Real English

Age Range: 10-Adult
Platform: Windows
Medium: CD-ROM
Cost: 399 FF ­ (approximately US$65)

Company: The Marzio School
Phone (France): 33 (0)4 42 55 16 82

Description:

Real English® guides beginners and more advanced students through a functional and grammatical learning experience in London, New York, San Francisco, Dublin, Atlanta, Edinburgh and dozens of other towns and cities throughout the English-speaking world in both hemispheres.

Real English® is based on interviews of people we have met on the streets of English-speaking towns and cities throughout the world. The people who answer the questions speak real English because they speak normally. They make no effort to speak clearly. They are not actors, or actresses. They speak naturally, spontaneously. This is a rarity in the world of English-language training if it exists at all.

Questions are asked so as to elicit most of the major grammar structures and survival functions that a beginner needs to learn to get started in the language. Real English® makes the reality of everyday English accessible to learners at the elementary level. The material is authentic, the diversity of Anglo-Saxon accents and cultures is extremely rich, but it is broken down into universally recognized structures, from the simplest to the more advanced. The material is authentic, the language is real, but this reality has finally become manageable, i.e., useable for students working alone or with a teacher.

Real English® is based on the premise that it is important to avoid the temptation of speaking artificially. Slow, distinct speech may simplify the learner's task, but it gives him a false sense of confidence.

The objective is also to get the student used to several accents from the beginning. Even if he plans on a career in a company on Main Street, he's bound to hear colleagues who come from the High Street. Diversity from square one is vital.

And let there be street noise and other normal, extraneous sounds! Just be sure to use professional microphones so the best ears can hear everything that can be heard. And make sure the microphones are directional, pointed straight at the interviewee. In short, let the learner hear real English from the beginning as if he were having the conversation himself.

Features:

• The method includes 8 types of exercises which put all four skills to work: listening, speaking, typing, and reading.
• The video presentation phase of each lesson is immediately followed by a phrase-by-phrase dissection of each video, so that the learner can record his own voice and compare it to the native speaker. If the learner desires, he can see at a glance if he is imitating the voice of an American or a New Zealander, etc.
• Voice recognition exercises are implemented, not only to test the learner's limits of comprehensibility, but also to give him additional motivation to practice speaking.
• Bilingual grammar notes are interjected every time the spontaneity happens to bring up a note-worthy point, degrees of formality and informality, or a difference between American and British English, for example.
• The user has easy, constant access to a bilingual glossary containing every word and phrase heard or read in the method. For the moment, the native speaker languages for the bilingual sections include Spanish, French, or German (the learner chooses his native language upon installation).

For further information, click here

We hope you found what you needed on this page. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.



Howard J. Bender, Ph.D.
President
The Education Process Improvement Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 186
Riverdale, Maryland 20738
hjbender@epicent.com