Thursday, December 20, 2012

ESL: English Second Language

The library system where I work serves a population that is ~30% Hispanic as well as having Russian and Vietnamese families. There is often a request for ESL resources like that of Rosetta Stone (as well as free classes).

Aside from the database Powerspeak Languages, we offer a variety of ESL sets from Ingles Sin Barreras to Learning English steps 1-2-3. I just saw however that the US Department of State has an American English website and a new game called Trace Effects. The Digital Shift provides a review and I logged in to see what it was like. The opening narrative is a bit cheesy, but the game requires you to move around and engage in conversation and tasks, which require you to use certain prescribed etiquette, hence the learning aspect. This is how Americans speak, these are the formalities of interaction.

My one gripe is that everything is in English and so a true beginner is not going to know what is going on and on the flip side someone who understands the English to navigate the game may find the scenarios tiresome. But, it may provide a nice review and hey, it's a game.

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