Speak to Win: American English

Gr 7 Up—Want to learn American English? A perky cheerleader teaches lessons that promise success in only 15 minutes a day. No books or pens required. American accents and idioms assured. (Or so the DVD case promises.) The truth? Not so much. The program provides a clear introduction to the concepts of verb conjugations—"to be" in past and present tenses, present continuous (gerunds), and present simple. There is also information on the use of articles "a," "an," and "the," as well as contractions. Conjugation lessons include how to create a positive statement, a negative statement, and a question as well as a final drill in each tense. All information is clearly spoken, and the information is solid. However, the sentences used to illustrate the conjugations strive for a rhyming pattern rather than utility. Most are not sentences that would be used in daily life and no idioms are evident. The hostess is filmed against a blue background, and the words are shown against a white background, but lamentably, there are few visuals to supplement these words. Granted, the focus is on verbs, but a chance to build valuable vocabulary is missed. The final result is an unexciting, lecture-style program that might be useful for those who already have some English knowledge, and would appreciate the practice in conjugation. Lessons can be viewed in order or selected individually. This cannot be recommended as a primary tool for learning English, but might prove a useful supplement.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA