I recently showed this database to my 9 year old daughter who
brought home a French language book and asked me to read the words which I
could not do. I have never taken French
and would have slaughtered the pronunciations.
I had to set up an account with an email. I find this a bit of a hindrance as a lot of
middle school students do not have an email account yet. I recall having to go to my email account to
verify the set up. For someone new to
our country this may be a hurdle in getting to the database. When I logging in at work I found a newer
version of the dashboard but had the option to utilize the older dashboard.
I used the foreign courses for English speakers to begin
with, but quickly realized that this would not help the Vietnamese student
practice her English. I then moved to the translate tab. Wrong place again as there was no recording
for the pronunciation. You can choose the language you are starting
with and translate to the language you are learning. I went back to the courses tab and found the
English courses. There were considerably
less languages to pick from than the foreign languages for English
speakers. Though not labeled, when I
hovered over each I was able to see what language it was. This course work is similar in set up as the
others for English users. I love that it
is set up conversationally. At any time
you can select a statement and have it read for repeated practice. Later steps break down the conversation and
allow additional listening and a record option.
The record option would be tremendously helpful I comparing their
emerging English to the statement in practice.
The visual recording helps in determining which parts of the word(s) are
vocalized strongly or softly. The
grammar component is also important to help make sure meaning in conversation
is accurate. Taking a placement test
allows the user to begin where they need and not become bored or frustrated by
starting from the beginning. This course
would allow a Vietnamese student a place to practice and would use her language
as a starting place to learn our language.
That is a great description, Shelley! On the computer, you can use Mango without having an account, but if you want to save your work, etc., you do need one. This may be a hindrance to some. You can create a fake account--made up name & email address. Just remember it, so the program recognizes you and tracks your progress. Thanks for your comments!
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