Lingo-Late.com recently published 12 Gamesforlanguage travel blog posts. They include experiences and advice staying in the cities of Barcelona and Seville for a month, as well as learning and practicing Spanish. Spain is a wonderful country to visit and to live in.
During their stay in Barcelona, the authors realized that knowing Spanish in Barcelona is not enough, as they studied and solved the mysteries of Catalan menus in their favorite restaurants; they experienced first hand how the conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish government in Madrid plays out in friends' comments, such as : “When I go to Spain...” or “The taxes we are paying to Spain...”. Many Catalan people don't see themselves as a part of Spain. In Seville they experienced the “Semana Santa” with often scary-looking procession participants; they were often challenged by the local dialect, a typical experience of many who learn the “standard” language. The experience with a local ATM and bank in Seville made it clear to them that English is not spoken everywhere.
Several posts also describe the benefits of traveling off-the-beaten track. In addition to visiting “must-sees” like Cadiz, Granada, Ronda, Cordoba, Toledo, visits to Carmona and Almagro offered particular experiences and insights.
For those who plan traveling to Spain or staying in a city for longer these posts can serve as a resource and guide.
GamesforLanguage.com has now placed “The Story” of its young traveler as six (6) podcasts for each of its four languages, French, German, Italian and Spanish, on its site. “The Story” describes in dialogue and narration the experiences of a young man as he travels through France, Germany, Italy and Spain respectively.
The useful and everyday language of “The Story” is also the basis for the vocabulary and various games in each of the courses.
Listen to the Level 1 podcast (6 Scenes) of your target language HERE, if you already have started to learn, and find out how much you understand.
Or just start a FREE course and surprise yourself how fast you'll learn by following the young man on his travels.
During our recent stay in Fribourg, Switzerland we experienced the city's joy about “We are Happy in Fribourg” and even have a cameo appearance in the video. Like many US towns and cities, Pharrell Williams' song “Happy” inspired Swiss film makers as well. You can find the link to the Newspaper article (How good is your French?) and the YouTube video at the end of our recent blog Bilingual in Fribourg, Switzerland.
We have recently been fielding inquiries from parents and camp counselors who wonder whether our GamesforLanguage programs are appropriate for homeschooling and summer camps. We always answer with an enthusiastic YES. In fact, our game-based programs are a great way to keep kids busy AND learning on rainy days. Once kids can read and write, they can play GamesforLanguage.
What are the GamesforLanguage program topics?
The 36 scenes of a course tell the story of a young man who travels to France, Italy, Spain, or Germany. The 4-14 line dialogs of each lesson – we call them “Scenes” - start with a conversation in the airplane, then cover visiting friends and family, some sightseeing, buying train/bus tickets, and ordering food. Along the way, tidbits of cultural information on each country are sprinkled in. (For example: Why did Mark Twain liked the name Heidelberg - where he lived for three months? Which French painter was a banker before he became famous?) The travel story engages the learner, provides relevant vocabulary, and creates a framework that ties everything together. Various games teach, review, and practice the vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation with points given for correct answers and completed games. (For voice recording, the player needs a microphone and Flash Player.) After the first few Scenes, players have to reach minimum scores in order to progress to the next Scene.
How does GamesforLanguage.com work?
We described both the idea of our program and its specifics in two recent blogs: The GamesforLanguage Program – Part 1: Approach and Methods, and Part 2: Games Summary. Even if children are following a specific language curriculum, GamesforLanguage will be a great and fun addition to their language learning, especially during the summer months and even later!
Hardware/Software
As this is an online program, you need a decent Internet connection, a PC/laptop with one of the modern and updated browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. as well as an updated Flash Player (for the recordings). You can even play our programs (without an Apple app) on an iPad and iPhone using iOS6, but – because Apple does not support the Flash player – the recording feature does not work on those devices. (We are hopeful that Android devices will soon be able to play our program as well.)
We also provide mp3 audios of each level which can be downloaded.
Pricing structures
Inquiries by summer camps have prompted us to develop different pricing structures for group purchases. And during May our FREE six-day trial provides a great opportunity for trying out GamesforLanguage!
Anybody who plans to travel to a Spanish-speaking country can benefit from our Spanish travel story. The story begins in an airplane as our young traveler David flies from Boston to Barcelona. His neighbor in the airplane starts a conversation with him. If you you don't quite understand it at the beginning just follow this YouTube clip and you will at the end. The clip shows only a few of the games that let you understand, read, speak, and write the words and phrases of this travel story - but you can try out our demos to see and hear fro yourself.
Anybody who plans to travel to a German-speaking country can benefit from our German travel story.
While in Heidelberg our young "hero" Michael discovers why Mark Twain may have liked the name of the town.
And - if you can understand the dialogue in this short YouTube clip - you may discover this as well - and even surprise your German friends or acquaintances...
Our FREE Blog posts, Quick Games and Podcasts can be accessed without registration, by just clicking on the links.
If you have ever been bored by unrelated phrases and grammar drills of other language programs these travel stories and interactive games will both entertain and teach you.
We believe that mid- to high beginners will especially benefit from our courses. They are completely FREE to use and you won't find any annoying Google advertisements either.
We only ask you to register for the courses so that you can continue where you left off.
Maybe you are only planning a short trip to Germany or a German-speaking country like Austria and Switzerland. The you'll want at the very least learn and practice the 11+ essential German words and phrases such as greetings and polite phrases.
On our sister site Lingo-Late.com you can learn and practice such essentials and also record yourself easily.
Anybody who plans to travel and wants to boost his/her language skills in French, German, Spanish, and Italian can benefit from our Travel Story.
A short YouTube video shows how you can PLAY and PRACTICE.
If you have ever been bored by unrelated phrases and grammar drills of other language programs these travel stories and interactive games will both entertain and teach you.
We believe that mid- to high beginners will especially benefit from our courses. They are completely FREE to use and you won't find any annoying Google advertisements either.
We only ask you to register for the courses so that you can continue where you left off.
Blog posts, Quick Games and Podcasts can be accessed without registration, by just clicking on the links.
We’ve now been here in Barcelona for a couple of weeks. OurSpanish is improving by leaps and bounds, and we are having great fun exploring the city. (see Gaudi's Casa Mila on your right.) We prepared for our stay with our Spanish 1 course and are pleased at how many words, phrases, and expressions from our course we see, hear, and read every day. During our walks around town, we practice with shop keepers, waiters, and anybody else we can talk to. We read the local El Periódico every morning, and watch some Spanish television at night. Our list of new words, which we review often, keeps growing.
Research for Spanish 2
We have started to take pictures of the advertised daily lunch or evening menus, asked for them in restaurants, and are compiling a list of the most common names of Spanish foods and dishes. These terms, together with other words and phrases that we encounter, will then become part of Spanish 2. (They’ll also be available as downloads on our site for those who are interested.)
Lingo-Late.com recently published 12 Gamesforlanguage travel blog posts. 
We have recently been fielding inquiries from parents and camp counselors who wonder whether our GamesforLanguage programs are appropriate for homeschooling and summer camps. We always answer with an enthusiastic YES. In fact, our game-based programs are a great way to keep kids busy AND learning on rainy days. Once kids can read and write, they can play GamesforLanguage.
man who travels to France, Italy, Spain, or Germany. The 4-14 line dialogs of each lesson – we call them “Scenes” - start with a conversation in the airplane, then cover visiting friends and family, some sightseeing, buying train/bus tickets, and ordering food. Along the way, tidbits of cultural information on each country are sprinkled in. (For example: Why did Mark Twain liked the name Heidelberg - where he lived for three months? Which French painter was a banker before he became famous?) The travel story engages the learner, provides relevant vocabulary, and creates a framework that ties everything together. Various games teach, review, and practice the vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation with points given for correct answers and completed games. (For voice recording, the player needs a microphone and Flash Player.) After the first few Scenes, players have to reach minimum scores in order to progress to the next Scene.
We described both the idea of our program and its specifics in two recent blogs: The GamesforLanguage Program – 
connection, a PC/laptop with one of the modern and updated browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. as well as an updated Flash Player (for the recordings). You can even play our programs (without an Apple app) on an iPad and iPhone using iOS6, but – because Apple does not support the Flash player – the recording feature does not work on those devices. (We are hopeful that Android devices will soon be able to play our program as well.) 
Anybody who plans to travel to a Spanish-speaking country can benefit from our Spanish travel story. The story begins in an airplane as our young traveler David flies from Boston to Barcelona. His neighbor in the airplane starts a conversation with him. If you you don't quite understand it at the beginning just follow this 
Anybody who plans to travel to a German-speaking country can benefit from our German travel story. 
Anybody who plans to travel and wants to boost his/her language skills in French, German, Spanish, and Italian can benefit from our Travel Story. 
We have started to take pictures of the advertised daily lunch or evening menus, asked for them in restaurants, and are compiling a list of the most common names of Spanish foods and dishes. These terms, together with other words and phrases that we encounter, will then become part of Spanish 2. (They’ll also be available as downloads on our site for those who are interested.)