Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me start off by saying that I am a native English speaker, and I am also an ESL teacher. I purchased this program so that I could use it to supplement my classes and give my students some extra practice. It has its up points and down points. Let me explain what I think of this program from a teacher's point of view. THE GOOD: 1) Like other "Learn to Speak" titles I would have to say that its strongest point is helping students learn vocabulary and pronunciation. It has some good vocabulary lists, a gauge that allows students to see how their recorded pronunciation compares to a native speaker, and wonderful simulated conversations that allow learners to practice English in a very life like manner. 2) It has several cultural movies about cities in the United States. They are very enjoyable and teach students about geography, history and U.S. culture while allowing them to practice their listening skills. 3) If students want to study something other than the lessons included on the four CDs, they can download additional lessons from the Internet. It is very easy to do, takes about ten minutes, and there are several topics to choose from. THE BAD: 1) The dictionary is good for nothing except helping students to pronounce words. Since this program is entirely in English, there is no translation for the words. It really is quite a useless dictionary! 2) You can't print anything! I thought it would be nice to print out the words and expressions so that students could take them home to practice them, but alas, you cannot. 3) The program (including instructions) is entirely in English. Don't get me wrong, there are many benefits to this, but if a student is using this for self-study I don't think they will get far before tiring of trying to understand all the English instructions. (For Spanish speakers I would suggest "Hablemos Ingles" from this same company.) 4) This program really is for lower level learners (first and second year.) My advanced students enjoyed the cultural movies, and found the simulated conversations novel, but the rest wasn't helpful to them. 5) If you already have version 7.0, then don't bother upgrading to this one. Only the simulated conversations are better. The movies and lessons seem to be the same - only organized a bit differently and in a more confusing manner. OVERALL: This is a good program if being used to supplement a current course or to give learners extra practice. I wouldn't recommend it for self-study because lower level students might have a hard time with the English instructions, and more advanced students would find it too easy. Definitely don't upgrade from version 7.0! If you are thinking about getting this program I would actually recommend that you get version 7.0 - you can find it for a much cheaper price, it is very nearly the same and it is organized better.