PowerSpeak

PowerSpeak

Database.

Reading/Interest Level: Ages 13+

Curriculum ties: Foreign languages, ESL

Booktalk Ideas: Homework assistance: Highlight a few of the easy activities in the language of one of the community’s major minority groups.

Challenge Issues: N/A

Challenge Response: First Defense File

Reader’s Annotation:

Learning a language has never been simpler. Powerspeak is your own personal language instructor so you can practice and excel in the language of your choice.

About the Database:

Powerspeak is a database to help the user learn and practice foreign languages. Which foreign language packages are available is determined by both availability from the company, and by the library which must purchase access to the courses. This databases is very different from conventional listening CDs and books because it combines elements from both of those, and also adds activities that are very game like to help the user practice and learn the new language.

Lessons are broken up into themed units, individual lessons within the unit, and then activity pages. Each activity comes with an explanation of what the user needs to do to complete the activity. Activities range from watching videos that teach about the foreign culture and a variety of other things, listening and practicing pronunciation, matching, recording and comparing, audio matching, conversation practice, multiple choice, and various other activities. The lessons are designed to be simple and easy to complete so that users can do part of a lesson, come back later and pick up right where they left off.

Critical Evaluation:

The interface is visually appealing because it’s clean, simple, and follows a cool and calming color scheme of blues, greens, and purples. Nearly every activity comes with a picture so that the user isn’t overwhelmed with text, and the lessons are simple enough to be completed in a relatively short period of time. To really succeed in learning a foreign language, the user may need to practice vocabulary away from the computer in addition to completing the lessons, but it’s easy to use the information given to create basic flash cards.

Because the interface is so simple and well designed, using the database and learning a language feels almost game-like. It’s easy to feel encouraged as you progress through the lessons and see how far you’ve come.

Though you can get pretty far and make a lot of progress in learning a foreign language by using this program, depending on the time spent with it will get the user to a basic conversational level, but they will in no way reach fluency. However, most teen students aren’t generally striving to reach native fluency while still in high school, so this resource is still a good option to use either on its own, or in addition to classwork.

About the Author:

N/A

Justification of Selection:

Many high schools offer some type of foreign language and this would be a good compliment for that. Also, many smaller high schools tend to have limited foreign language choices, and this program may offer students the chance to learn languages they otherwise wouldn’t get to learn. This is especially helpful for the ESL community (both students and parents). It’s an almost game like program that is easy to use and has no age limits.