English as a Second Language

The Learnables® English language course consists of a series of interactive CD-ROM discs designed to provide simultaneous display of illustration, text, and audio input for beginning, intermediate, and advanced language learners. The interactive computer instructional course of The Learnables® consists of hundreds of hours of language immersion that enables instructors to reduce markedly education costs. The system works well with a variety of instructional methodologies and within all language settings. Its system of instruction is equally effective with young children and adults.

The effectiveness of The Learnables® computer interactive course has been carefully evaluated. It has been administered to large numbers of students in a number of different languages since its initial development in 1976. The Learnables® advanced linguistic technology has been demonstrated to be effective, successful, and cost-saving.

English as a Second Language Includes 3 levels:

Beginning Level: The Beginning Level disc is designed for students with little or no understanding of English. Each lesson contains 100 items, exercises, games, movies, and slide shows. It emphasizes basic nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositions, and singular and plural forms.

Intermediate Level: This disc is a comprehensive disc of grammatical and content units. A major component of this disc is the advanced preposition unit which covers all major English prepositions, such as across, except, beside, between, among, against, through etc. Content areas include Family, Animals, Human Body, Food, Clothing, and Grooming. Grammatical units include Still and Again, Numbers, Present Perfect, Relative Clause, Reflexives, Basic Negatives and Future.

Advanced Level: Going to the dentist, Big and Small words fully presented, such as enormous, minute, widen, gigantic, enlarge, speck, etc. Big and Small words are used frequently in English and are essential for adult conversation. Eating and food terms, Placement terms, Walking terms, Stories told in present tense and repeated in past tense, Stories using modal verbs, such as would, could, should, might, etc.

Evaluation Exercises

An evaluation exercise for each unit, scored by the computer, enables the instructor to establish the student’s level of English competence. All units are presented through the use of easy-to-play CD-ROMs and each subsequent unit builds on the grammar and vocabulary of the previous unit. Short-story sequences and appropriately placed sound effects motivate the student to achieve a high level of success.

The Learnables® interactive, immersion program utilizes research-proven procedures. 

1. All Language Concepts Are Sequenced According To Conceptual Difficulty. After A Concept Has Been Introduced, It Appears Frequently In Subsequent Units.
2. All Programs Contain Input Of The Three Important Senses Essential For Learning A Second Language: Audio Input, Pictorial Input, And Text Input.
3. An Auditory Presentation Accompanies Every Verbal Unit Spoken Clearly And At A Moderate Rate By Professional Speakers. Students Listen To Thousands Of Sentences In Each Unit. Initially Students Hear Short Sentences. Gradually, The Sentences Increase In Length, Enabling The Student To Process Audio Input Without Difficulty.
4. The Meaning Of All Words, Phrases, And Sentences Is Presented Through The Use Of Clearly Illustrated Pictures That Convey The Meaning Of The Grammar And Vocabulary Contained In The Respective Sentence. Each Level Contains From 1,000 To More Than 4,000 Pictures.
5. Written Texts Appear Below The Pictures, Enabling The Student Simultaneously To See The Illustration, Hear The Language Unit Spoken, And See The Written Text. The Simultaneous Presentation Of Text, Audio Input, And Picture Enables The Student To Grasp Quickly The Meaning Of Each Sentence.
6. The Learnables® Language Computer Course Is A Specially Designed Sequence Of Grammatical And Topical Subjects That Promote Effective And Rapid Language Learning. The Course Begins With Relatively Simple Concepts And Gradually Introduces More Complex Grammar And Subject Matter. Early Concepts Include Aspects Of Eating, Shopping, House Routines, And Family Considerations, Whereas Later Concepts Include Past Tense, Present Perfect, Future Tense, Modals, Geometric Shapes, Time, Explanations And Conditionals.
7. The Vocabulary And Grammar Are Presented In Contextual Format, Using Sequential Scripts. For Example, To Teach The Verb “Pick Up” An Item Falls To The Floor And Then A Person Picks It Up. As Another Example, To Teach “Take Off” And “Land” Of An Airplane, The Following Sequence Is Presented: An Airplane Takes Off, Passengers Eat On The Airplane, And Then The Airplane Lands. The Learnables® Approach Is To Use Sequences, Not Isolated Sentences, As Is Common In Other Language Courses.
8. Acquiring Conversational Competence Requires Hearing Thousands Of Conversations In Which A Large Number Of Vocabulary Units Appear. Additionally The Vocabulary Items Appear With Words With Which They Are Commonly Associated, Called Collocations. For Example, Large Goes With Eggs In The Supermarket. We Buy Large Eggs, Not Big Eggs. The Number Of Collocations In A Language Is Very Large, But They Can Be Learned When The Student Has An Opportunity To Hear Many Conversations On A Regular Basis. Some Examples Of Common Collocations Are For Bread: Dark Toast, For Meat: Well Done; For Hotel: Chamber Maid, But Room Service; For Television: Watch Television, But See A Movie; For Mowing: Mow The Grass And Cut The Grass, Mow The Lawn, But Not Cut The Lawn; For School Paper: Term Paper, But Not Semester Paper; For Ovation: Standing Ovation, But Not Sitting Ovation; For A Movie: Rerelease, But For A Play: Revival. The Collocations Of A Language Can Only Be Learned In Context, By Hearing Or Reading How They Are Used. The Learnables® English Language Course Immerses The Learner In A Great Many Conversations Across A Wide Spectrum Of Topics That Include A Large Number Of Collocations.