Monkey Talk: Learn Spanish

$19.95, Win

Teaches: foreign language, English, Spanish

CTR Review

If you are looking for a program that will gently introduce your young child to a second language, look no further. The kids and grown-ups fell in love with this CD, with its bright, colorful graphics and fun learning activities. After signing in, children explore Jabberville, where they'll find several games to play. The program we looked at introduces Spanish vocabulary, additional programs are planned to teach French, German, Italian and Greek. Kids can fish for letters of the Spanish alphabet at the pond, they can shop for groceries using Spanish words at the market, and they can make their racecar go faster by picking the correct numbers-- in Spanish, of course! Games can be played using the mouse as controller or by speaking into a microphone, which is not included. If children need help, Simean the talking monkey is on hand. Many of the games have an arcade feel to them, which keeps children interested. Weaknesses are few-- record-keeping is lacking, for instance, but all in all, this is a very nice program.