Journeys and Passports with Mango Languages

Learning another language holds a lot of interest for us, as well as a lot of uncertainty. It can be daunting to dive into an unfamiliar language, and learning it from a textbook is often not the best choice. To me, a test of having a working knowledge of another language would be the ability to follow and participate in a conversation in that language - something that is hard to learn from a textbook. Mango Languages offers a conversational approach to learning many different languages, and we had the opportunity to review their newest product, Mango Homeschool Edition. Mango Languages is already a familiar name to many, as they have been offering online language learning for about seven years. They started in the public library sector, but have been expanding steadily and now offer language learning for personal use, for schools, for higher education or corporate or government settings; and now specifically for homeschools as well. 
Over sixty foreign languages are offered, and non-English speakers may choose from several ESL courses as well. Users can choose to learn as many languages as they like, and at the same time if they prefer. The focus is on learning conversational language, and being able to speak and understand in travel and social situations. There are grammar and cultural notes throughout, and the pronunciation guides are presented in both audio and visual formats, so you can hear the phrase pronounced correctly as well as see the phonetic pronunciation.
We received a subscription to Mango Homeschool Edition, which allowed us to choose from the 60+ languages on the website, and explore the many features already available, as well as start learning a little about the features that will be coming soon. While much of this new Homeschool Edition is in a beta edition, the number of features available at this time are quite impressive, and include the following:

• more than 60 different languages
• progress assessments
• journals and discussions
• collaborative learning spaces
• eNote messaging and chat rooms
• access to embedded and downloadable content
• support from other community members
• calendars to schedule meetings or study-groups

Some of the features that will be rolled out in the coming months are pretty exciting. These include:

• enhanced tracking and progress monitoring for students and parents
• goals and personal lesson plans (both stand-alone and tied into Mango courses)
• a resume and portfolio builder

As you might imagine, with so many languages and features, our options in trying out Mango Languages seemed overwhelming! There is a lot to explore and more than I can adequately cover in one review. Fortunately, there are a number of Schoolhouse Review Crew members sharing about their experiences with Mango Homeschool Edition; and we tried many different languages with many different students, and tried out different features. So if you are curious about features or languages that I don't mention, be sure to check out the other reviews - other Crew members will have tried things that we did not!

How did we use it?  Once we were signed up, there were video tutorials to guide us through the many features and help us get started. I was unnerved by the prospect of setting up the dashboard and everything myself, but it was oh-so-simple once I'd watched the tutorial! Then we started browsing the list of available languages:

Each passport page tells you the number of speakers worldwide and the countries where the language is spoken. You can see how many Journeys there are and the topics covered. (Lesson units are called "Journeys" - you are traveling on a "Passport", after all!) Some languages have printable files available with the course outline, grammar notes and culture notes in a pdf format. Most languages have a "Try a Demo" option so you can have a go at it before joining the space. Here, on the Brochure for French (Canadian), it states there are 9 million speakers worldwide, and it is spoken in Canada and the United States. There is one Journey and there are no files.

All three of us are signed up and have tried out some languages. Landon and Kennady immediately jumped on the idea of learning Pirate! Of course, this isn't a *real* language, but just for fun! I suggested they learn Pirate as their orientation to how Mango Languages worked, and that turned out to be a great idea. They both learned the *language* quickly, and were soon able to order each other around using terms like "belay yer carousin'" and "blow me down!". For a fun introduction to how Mango Languages teaches, this is it!

 

When they finished the course in Pirate, they were awarded a badge that could be shared on Twitter or Facebook!

Kennady had a long list of languages she wanted to learn, and since Mango allows users to get a good feel for what's involved with each language before actually signing up for that Passport, she checked out anything she thought would be fun, including Russian and Hawaiian. She wound up choosing French (Canadian) as the primary language she wanted to work on, because she's already got a little bit of a start in that language. I previewed the French (European) course,which is more involved, and has three Journeys whereas French (Canadian) has only one. I am having Kennady do French (European) when she finished French (Canadian).

Each Journey begins with a conversation - two speakers greet each other and ask introductory questions. The conversation is shown in English, and then in the new language. By clicking on any one of the phrases, you can hear it again. Then in the next screens, the conversation is broken down into words and phrases, using a flashcard system for the user to hear, see, recall, and practice saying the parts of the conversation. It also gives the user a chance to use deduction to put together a two- or three-word phrase using the pieces of the puzzle already learned. Most importantly, it is fun and there is really not much pressure! By the end of the French (Canadian) Passport, Kennady should be able to ask someone's nationality and what language they speak, make introductions, ask and answer questions about how to find locations, and be able to ask questions while shopping and dining out. (That's super important to a girl who wants to travel and likes souvenirs, fashion finds, and local eateries!)

Although I mainly left this to Kennady, I sure wanted a shot at learning languages too, even at my advanced age! I learned along with her - over her shoulder, often - as she worked on French; and I also dabbled a little in German. The German course has three Journeys and the printable files are available.

As you can see from some screenshots of my German language files, the elements of the conversation are provided in English and German, along with phonetic pronunciation guides, and some grammar and cultural notes. 

The Grammar Notes are also presented all in one place for each Journey, as are the Cultural Notes.

The goals for each segment of the Journey are clearly listed as well. These printable files would be extremely valuable for a high school student needing something printed to put into their portfolio!

There is also a Course Exam available once you've completed the German Passport. I'm a long way from being ready for the Final Exam at this point, but I'm brushing up on the little bit of existing German I have, and learning some practical German conversation that's new to me. I'd love to reward myself with a German stamp on my real passport someday, and I intend to be able to interact with the people I meet there when I do!

Landon started looking at some of the languages available, and showed initial interest in Irish (Happy St Patrick's Day! Irish is a quite a challenge to figure out!) but ultimately decided that he would rather not dive into learning a new language right now, and left the adventure to me and to Kennady. However, the ease of use of Mango means that he will probably be back and learn a more practical language (more practical than Pirate, I mean!) such as Spanish or French when he has a little less on his plate. We also need to consider whether this would be accepted for high school credit in foreign language. The complete answer to that question would probably vary from state to state, and from one college to another, but a complete Mango course with more than one Journey would generally count for credit. My experience in the German course is that it is definitely at least one full high school credit! In fact, the rating of credits is something the developers told us they were working on, and that should be available in a couple of months. Quizzes and tests are another feature that would be extremely valuable to homeschoolers, and at the high school level in particular. This something else that is being developed and should be available soon. Quizzes, tests, and assignments were topics that many of us that were on this review asked about in a webinar with two of the Mango developers, and we were told that those features are being developed and improved, and will hopefully be available very soon.

One question that I know a lot of people will have is this: Why subscribe to Mango Homeschool Edition when my public library offers Mango for free? (Many libraries do, including ours!) The answer is this - the library version only offers ONE level of any given language, while the Homeschool Edition has all levels of all languages. Also, the Homeschool Edition has the community features of forums and other classroom style features that are not available with the free library version.

What we liked best:

• the student really is in command of how quickly they move through the lessons and how many times they want to hear or see something repeated so they understand it.
• your progress is saved as you move through the lessons, even if you walk away from the screen and get timed out (yeah, I may have been interrupted and have had that happen). When you log in again, you can resume right where you left off. And you can always back up to review previous lessons if you need the refresher.
• learning a conversation makes more sense than learning a list of nouns, then a list of verbs, and then trying to cobble the whole mess together using unfamiliar (to English-speaking folks!) tenses, sentence structures, and grammatical genders.
• the Passports are visually rich and attractive.
• there is voice recognition technology in place, so if you have a working microphone hooked up to your computer, you are set! However, we were very successful without using our microphone, so I love that we weren't limited in our use of Mango just because our microphone/computer didn't cooperate.
• Mango works on all kinds of platforms and operating systems, and on many devices, including iPhone, iPod, and Android.

What I need to mention:

• we did not use the chat and community features, although I explored them a bit. I love that the chat feature allows users to converse with each other, and there is wonderful potential there to ask questions or get feedback from others that may know the languages better. Safety is a huge priority for Mango Languages, and there is no anonymity for their users - full names are required so no one can hide behind an alias and the Saywire community is a private one for registered users only. However, there is not a way to "turn off" the chat feature, so parents of younger children will need to be aware of that if that's a feature they don't wish to use.
• since there is no built-in written component, if you want the student to have written work in their notebook, they will likely need to write information down themselves for languages where the Files are not currently available.

Our bottom line: I was so impressed at how painless it was to memorize and recall a new set of phrases! The system really works, and we had fun using it, whether we were just exploring how to greet others in a variety of languages and get a little taste of them, or whether we were delving deep into conversational French or German. I know I will continue working on German for my own satisfaction, and Kennady and I are making great strides in our conversational French. I am going to start pushing for a Quebec vacation sometime in the next year so we can really test our skills! With the new features still being rolled out in the Homeschool Edition, I will be encouraging Landon to consider learning one of what I call the "big three" foreign languages (Spanish, French, and German) for high school credit. 

Would you like a taste of Mango Languages? Here's what you need to know:

Visit the website at: http://MangoLanguages.com

Go directly to Mango Homeschool Edition, or check out the FAQs. (At present, there isn't a list of FAQs specifically about the homeschool edition on the website. They do, however, invite you to contact them with your questions about it.) 

Age range: Mango Languages is intended for ages 6 through adult, and offers all levels of coursework.

Pricing:  Introductory pricing for Mango Homeschool Edition is as follows:
$18/month or $125/year for 1 subscription;
$28/month or $175/year for two subscriptions;
$38/month or $225/year for three subscriptions;
$48/month or $275/year for four subscriptions;
$58/month or $325/year for five subscriptions.
Six subscriptions and up would qualify for a special group rate and would depend on the number in the group. Contact Mango for more information. (Each person learning a language requires a subscription.)

You can follow Mango Languages on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more information and to read other Crew member reviews. 

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

 ©2006-2014 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Think Back Thursday: Summer

For a number of years, a regular feature of our summer was a trip to Darien Lakes, NY for the KingdomBound music festival. We camped with friends at the state park campground and spent the days at the Darien Lakes Theme Park (formerly Six Flags Darien Lake) enjoying concerts and rides. Most of these Think Back Thursday pictures are from 2007.

Our campsite became more elaborate each year. This configuration was 2008, I think. We added another tent, lights and other camping comforts each year, always trying to improve upon our design.

Harrison - 2007

Spencer - 2007

Landon - 2008

Kennady - 2007

same day, after waking up from a nap on my lap! LOL

Landon got to meet Toby Mac and get an autograph in 2007.

In 2009 our friends at the campsite including my friend and her four kids. We spent a day at Niagara Falls with them. These are all eight of our kids together.

Kennady with the Pirates who don't do anything - 2009

ME! With DecembeRadio - 2009. LOVE these guys' music!

Hope you've had a wonderful 4th of July! Happy Independence Day!

This post is linked at: Debbie's Digest for Think Back Thursday. Visit Debbie's Digest to join in with Think Back Thursday, and to see what other bloggers are sharing this week. Upcoming themes include: Purple; Black and White (an old photo in black and white, or one tweaked by a photo editor); Extended Family.

 Think Back Thursday is a photo meme that encourages sharing something from the past.  It is hosted by Debbie's Digest.  You can find out more about it, and how you can participate, by clicking the link or the button below.  

©2006-2013 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

D is for... Disruptions {Blog Cruise}

Hardly a day goes by that our homeschool isn't disrupted in some little way. Thankfully, the crises and true disasters have been few and far between for us, but interruptions and distractions and snags can be very disruptive too. And a string of days - or weeks - full of those kind of "well, that didn't go as planned" schooldays can make me feel like I am doing a horrible job. Or tempt me to go into a closet and beat my head against a wall because we "aren't getting anything done".

I'd lay odds that I am far from alone in having my best laid homeschool plans derailed by disruptions more often than disasters. I have to admit that most of the time these kinds of things don't bother me a whole lot, because I have very little Type A in my personality. I'm generally pretty comfortable with a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach and can change gears as needed. My plans and schedules are loosely defined and flexible.

...or an actual schedule

Still, when little things keep going wrong and things don't as I'd planned, how do I handle it? Or how should I handle it?

Be prepared. Starting the day off right, by reading Scripture and spending some time praying makes a huge difference! That helps me focus on what is truly important and usually there are at least a couple of verses that stick in my mind most of the day. In order to spend that time without feeling rushed, I do need to get up at a fairly regular time and stick to a morning routine. And that first cup of coffee is helpful too!

Keep it in perspective. Earlier this week, our schoolday was interrupted by a phone call from my oldest son - his wallet had been stolen. Our schoolday ended at that moment because I needed to advise him and be available to make and receive phone calls. That was more important than doing a few more pages of a history lesson. A few years ago, my husband had knee surgery, and was home for several days and with limited mobility. He tried to "stay out of our way" but just having Daddy home and with such a cool machine bending his knee for him was a big distraction. Plus he needed a gofer. At first we tried to just have a normal schoolday, but I soon let that go by the wayside. If Kennady wanted to do her phonics lesson on the floor beside Daddy - fine. And if school didn't get done that week, that was fine too. Learning to serve was more important than getting all the phonics worksheets done.

Laugh about it. We can manage to find something to laugh about in almost every snag we run into.

The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator's place and laugh at his own misfortunes. That is what I am called upon to do every day. ~Bert Williams

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.            ~Proverbs 17:22 

Learn something anyway. Sometimes things just don't work. We still haven't figured out one of the volvelles from our classical astronomy course this year. It's probably user error. We did our best and we haven't given up yet, so I guess we're learning some perseverance. Science is often like that - when it doesn't work the way you expect it to, you have to figure out what went wrong. Was our hypothesis incorrect? Was our method faulty? If nothing else, we've learned something about scientific method. Last year at co-op, we had some epic fails trying to make match rockets (on a damp and windy day) and a tennis ball mortar (we discussed some design modifications that might work for next time). So it wasn't a complete loss - our co-op students learned about collaborative problem-solving using what they knew about physics and chemistry!

Tennis ball mortar - all ready to go!

Ooops.

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless. ~Thomas Edison

Know when to cut your losses. If it's a curriculum that doesn't work, maybe it can be tweaked, but there comes a time when you just have to give up on it. I've done it with a couple of things over the years. It might be a great product, but just didn't fit my kid. One of the science texts we used a few years ago became such a source of frustration for us that I offered it for sale the day my son finished the book (that one we stuck out to the end because it was high school level), and another homeschool mom was delighted to buy it from me. Quick turnaround that honestly made me wish we'd given up on that book at least six months earlier.
If it's a day that just isn't going well, no matter what, sometimes the best thing for everybody is to either take an unplanned and extended break for everyone to relax and regroup, or maybe just to call it quits for the day. After all...

Remember that it doesn't all need to get done today. Which is good to know when we are just plain tired.

How do you handle disruptions? Leave a comment and let me know! Be sure to visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog (this link will be live on Tuesday, April 23rd) to see what other Crew members have to say about "When Things Don't Go As Planned". You can also visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog homepage to see the reviews we are working on, past reviews, and past blog cruise topics. 

This post is also linked at Ben and Me: E is for Energy (I'm a letter behind!) Join in and to see what thoughts this week's letter has prompted for other bloggers.

To find out more about the Blogging through the Alphabet link-up, and how to participate, visit Ben and Me: Blogging Through The Alphabet

©2006-2013 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Progeny Press - Treasure Island {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

We've previously had the privilege of reviewing a study guide from Progeny Press, and were very impressed, but I was still pleasantly surprised when my guinea pig Grade 8 son told me he'd like to review something else from Progeny Press this time around. Without hesitation, he chose the study guide for Treasure Island.

Progeny Press is a publisher of study guides for literature, and has over 100 guides available covering literature for Kindergarten through high school. The guides concentrate on critical thinking, comprehension, literary analysis, and Christian application. This family-owned business has been around since 1992, when Michael and Rebecca Gilleland had trouble finding high quality literature guides from a Christian perspective.

We chose to read Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, using the Treasure Island study guide. Landon chose this one because he likes Stevenson's classic pirate tale. We received the study guide as a download, and it is an interactive pdf. The guide starts with some notes about how to use it. Progeny Press study guides are designed to help students enjoy literature while learning more about how the authors craft their stories. Students should have access to a dictionary, thesaurus, Bible, and either the internet or an encyclopedia for research, while studying the book. It's estimated that a complete study guide would take between eight and ten weeks to complete. For Treasure Island, the study guide is in six sections, just like the book, with vocabulary, comprehension  and critical thinking questions for each. There is also an Overview section at the end, which may be used as a sort of "final test"; and suggestions for essay topics that may be used for a unit writing assignment.

How did we use it? The beginning of the study guide gives a little background information on the author and the setting of the story, and a brief synopsis of the book. We have already read this book together at least once, and were familiar with it, so after going over that with Landon and Kennady, I gave them the Prereading assignments to work on together, and we started reading the book as a read-aloud. The Prereading activities familiarize students with some of the terms and settings they will encounter, such as the types of ships and boats mentioned. My students looked up the different types of boats, and made quick drawings of a couple of them. (This drawing is Kennady's.) 

The study guide suggests reading the book in its entirety during the first week, and then re-reading in sections while working through the study guide. We couldn't finish the book as a read-aloud in a week, but we got as far as we could, and Landon had his own copy of the book and could read ahead and finish the book. So he has been working on the study guide on his own.

He has been doing very well with the vocabulary questions and the straight-forward comprehension questions, but struggles with many of the questions that require the student to speculate about character's motives or do a lot of 'reading between the lines'. Landon is a very concrete thinker, so describing the change in a character's demeanor, or putting into words why a character may have acted in a certain way is very challenging for him. I did feel that he did a decent job of answering those kinds of questions and the Christian application questions when he could respond orally and discuss them with me a little, rather than writing down his answers.

We have the study guide in an interactive pdf format, which means that Landon could type his answers into the document, but he has chosen not to do that, and prefers to have it printed out so he can write his answers. Part of the reason is that he doesn't have his own computer to work on right now, but I was a little surprised that he expressed a preference for writing rather than typing. Not that he really gave me much of an answer, but I think it's mostly that he finds it easier to have the book and the paper side by side when skimming for the answers to a question than to look from the screen to the book. I can respect that. Still, the interactive pdf is a nice option and certainly does save paper. I think we would have used it if the kids' computer had been in working order. (Especially since when we used this type of study guide a year ago, he really liked using the interactive feature! Our previous review is here: TOS Review - Progeny Press)

We haven't finished the entire study guide yet, but have looked through the Essay suggestions at the end of the study guide. Landon doesn't like to write, especially creative writing, but I think he will do well with one of the research assignments, such as writing an informative essay about sea shanties or writing a report on a famous pirate like Blackbeard or Henry Morgan. In fact, I think he will enjoy writing a report about a pirate or two!

What we liked best:

• user-friendly, adaptable study guide. I had two students working together on Prereading activities, only one student working in the study guide, and had discussions using the study guide as a starting point. Each worked out very well.
• literary devices explained in the study guide were easy to spot in the story - one example was foreshadowing, which is something even Literal-Minded Landon was able to pick up! 
• variety of activities in the Prereading and Essay sections - there were lots of ideas to choose from so there is something that a creative student would enjoy, and something that the analytical student can research.
• in the Answer Key, there are actually answers given for the opinion type questions! What a relief, and even more so if this had been for a book I wasn't familiar with! It made me very happy to see, "Answers will vary, but may mention something of the following..." Such a simple thing, but so helpful!

What I need to mention:

• As much as Landon enjoys this story and usually enjoys a good adventure book, he is not interested enough in literature for its own sake to really get into the questions that required more abstract thinking. He said he didn't like those questions and "didn't get it". In my opinion, it wouldn't much matter what kind of study guide he used, he just isn't wired to give a long and detailed answer about why a fictional character might have felt a certain way. My solution was to help him figure it out by talking it through with him. Frustrating for me? Yes, but it did help him give more than "I dunno. Just because." as his answer. If your student is kind of the same way, you might face some of the same frustration. That said, this study guide offered a good balance of comprehension questions - those that more or less asked "what happened here?" and those that asked "what might this character have been thinking?"
• be aware that the book is not included with the study guide, but can be purchased at the Progeny Press website.

Our bottom line: Although Landon wasn't quite as sold on doing the study guide as he'd originally sounded, this is an excellent introduction to literary analysis for him, and I will insist on him finishing the study guide. I truly appreciate the quality of these guides in teaching literature as well as providing meaningful Christian applications and critical thinking.

Would you like to add Progeny Press study guides to your library? Here's what you need to know:

Visit the website: http://progenypress.com

Check out the Frequently Asked Questions and the full listing of Progeny Press products.

Pricing: The study guide for Treasure Island is available as an instant download or on CD for $16.99; or as a printed booklet for $18.99. 

Recommended ages: This study guide is intended for students in Grades 5-8. Study guides are available for students at all grade levels, from Kindergarten through high school.

You can follow Progeny Press on Facebook or on Twitter.

Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more information and to read other Crew member reviews. Crew members reviewed a selection of products from Progeny Press - so be sure to check out their thoughts on other titles!

©2006-2013 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/

Blast from the Past - A Pirate's Life for Me!

Because Monday was Talk Like a Pirate Day, I was thinking pirate-y thoughts and decided that would be my theme for Blast from the Past for this week.  I am a fan of pirates.  I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Pirates ride at Disney that inspired the movies, and lighthearted pirate-themed fiction.









This is Harrison at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World - sitting at the officer's desk in the line to get on the ride.  He doesn't look very imposing.



If I could find the picture of Kennady and Landon getting autographs from Captain Hook and Mr Smee, I'd post it.  Kennady was quite frightened of Hook!  But here they are with Peter Pan and Wendy, who are not exactly pirates, but have enough connection to be included here.




And once again, a picture of me.  And a rare gem it is, too.



We had a dress-festive Christmas party at youth group a few years ago, and I dressed in character.  LOL

Arrrrrr, mateys! This scurvy post be anchored at Debbie's Digest where ye can see other Blasts from the Past, and join the crew!