Music is amazing. It can inspire us, soothe us, incite us. It can also teach us.

That is the premise behind this delightful program for language learning. A CD of original songs and a companion volume of games and creative activities are available for French, Spanish, German and English. This is so much fun! One of my daughters is slogging through a French program and this brought a breath of fresh air to her studies. The vocabulary is easy to understand and the tunes are simple and catchy.

The topics of the songs include the alphabet, greetings, the home, the classroom, body parts, telling time, hygiene, leisure activities, clothing, weather and others.

This could be used in a straightforward fashion - listen to the CD and follow along with the book. But the author has added so many extra ideas and features! For example, you can play the radio game. (A template is provided in the manual.) When the radio is "on" the students sing out loud. When the teacher turns the radio "off," they must continue the song in their heads. When the radio is turned back on, the students should all be singing out loud in the same place in the song. Another game for learning items in a classroom is called "Passe-moi le Plateau." Classroom items are placed on a tray and it is passed around. As the student receives the tray, he must describe the item and take it off the tray, using a sentence and correct grammar. These ideas are simple, yet very creative, to engage different learning modes of all students.

The program is geared towards elementary and middle school students, but may be used by anyone. We certainly had fun listening and playing the games. The next day, they were still singing. Hooray! Language learning success!



--Product Review by: Christine Field, Senior Correspondent, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine