So obviously the first software that came to mind was Rosetta Stone. I am pretty sure that it is the most widely used supplemental software used in Spanish education. Chapter 13 says that we should always look for education and never for edutainment. It also gave a few criteria for choosing software (although nothing was really talked about for Spanish). I know that Rosetta Stone has a lot of quality content, it is extremely easy to use by everyone, and it keeps an accurate record of progress. Most students are capable of using Rosetta Stone with very few instructions because it is so user-friendly.
Instead of really focusing on Rosetta Stone, I tried to find some other software programs. The Spanish Teacher is a program very similar to Rosetta Stone in that it is designed to allow students to work on their learning of the Spanish language. I actually found a review that someone had already made about the software since I was not able to actually test the product for myself. According to the article, the software consists of 3 components that focus on building vocabulary, understanding grammar, and engaging in conversations. The article states that almost all of the instructions and interaction is in Spanish (which may be frustrating for the beginner.) It goes on to list several advantages and disadvantages (that I will not simply retype here). Some of the advantages were that it also incorporated cultural aspects (the article gives the example of the word comer and how the program says that in Spain it is cheaper to eat at the bar instead of at an actual restaurant.) One of the disadvantages that it mentioned was the fact that the program's feature that allows you to right click and have words defined does not recognize idioms.
If you would like to read the article yourself, here's the link... http://spanish.about.com/library/weekly/aa080999.htm
If you are looking to learn Spanish or learn more Spanish, this program has a "street value" of about $50, and this is a lot cheaper than Rosetta Stone.
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That sounds interesting. I remember using Spanish software in school and it was extremely dry and boring (maybe just because I was a kid anything not animated seemed boring). It would be cool if they have created some sort of Spanish software for kids that was incorporated into a game. A question I was wondering though, are there schools that use Rosetta Stone? I have never heard of any.
ReplyDeleteJosh I like that you went beyond Rosetta Stone. This particular software has some really cool advantages that you've mentioned. I love that it talks about the cultural aspects of different Spanish speaking places. That's really neat and makes learning the material more interesting. I also like that the instructions and interactions are in Spanish. Students might be very frustrated by this, but if you really want to learn a language, I'm a firm believer that you need to start thinking in that language as much as possible. Overall I think this is a good program.
ReplyDeleteJosh, I actually resorted to using Rosetta Stone to help me learn Spanish faster when I was at community college. I really found it helpful when I had to read it, but not so much when it came to speaking, perhaps I didn't use the language much. The famous saying "use it or lose it" definitely applies. One thing I agree on is that the interaction between learner and material more enjoyable. I like the Spanish Teacher program because of the three components: vocab, grammar and conversation. Somehow I seemed to have HUGE learning gaps when I was working with the Rosetta Stone program. Maybe I will try this one and see if it can jog my memory and fill in some of those gaps
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a good program, however I do have my reservations. In the article, it stated that the program provides answers in singular masculine (right?), which gives you incorrect gender agreements. So, when actually applying this learned information there is a good chance that you would speak incorrectly. How does this compare or contrast to Rosetta Stone? Would this really hurt a students progress or is this something that is overlooked when speaking Spanish?
ReplyDeleteI know from experience that Rosetta Stone is a very effective product. When I was taking intensive Italian (I know you wrote about Spanish but its still a foreign language) here at JMU a friend of mine who was also in the class had the first edition of Rosetta Stone. We used to sit and do the activities together and use it to review for exams. It was extremely useful for the both of us and I can honestly say I don't think I would have learned as much without my Rosetta Stone reviews.
ReplyDeleteI think if you used this in the classroom as an activity students can do at the end of class or as a reward for good behavior or free time, they could really like it.