Thing # 6

www.mangolanguages.com
For my Thing # 6 task, I needed to look at a Web 2.0 tool, play with it, and write a review of my experience. I chose Mango because I love learning new languages. In my 18 years of military service, there were many times I had need to learn a little or a lot of a certain language. No matter where one goes, I believe it is always important to know a few key terms, for example: “Hello, please, thank you, you’re welcome, excuse me, where is the (anything), and how much is this?” As a teacher candidate it is even more important for me to educate myself on the native languages of my students.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE SITE- Mango is a pay subscription site. I liked the fact that I didn't need to subscribe to the site before trying it out. My SPAM box has increased exponentially since I signed up for Education 3040. The site allowed me to use the “Try a Lesson” without having to give up my email address or credit card number. I attempted a Russian lesson because I did not have any previous experience with the Russian language. After my lesson, I felt pretty confident that I could use the formal form of the Russian language for polite small talk.
The lesson combined the actual written spelling, phonetic spelling, and audio to gain complete understanding of a word or phrase.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE ABOUT THE SITE- The "Try a Lesson" section did not combine photos or visual cues to help with comprehension or memory storage. I used Rosetta stone before and Rosetta Stone will show a picture of a man eating an apple along with the phrase, "Der Mann apfel essen". So I can see the man eating an apple and put photo image of the phrase into my memory. Perhaps the full pay subscription of Mango does the same thing, but I don't know. Any case, I enjoyed everything else about this Web 2.0 site.
USEFUL FEATURES- The lesson allows the user to run the mouse over the Russian word to see a phonetic spelling of the word for better verbal comprehension. The lesson also allows the user to move forward and backward in the lesson. The "Try a Lesson" section does not have a time limit for trying it out. The site will allow a user to try a lesson for every language it supports.

This site can be immensely useful for English Language Learners, as well as teachers and parents of English Language Learners. Any school with a Mango subscription could easily enrich the education of ELL students and all students in general. Also, setting up Mango as part of a high school language program could be useful for anyone enrolled in a foreign language.

I took formal classes to learn Spanish and German. I learned a little Korean by a combination of written lessons and conversation. Using interactive tools that combine audio, visual, spelling, semantics, grammar, and voice recognition work better for me. I believe that total immersion is the best way to learn a language, but when that is not possible, sites such as Mango can be the next best thing.