced placement; whether it was under, on or in. By the end of the program I could either look at a picture and know what the phrase was, or hear the phrase and choose the picture. Eventually my brain was working faster than the program. Of course I did pick the German program, and even though I don't know any German I could still infer a lot of meaning through my English. However, this program did become tedious, even when I tried it with Japanese and Arabic. As useful as the program was I got tired of it. I don't think I could work on this everyday, as after a couple of minutes I got tried of learning a language off of a computer. AS good as this program is it lacks that spark that you can only get from learning a language with other people. This program would be good for beginner or practicing, especially if a person is nervous about learning in a classroom. But, this would be a useful too used in moderation.

ESL Website Review #3

Website:http://www.musicalenglishlessons.org/index-ex.htm

Level & Skill: Lessons range from mid-beginner to advanced. Skills range from basic grammar to inferencing and fill in the blanks. Also, since these grammar exercises do employ music it is a listening skill too.

Interactive: No

ESL/Non-ESL: ESL

What makes it good: This site has literally around a hundred or more lesson plans all surrounding the use of popular music, with three or more lessons of varying degress of difficulty attached to each song. If a teacher likes to teach with music or you have a class that likes learning through music, this is a great site. Its good to activate more than one skill when teaching, so music is a great source. Luckily the songs range in variety, and you will not be stuck with a bunch of lame songs that will kill your soul a little bit more everytime you listen to it. Another nice feature of the songs is that they are authentic, there are not "safe" songs, I am not saying you will find any death metal, but these are songs that explore topics of sex and drugs; but in typical rock fashion they are covered in clever metaphors and the such. So, if you were teaching an advanced level you could use the lyrics to explore deeper issues, or just get the learners to fill in the proper verb tense. If a teacher wanted to use different songs they would be able to create their own activities quite easily because they could just follow the same formula this site does. As a person who uses music in every aspect of their life, I would like to think this site would allow me to bring music into the classroom effectively.