Software to make learning Spanish easier

For most Spanish students, teachers whipped out the Viva! text book and accompanying practice book and students read along learning that “Hola” means “Hello”, verb conjugations and a little about the Spanish culture.

This year, the way Form Ones learn the language will be transformed with the inclusion of the Rosetta Stone software on laptops designated to students who entered into secondary school last month. Government has signed a contract with the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) for the use of the programme in teaching Spanish which, according to a 2003 Curriculum Development Division document, has been “accorded second national language status by the government of Trinidad and Tobago.”

Rosetta Stone, within recent years, has earned the reputation as a leading computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software designed to help users learn new languages easily and quickly. It is named after the artifact (of the same name) which assisted linguists in understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. The software, according to the company’s website (http://www.rosettastone.com), assists millions of people in unlocking language learning.

The idea for the development of the software, according to the website, was the brainchild of Allen Stoltzfus who had difficulty learning Russian in the 80s but learnt German easily by assimilating German culture and language. Together with his brother-in-law, John Fairfield who had a PhD in computer science, and his brother, Eugene Stoltzfus an architect, Allen worked on the development of the programme from the 90s until he passed away in 2002. The other two men continued to grow the US-based company. Then in 2006 , Chief Executive Officer, Tom Adams took it global.

Unlike conventional teaching methods used in traditional texts, Rosetta Stone teaches a language the way we first learnt English, naturally and without translation. Pictures and sounds are used to familiarise the student to the language. “I’ve tried the software before and I find it useful for all levels in learning Spanish, “ said Brian Stuart, a Form One Spanish teacher of Belmont Boys Secondary.

Students will begin receiving their laptops from the Education ministry this week and Stuart said the school’s Form Ones are already excited at the prospect of using the software. “There are a lot of interactive activities in the Rosetta Stone programme which will benefit the students, like games which they will think they are playing but they are actually learning,” he said.

Stuart said teachers will instruct students on how to use the software during school time but they will also have the added benefit of being able to go home and practice with it. “Constant practice is the key to learning a language and using the software they will have encouragement to go home and practice.” He said the “natural” environment which will be created for students using images and sound will help them learn Spanish the same way they learnt to speak, read, write and understand English. He said since government has been distributing laptops to Form One students, a practice which began last year, he has been using some language learning software with them to help the students learn the language.

“Using Rosetta Stone will provide a language learning platform which already exists. We will have to explore how best we could integrate the programme into the syllabus which already exists,” he said.