Middlebury Interactive Languages~ High School German (Review)

We were fortunate this fall to receive the offer to re-review  High School German I  for Middlebury Interactive Languages. You may recall that I reviewed it last fall, but due to various constraints we were not able to continue it for the 2nd semester, so my son was not able to receive a full language credit for the course. With a second chance to check it out, I am hopeful that he will be able to complete the full course so that I can give him credit this time around. :)

As a refresher, the course *is* interactive, and hits a number of learning styles, with exercises in listening to native speakers, recording auditory answers, and watching videos. Not entirely immersive, but close. Each unit has a similar layout in that they introduce new vocabulary, grammar patterns, culture videos, speaking and writing activities, reading and listening activities. The units have a variety of interactive exercises to help reinforce the vocabulary and grammar concepts.  There are also pop quizzes and tests which are automatically graded.

Here is a look at the first semester objectives. you can see the pop out where I clicked on Unit 3 to show what would be learned that week:

The lessons are accessed a couple of ways.
Via a calendar (which still doesn't have the ability to be adjusted to accommodate personal homeschool schedules, as we weren't able to access the program until after the lessons had "started" on the calendar, so started out "behind." I'd also like the ability to move lessons over a day to account for field trips and holidays ~ homeschool teacher access to the calendar is still on my wishlist,)

You see that you can click on the calendar date, from there click on the Unit Lesson, and the list with checkboxes and lesson slides show up. If the lesson hasn't been done, the student simply clicks on the slide and it begins. The green checkmarks are for the activities that have been completed.

The other way that the lessons can be accessed is through the table of contents. Here you can see the "Tips to Become a Successful Online Learner" slide from the introduction. As with the calendar view,  the checkmarks on the left of the screen show which activities have been completed. The bold letters show the current slide. You can also see that I randomly clicked on Lesson 2 to open up the menu and check to see which activities were done.

If you want to check on the student grade, you also have that option, via the dashboard:

If you click on the "grade-book" link on the left hand side it opens up a list of the quizzes and tests that have been taken with their grades. You can then click on the "Grade Report" button on the left side to see the student grade average. 

So far my son is still reviewing the lessons he went through last fall, but he definitely has a better handle on the language at this point, and it shows up in daily conversation, which is fun. He enjoys the breadth of the activities, and the fact that they aren't all exactly the same.

I think this is a great way to learn a language, and with a few little tweaks (ie: calendar access for the homeschool teacher), I think it would be fantastic!

The Elementary and Middle School courses look like they would be great also. It is worth noting that they suggest going straight to High School German II if the student has completed Middle School II.

  

Not So Nutty Nitty Gritty 

• Company: Middlebury Interactive Languages
• Product: High School German I 
• Ages: High School
• Price: $119/semester without teacher support. There is also an option *with* teacher support for $294/semester (not included in this review).

Please click the banner below to visit the TOS Review Crew and see what others had to say. As always, I hope that this review was useful to you as you choose where best to spend your homeschool budget.

Blessings~