Visual Link Spanish review

[Ariston]

I've been following some threads on here about Visual Link Spanish and I decided to get it last week after receiving a good coupon from them. I bought the bundle which includes all the levels. My kids have been using it for one week now and I just wanted to post back and say how amazed I am with the results in case anyone else is looking for a Spanish program.

 

I really just can't believe how much my kids have learned in only a week, spending about 15 minutes each day. Even my 6 year old, who I have done almost NO Spanish with has picked up so much and can now tell you how to say "I want to go to the pool" or a dozen other phrases after just one week!

 

My son has always had good comprehension and a decent vocabulary, but now for the first time he is actually putting sentences together on his own. Their method of focusing on sentence building rather than isolated vocabulary has really gotten my kids speaking, and I'm really excited to see how much they can learn with this program since the first week has gone so well!

 

At first I really thought it wouldn't work since the first lesson seems like it has so many phrases to learn, but it has really been very painless and effective. I just have my kids repeat the lessons each day until they have it down, then they move on to the next one. The combination of listening, speaking, and seeing the little GIF's has really worked for them. Even my husband has said he wants to use it after seeing the results, and he has always rebuked any other attempts to teach him Spanish (ever since I SUPPOSEDLY corrected him 15 years ago in S. America when he attempted to order coffee :glare: .)

 

What I Love:

• it has them speaking in full sentences, tear-free (even though kids normally really resist speaking!)
  
• almost completely independent and excellent for non-readers. (To do the games I do need to sit at the keyboard and type for the kids, but for the actual lessons the child doesn't need to be able to read or type at all, which is great.)
  
• the clear accents of the native speakers (I particularly like that in the pronunciation section they let you choose between a more neutral accent and an Argentine accent.)
  
• You can record your self and compare it to the native speakers (and even play a bowling game where you knock down more pins the better your accent is. This is a little glitchy, but still fun.)
  
• Lots of repetition and reinforcement
  
• Good mix and pacing of different types of activities.
  
• Kids can repeat lessons as many times as they want to adjust pacing to different learners
  
• Games are adjustable to make it easy or insanely difficult
  
• I contacted customer service about a small problem during my order, and they responded almost immediately and cleared it up.
  

What I don't love:

• Teaches Usted (formal 'you') before Tú (informal 'you'.) I get why they do this (because the conjugation is the same as for 'he or she', but I wish they started with Yo and Tú which is much more useful for a child in my opinion.
  
• Wish they started off with more immediately useful vocabulary like foods and drinks, but they do get to that stuff fairly soon. At least its not as bad as all the programs geared towards business travelers that start off with phrases about needing to find a fax machine and recommending restaurants.
  
• The games are great, but do get a little repetitive (for me at least, the kids have not complained.)
  
• One part of the bundle that I bought is online, not a download. This seems to be very slow and glitchy. For this reason I would not recommend going the monthly online subscription route. The download seems like the way to go.
  

Overall though, I am extremely pleased and its going down as one of my best HS purchases! The more advanced levels are also good, and they cover ALL the verb tenses. I am finding the games useful to brush up on grammar, and there is something called a Spanish Comprehension Trainer which seems very useful. Overall, this seems like it would basically cover ALL levels of Spanish learning. My young kids are learning from it, but it would be just as useful for a high schooler or adult.

 

HTH, Elena

[TarynB]

We use it too and I agree with everything you wrote - including the part about the download vs. the online subscription. We had the same problem online and switched to the download version when it went on a good sale. I expect DS will keep using it through all the levels. Thanks for posting such a helpful, detailed review!

[Random]

Thank you for the review. It's much appreciated!