Yay for Foreign Languages! We (Ana and I) are so excited that we are able to review Elementary French: Grades 3-5 (Semester 2) from Middlebury Interactive Languages. We reviewed the first semester of Elementary French, so we were over the moon when we were blessed to review the second semester!
The Goods
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 (2) 9 week periods. That averages out to about 2-3 lessons a week.
The age range for Middlebury Interactive Languages is from K though 12th Grade.
(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! They are pretty catchy!)
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!
Before each lesson unit there is a very short overview video of the items they will be expected to learn from that section.
Since this is the second semester for Ana, here are the items she is learning this go round:
- calendar
- weather
- clothes
- food
- home
- school/classroom
- professions
- review
Following the menu on the left of the screen, the student can pick the lesson they need to work on. This is a Win/Win for the self-paced student, they can go back and practice if need be.
There are such fun stories to listen to in your chosen language. The program will let you pick any section to replay, over and over and over and over.
Repetition = 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.
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 Gradebook (lessons, quizzes, tests, and assessments). I like to see the progress being made, and the grade average is nice to use as a tool.
How This Worked for Us
Ana is pretty good at making sure she gets her French class done each day. Some days I need to remind her to get some work done in her class but most days she takes the lead and does it on her own. She has little problem getting onto the site and she knows what lessons she needs to work on.
She enjoys listening to the songs over and over, which is beneficial to her as she is an auditory learner. The repetition makes it easier for her to pick up the words and phrases better.
This semester she say that there are some changes from the last time. She says that there are “less hints” when she is trying to do the quizzes and tests. Which makes me smile because that means the program is creating the situation that she MUST know the answers to the questions instead of feeding her the information she needs.
By far this is our favorite Foreign Language course and we are pleased and blessed that we were able to finish the Grades 3-5 Elementary French class. We are looking forward to the next courses for French as my petit mademoiselle continues to thirst for the French culture!
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.
Social Corner
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I hope you enjoyed this review and that you visit again soon to see what else we have to review!
In His Grace.
Callie
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