Homeschooling high school: FREE language courses by duoLingo

After years of trial and error I think I've found the last language program we'll ever need for our high-schooler.

And we have tried quite a few programs.
- We've tried the ol' textbook approach. (In which you order used textbooks from ebay and hope for the best) And they are impossible to teach from unless you're already a fluent speaker.  

- We've tried Muzzy. Which is a great program but definitely aimed at a much younger student.

-We've tried LiveMocha. An internet site that specializes in language. This was a good program while it was free, but about a year in, they started to charge for different parts of the site. It also requires community interaction which had some minor drawbacks as well. It just didn't suit us.

But now, I think, I've found a winner.
I present to you duoLingo !
Why do I love this program?
1. It offers multiple languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Which, you can learn simultaneously if you so wish.
2. It is so easy to use!
3. It is very interactive.
4. And not only is it 100% FREE , there are absolutely no ads. None.


Now, I downloaded Duolingo from the Apple iStore and the review I'm offering is based on our experience using it on an Apple iPad.

So, let's explore!

When you open the program you'll see this screen:
I chose to learn German, but if I wanted to change to Italian or Spanish, I'd click on the flag to the right of the duoLingo text. Next, click on the first lesson. "Basics 1"




When you click on that box, this screen pops up:
You can scroll left and right. This section has a total of 5 lessons.
Notice that tiny little icon in the upper right corner that says "Test Out". If you think you're skill set is beyond the basic lessons you can take a short quiz that will let you "test out" of that lesson. If like me, you are not that proficient: Click on lesson 1.

This screen will pop up:
In the top right corner you'll notice you have 4 hearts.
4 hearts = 4 lives. When you run out of lives, the lesson is over.
But do not fret! You can start over immediately!
The first question is pretty simple, translate the sentence from English to German. You do this by choosing the tiles at the bottom of the screen and placing them in the correct order. When you think you've got it right, click the green "check" by at the bottom of the screen. In this instance, I was correct and the green banner popped up. Click the green "Continue" button to move on.


This is a slightly different format.
In this question you're asked to translate from German to English.
You can click on each German word for a pronunciation and a definition. Then choose the proper tiles at the bottom of the screen and drag them to make the correct sentence.
I would choose the tiles "A", "boy", "is", "eating", "an", & "apple" to form the sentence: "A boy is eating an apple."


This next set of pictures shows a multiple choice question in action.


Here is another way a question can be formatted:


Now, this is my favorite part of duoLingo:
The audio questions.
First, read the instructions.
In this question you're asked to say: "Du bist eine Frau".
Click on the large round microphone button.
It is ready when the microphone turns blue.
Next, say the sentence clearly and slowly.
(I've noticed if I talk to fast it can't always identify each word)
When  you've stopped speaking the blue light will turn off and it will say "grading".
If you've got it right the green banner will fly, if not it will allow you to re-try a total of 3 times.



You won't always get the questions right.
In those instances the dreaded red banner will fly and will steal away 1 of your red hearts.



Most lessons have 10 questions.
When you reach the end, this little screen pops up:
Woohoo!


Followed by this one:



Remember the home screen? Let's look at it again:
I did well on "Basics 1", but I don't really want to move on to "Basics 2". Not yet anyway. If I want to refresh, I can click on the blue "Strengthen Skills" bar on the bottom left side of the screen. Now, I can review vocabulary and work on sentence structure before moving on to the next lesson.


And there you have it!

I am so excited that I stumbled across duoLingo, and I'm happy that I can pass this invaluable resource on to you and your home classroom! If you have any questions, feel free to comment in the comments section!