PowerSpeak Spanish (online) reviews?

[HeidiKC]

I was planning on having my son use Powerspeak Spanish next year - he'll be in 5th grade, so we'll use the Intermediate Level or whatever they call the one for Middle School. We downloaded a "2-week" trial (14 lessons, I think it was) and it seemed pretty good and was also fun. I like that he gets to listen to the language as well and it's something different - visual/computer "game".

 

We're going to do Latin for Children, so I don't want to overwhelm him with another language where he has to do "work" and I think using it online won't seem as much like "work" to him and a bit more fun.

 

Anyway, I was all set on this and then I saw another poster who listed it when someone asked for curriculum people hated. She said it was horrible! So I'm hoping I'll get some other positive reviews and maybe it just wasn't right for her child. Reviews I've read online seem pretty good.

 

I know a lot of people have use PowerGlide, which was the previous version and was only CDs you'd listen to, right? If that's the case, I'm not so interested in reviews of that. A big reason I'm interested in PowerSpeak is that it seems like a "computer game".

 

Thanks for any input!

[nmoira]

Bumping, 'cause I'm the one who made the comments in question.

 

I know a lot of people have use PowerGlide, which was the previous version and was only CDs you'd listen to, right? If that's the case, I'm not so interested in reviews of that. A big reason I'm interested in PowerSpeak is that it seems like a "computer game".

 

There are some supplemental games. However, the majority of the program is exactly the same as before: scanned-in pages from the books and the accompanying audio.

 

I was more patient with PowerGlide than I should have been, but since we were using it as a supplement, I kept giving them one more chance. Here's my review from the August 2009:

 

DD used Power Glide Elementary (online) as a Spanish supplement and I was very disappointed with it. Occasionally files are missing or mixed up, scripts deviate from audio files, the promised "mouse over" vocab features from the stories are only implemented in a handful of lessons, there is little built-in review, words were occasionally used in timed activities before being introduced, and the daily work seems very light... rather like 3 months of work distributed over 180 days. These lessons are not 30-60 minutes as promised on the website. I was emailing their support with every couple of days to tell them about missing or mixed up components. Most corrections were not made, or at least not made within a month's time. During this time, the tech guys did manage to come up with a new mouse icon. :001_rolleyes:

 

 

 

I'd heard the Middle School program was better, so DD chose to move on. We lasted about 2 weeks before a major (20 minute) audio file was missing... on pronunciation of all things! At that point I just asked for a refund. That there are still missing files is inexcusable -- the online program has been up and running for over a year and is used by both Alpha Omega and K12.

 

 

 

As for the quality of the underlying program, both Elementary and Middle School programs are almost entirely in English (with the exception of the Story Time feature in Elementary; each week starts out in English and more Spanish is substituted in each lesson until the story is entirely in Spanish). Even absent the technical and layout difficulties, I would not recommend using it as a sole or even main program.

 

[HeidiKC]

Moira - thanks so much for your post. First - can you please tell me what bumping is or how it works??? I keep seeing it and searched for a post that might explain it but I don't have a clue. So I don't know what you mean about bumping this post. Is it bad or good?!

 

Yikes, sounds like LOTS of problems with Powerspeak Spanish, but the worst part is that they didn't fix them! And how the heck did it get through QA without all those errors being caught. We did the 14-day trial and it too nowhere near the suggested 30+ minutes. It took maybe 10-15. Which was fine with me because I don't want to spend a lot of time with Spanish and it will be secondary (to Latin). But I think it's misleading for them to tell people 30+ minutes/day. Were they difficult when it came to getting your refund and how is their Customer Service?

 

What do you use now? I really want a Spanish program that he thinks is fun and uses audio files, preferably a computer program which is why I was drawn to Powerspeak. I thought it would be something he could do late in the day when the other kids are coming home from school and he doesn't need my help, and he gets time on the computer.

 

Heidi

[nmoira]

Moira - thanks so much for your post. First - can you please tell me what bumping is or how it works??? I keep seeing it and searched for a post that might explain it but I don't have a clue. So I don't know what you mean about bumping this post. Is it bad or good?!

In board view, the threads are ordered according to recent activity. Bumping just means making a post to the thread to bring it back up near the "top" so more people are likely to see it. Nothing bad.

 

Were they difficult when it came to getting your refund and how is their Customer Service?

No problem. I asked for the refund within the stated period (30 days?) and that was it.

 

What do you use now? I really want a Spanish program that he thinks is fun and uses audio files, preferably a computer program which is why I was drawn to Powerspeak. I thought it would be something he could do late in the day when the other kids are coming home from school and he doesn't need my help, and he gets time on the computer.

We have used lots of different programs, primarily the Learnables Spanish. Now that DD the Elder is comfortable with the language and has "naturally" picked up a decent working vocabulary I'm planning on working through a grammar based approach (So You Really Want to Learn Spanish? from Galore Park). We also use simple chapter books... Magic Tree House turned out to be a great vocabulary builder... go figure. :tongue_smilie: However, the Learnables is probably as far away from exciting as you can get, so I wouldn't recommend it for your son. You might want to start a new thread asking for recommendations.

[nmoira]

*bump*

 

Like this. :)

[HeidiKC]

bump

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I am probably not much help since we are using the first elementary level of Powerspeak German. At first I was not that keen on it since there is no book or grammar discussion. After using it for 4 months, I do like it. It is immersion style. It presents an adventure story with a boy and girl in English as well as new vocabulary. Then they add more and more German in to the stories. The story evolves as the year goes. The reason I do like it is that my ds and I are actually learning to understand quite a bit of German. I was surprised at how much we are understanding. OTOH I am not sure how that we could speak it very well.

 

I think I heard that the middle school and high school levels use grammar as well and I have not seen these levels so they may be very different from Elementary level.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

DS is using Powerspeak for Middle School Spanish. It is very much like a game. I was excited at the beginning but now all I feel is disappointment. DS is having fun and does his lesson every day. I don't think he is learning much though. Everything is done on the computer and revolves around game play. The student can earn money by playing the games and use that money to develop a character. The money/character is a neat incentive to play the games but...

 

With the exception of short answers on some of the quizzes and tests there is no writing involved. The verbal assignments (which require a special set of headphones) are a joke. If the student says something sounding remotely like the word or phrase full credit is given.

 

You can print out the vocab lists and some of the other info but you need to look for the "printer friendly" message on the pages that can be printed; not all pages can be printed.

 

I registered for Powerspeak under K12 when K12 was offering a discount on tuition. I still paid quite a bit and I don't think it was worth the money.

 

I am currently looking for another program for DS to use next year.

 

I am curious to read what others say about Powerspeak.

[HeidiKC]

Yikes - I'd sure like to hear someone say they love it! Do you think he wasn't learning much because there wasn't enough vocabulary, grammar, etc. or was it just that being taught via computer rather than writing meant that he wouldn't retain it as well?

 

Seems like several people thought they didn't learn much but I can't get a handle on why that was - was there enough Spanish but it wasn't presented in a way kids retain it?

 

Do you think it would help a lot if I did something like pint out some of the pages and have him conjugate the words on paper? Is that the kind of thing you think is missing - written work?

 

Thanks so much - this is very helpful!

[amtmcm]

Hi Heidi,

 

Here's my reply from your related post:

 

Is PowerSpeak the online version of PowerGlide? We own PowerGlide and I think it's pretty fun. It's English and Spanish mixed together in a story and the story slowly becomes more and more Spanish and less English.

 

I wanted help to keep DD accountable, so I repurchased this from Switched-on Schoolhouse. SOS based their Elementary and Middle School programs off PowerGlide. I like it, especially with the lessons all on computer and SOS keeps track of her assignments for me. It gets done with very little effort from me. I do have to say though, I'm glad I have the old PowerGlide workbook because I do occasionally refer to it to help her practice speaking and quiz her on what she's learning in SOS.

 

I will add that we're about 6 weeks into SOS Middle School Spanish and I believe DD is retaining the lessons. When I quiz her from the PowerGlide workbook she does fine. SOS also includes quizzes to check her progress and there is some writing which I have to grade manually. I don't think SOS has many games (if any). Learning vocabulary through the story is definitely the major objective of the SOS lessons.

[Guest rsinj]

I will say right up front that our experience with PowerSpeak is with our daughter who is currently using the French/middle school version so your mileage may vary.

 

To make a long story short, we've found the site/software buggy. It has problems and as a result we're looking for alternatives for next year. We originally had high hopes as our daughter was initially hooked on it and enjoyed using it. Unfortunately, the problems have turned us off and now we just have to finish out the year with it.

 

Howard

[iammommy]

We've been using the elementary Spanish most of this school year. Ds enjoys it, but I can't say he's learning as much as I thought he would. But I really just wanted a light intro to Spanish and that's what it is. It's fun, and we've had no software bugs at all.

 

We had tried the German, but my nephew, who is majoring in German at college and is an honor language student, said the German pronunciation was horrible in Powerspeak Elementary German. Since I don't know German, we ditched it because I was afraid my ds would be learning improper pronunciation.

 

I'm not sure if we'll continue with it next year, as I think I want something meatier. I'll check out the next level and see what I think. I DO like that ds does it willingly, enjoys it and has learned some Spanish.

[Guest ische]

I realize this thread is almost 1 year old, but I have to make a comment regardless ;)

I am a native German speaker and have to tell you that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the German pronunciation....it is perfect....at times maybe a tad over-accentuated like in "Maedchen"....but imho it is done that way so a young learner will get it perfectly right from the start.

 

I am looking into purchasing the MS Spanish program for my dd....and to get an idea of how good the quality of this program is....pronunciation etc......I checked their German demo classes. The German parts sound like their spoken by natives, you can totally trust this program to teach your children the right pronunciation.

[newbie]

Kaka, you like my Spanish.

 

Its juvenile and you dont learn much. Apexlearning had a better program.

 

DD said she didnt learn anything w/Powerspeak.

[Guest ische]

what does 'kaka' mean?