Painter Bear's Language Bridge: English/Francais

PC version requires:
Windows 3.1/95/98/ME/2000

Mac version requires:
System 6+

Description:

Start by picking the language in which questions will be asked - if you want to be asked questions about French vocabulary in English, pick English; if you want French questions about English vocabulary pick Francais. A screen comes up with a set of pictures of vocabulary categories such as People, Adverbs, Adjectives, School, Animals and Geography. It also features a bouncing bear called Leonardo, who provides instructions and help.

Click on one of the pictures and answer multiple choice vocabulary questions in that category, e.g. 'what is the French word for quickly?' in Adverbs. All the possible answers are spoken. Listen to the pronunciation or go ahead and click on the answer. Painter Bear rewards correct answers by painting part of a bridge. Answer ten correctly and the painting is finished. It gets added to the Bridge Gallery where it can be viewed. Then play a game, driving a car past obstacles and over the bridge. Note that if you don't click 'Save Settings' when leaving, progress is not saved to the next session.

Features:

• paint 10 bridges
• 31 vocabulary categories
• over 1000 words/phrases
• search for any word in game
• reward driving sequence
• performance tracking
• printable reports
• 6 page User Manual (PDF or HTML)

Technical Aspects:

At one point an error message came up saying 'Problem opening SWASTRM.X32' but the program continued to run afterwards. It was slow at times. It also gave the translation for 'slowly' as 'doucement', whereas 'lentement' would be the correct word.

Someone with auditory difficulty could use the program as spoken information (aside from help) is provided in text form. However the pronunciation of words, one of the values of the title, would be missed.

Report and Conclusions:

The grouping of words (and some phrases) into categories allows the program to be tied in to classroom themes and the driving game breaks up the drills and provides a reward for success. The age range indicated for this title is 3 and up. Certainly older kids who are starting French would benefit from the vocabulary training, but many kids 8 and up would be embarrassed by the cuteness of the bear and might find the appearance of the program too babyish - that was certainly my 10 year old's reaction.

Overall this is a cute, useful and nicely done program for younger kids who speak English and are beginning to learn French, or vice versa.