Have you ever heard of Fancy Nancy? If so, you just might have a young girl like I do. Do you happen to have a little one that loves French?! If so, then I have the program you have been searching for!
Middlebury Interactive Languages is a delightful program in which Ana got to review their French Courses, particularly their Elementary French 1: Grades 3-5. Sheer heavenly joy for my little budding, just 10 years old, petit mademoiselle!
We have never used an online course for foreign languages before. I am so pleased with how incredibly easy this program is to use. Not just for me, the teacher, but for Ana as well.
This program is entirely online, so all you need is a computer (with a microphone) and access to the internet.
Each course is broken down into semesters, or 18 weeks. For the Elementary French that averages out to about 2-3 lessons a week.
The cost for this course work is $119 per semester without a teacher or add on an additional $175 per semester with a teacher. Each paid subscription is to be used with only one child (student).
The age range for Middlebury Interactive Languages is from K though 12th Grade. Since Ana is in 2nd/3rd grade, I felt good with all she was able to accomplish with this program.
Now the fun part of the review, where I get to share about all the entirely too cool things this program can do! First and foremost, if your schoolroom is anywhere close to where you (the parent) hang out while the kiddos “do school”…be prepared to pickup on the songs!
This language program will talk to you, play videos for you, record your voice for you, and then test you on everything you have read, heard, and done! Magnifique!
Once I got the program set up for our use, Ana jumped on to begin her French lessons. I kid you not, once I told her we were chosen to do this review, she questioned me every.single.day about it. I do believe that this is by far one of her most favorite school classe she has ever done!
The course begins with introductions about the program and how to navigate through the system. After a few brief explanations about how to do the required work, Ana was off to dive into French head first.
All of the lessons are located on the left side of the screen. The student is able to slide through the images to select the correct lesson. This is a plus that we really liked about this program. If Ana wasn’t completely confidant in how she did in one of the lessons, she could always go back and practice over again. Increasing her ability to not only “get it right” but to bolster her confidence as well. Win/Win on the self-paced, go back and practice if need be ability.
There are such fun stories to listen to in your chosen language. I have never heard Little Red Riding Hood in any other language before and I have to admit, hearing it in French…well, it sounds so darling as La Petit Chaperon rouge. And I heard it a lot. Seriously, the program will let you pick any section to replay, over and over and over and over. 🙂
Once the student has listen to the story or the song, they get to play games or complete activities. Which I have finally learned, after all of my homeschooling years, fun learning is the only true learning! There are matching games, fill in the blank games, and many more.
After a few rounds of gaming, the student is then encouraged to practice speaking the words or phrases from the current lesson. This was incredibly difficult for Ana. Not that it was hard to work in the system but for the fact that she is fearful of making mistakes and being laughed at. (Brothers can be the worst sometimes!). After much encouragement from me, she has gotten better at practicing her French by completing the speaking sections of her lessons.
There is a calendar in the parent administration that shows you what lessons are to be done on what day. We did not stick to the calendar lesson days, Ana pretty much did as many lessons at a time as she liked. There is also another section in the admin where you can view the lessons, quizzes, tests, and assessments. I like to see the progress being made, and the grade average is nice to use as a help tool.
This program is amazing and has helped Ana in learning a second language with ease. She enjoys her French course so much that she has taken it upon herself to get her lessons done without much prompting from me.
The songs are catchy, fun, and are excellent ways to teach. I have learned to count to 10 and learned some names of body parts. Even my youngest son, Joseph, who is 6, has learned to sing most of these songs. He is throughly entranced as well by this program. I think he has enjoyed Ana’s French course work as much as she has!
None of us have any complaints about this program, we all have learned a whole lot of French and we have learned it while having fun.
Middlebury Interactive Languages has numerous languages that they offer and at so many different levels. Please visit my fellow TOS Review Crew members to see what they used and how it worked for them.
Find Middlebury via social media at the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Middlebury-Interactive-Languages/141015515949753
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MiddInteractive
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/middinteractive/
Google +: https://plus.google.com/b/110371351490550861545/110371351490550861545/posts
I hope you enjoyed our latest review and I hope you visit again soon to see what else we find to talk about!
In His Grace.
Callie
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