European Day of Languages Competition Results

Here are the results of our language competition in support of the Council of Europe's European Day of Languages on September 26.

All players who scored more than 500 points by September 30 received a FREE 1-month subscription to 10/31/2013 and the top scorers in each language were:

Congratulations to all the winners and runner-ups!

MommyMaestra.com reviews Gamesforlanguage

MommyMaestra.com, a site of “Discoveries of a Latina Homechooler” recently reviewed our program and, naturally, our Spanish course. The reviewer found that “Gamesforlanguage is a fun way to complement more comprehensive courses and can be used as a weekly reward or incentive.”

Read the full review HERE.

Homeschooling & Summer Camp Fun & Practice with GamesforLanguage

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!

Foreign Language Learning with Games and a 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.

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 are in Barcelona!

Spanish 1 works for us

We’ve now been here in Barcelona for a couple of weeks. Our Spanish 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.)

Games For Language Expands Boston's HTML5 Gaming Scene

BostInnovation posted the following article and interview of BostInnovation's Kevin McCarthy with the website developer, our son Pascal F. Rettig of Cykod.com.

Cykod's Webiva CMS was instrumental in developing the GamesForLanguage system.