| Software
Title: Smart Start German - Syracuse |
| Publisher : |
Syracuse |
| Age Group : |
10
- 12 |
| Curriculum Area : |
German Language Software |
| Year of Publication : |
1998 |
| Mac, PC or other : |
PC |
| Recommended Price |
£20.00 |
Smart Start opens with a busy main
menu. The user chooses one of three modes:
Listening, Reading and Speaking. Thereafter
one of the following subjects is selected Food, Numbers, Home and Office, People,
Activities, Places and Transportation. On
selecting a topic various options are presented according to different levels. Level one deals with nouns, level two with
phrases, and level three with conversations and dialogues.
| Overview of
Teaching with this Title |
This product addresses listening,
speaking and reading in three levels: nouns, phrases and conversations. It covers a variety of topics outlined above.There
are no modifications that can be made for special needs pupils. Weak students found this product confusing and
frustrating.The product offers useful amusing conversations in German, which can be slowed
down and practised by individuals.
The software title was used in small groups of two or three at the computer but is used by individuals.
The product is extremely difficult to navigate. From
the onset there are too many choices presented. Each
selection should be placed on a separate frame. On
subsequent frames there are too many and too similar icons on each screen. The pupils were quickly frustrated and confused.
The strength of this product lies in the German dialogues that use real German accents and
tell amusing stories. Users can practise the
conversations and then give the responses of one of the characters and hear it being
played. Teacher preparation of vocabulary,
prior to software use, is recommended.
One mistake was noted where 600 is
written on screen and 900 is spoken.With regard to gender, you can choose a voice to be
male, female or a child.The language is sometimes more difficult than necessary. Conversations don't include adequate repetition of
useful words and phrases. Children found the
product style to be somewhat stilted.
The program has multiple levels of difficulty however each topic has a limited selection.The
user has control over the rate of delivery and the level of difficulty.
The skills of Listening, speaking and reading are addressed but information is poorly
structured to support leaming.
One mistake was noted where 600 is
written on screen and 900 is spoken.With regard to gender, you can choose a voice to be
male, female or a child.The language is sometimes more difficult than necessary. Conversations don't include adequate repetition of
useful words and phrases. Children found the
product style to be somewhat stilted.The program has multiple levels of difficulty however
each topic has a limited selection.The user has control over the rate of delivery and the
level of difficulty.
There is no record keeping or management system. There
is a type of dictionary of letters and sounds however the words are not in alphabetical
order.
The product must be installed manually
before running but it launches quickly enough for classroom use.It responds quickly enough
to input from a child.
To my knowledge, there is no network version of the program available.
The CDROM used for this project was run on one PC only.
There is no record keeping or management system. There
is a type of dictionary of letters and sounds however the words are not in alphabetical
order.
The documentation is clearly separated
into elements that deal with running the software and those that deal with classroom
practise. A booklet accompanies each CD. It
contains a table of contents, notes on the main menu, game selection, mode selection, some
learning tips, notes on using the automatic speech recognition, and explanation on all the
games. It also contains technical information
related to installation, starting and running the program audio and video and
miscellaneous problems. The loading and operating instructions are clear. Every aspect of
the product is outlined in the booklet so that the user does not need to run the software
to know what it contains, however it requires some practise to become familiar with the
interface.
There are no extra resources provided with the program.
