
                 >>>>  All-in-One Language Fun  <<<<
                       For "Pentalingual" Kids

   Everybody wants their children to do well in school and get a 
headstart on all the other kids. Those feelings are natural. As a 
parent, wouldn't you like to say, "Well, MY 3-year-old can speak in FIVE 
languages!" Sure you would. And for this to happen you don't even have 
to enroll your 3-year-old in one of those preschools with five-year 
waiting lists. What you need is All-in-One Language Fun, a Windows 
multimedia program that plays dozens of games with your kids to 
introduce them to words in foreign languages. It's designed for kids 
ages 3 to 12.

   All-in-One teaches more than 200 words and phrases in each of these 
five languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese. It does 
this by masking the lessons inside multimedia versions of name games, 
jigsaw puzzles, Simon Says, bingo and other games. It's easy -- no 
reading, writing or keyboard skills needed -- and it's fun! (I miss the 
target age range by about 20 years, and even I thought it was fun!)

   The only interface requirement is a mouse to point and click. When 
the game loads, click the name of the language you want to practice. Up 
pops a screen with nine squares. Each square represents a game or naming 
activity. (There are two more similar screens, for a total of 27 
different activities.) You want to learn what farm animals are called in 
French? That's easy -- point at the square with the farm scene. Then the 
screen shows six new squares, each filled with a different animal. Point 
at the cow to hear the native speaker say, "La vache." Press the green 
button to continue, and the speaker will show all the animals in a 
pastoral setting, asking you to pick out each animal as he or she names 
it. Similar naming games introduce kids to the words for foods, school 
items, vehicles, articles of clothing, bathroom fixtures, parts of the 
face, important verbs (from a child's perspective) and more.

   The naming games are the simplest, but they're stepping stones to the 
more advanced memory games. In the memory games, the native speakers 
will ask you to point out, for example, the sink, the bathtub and the 
shower, in that order. Simon Says and other games are variations on the 
naming theme.

   *All* instructions are spoken in the native language. It may take 
kids a couple of minutes to catch on, but they will. ("Oh! She wants me 
to click the *cow*!") As the meaning of the instructions sink in, kids 
may even pick up some intuitive feel for the syntax of the language. The 
lack of a "host" language may trouble parents more than kids, but it 
provides a more "immersed" learning experience. Also, it makes the 
program equally appealing to native-speaking parents of all five 
languages. One thing kids will pick up on is that words in different 
languages often sound alike. The German "coo" sounds a lot like the 
English "cow," for example. And the French "la vache" sounds similar to 
the Spanish "la vacka."

   According to my high-school biology teacher, who was full of 
interesting facts, the brain best performs the act of learning in 
children under 5 years of age. That's when your brain is busily building 
infrastructure for all the information you'll cram in there for the rest 
of your life. Specific pieces of information, like language skills, can 
become deeply entrenched parts of the infrastructure if they get in 
there before the cement hardens. (You ever notice that adults and even 
older children usually never attain accent-free fluency when learning a 
second language -- but tots absorb it like sponges?) So do your kids a 
favor -- help them build language skill "six-lane highways" today with 
All-in-One Language Fun. When they ace their foreign-language 
requirements in college -- and know how to order in exotic restaurants 
-- you'll be glad you did.

{All-in-One Language Fun: Syracuse Language Systems, 719 E. Genesee St., 
Syracuse, NY 13210, (315) 478-6729; $39.95. REQUIRES: an MPC system with 
386SX+ CPU, 4MB RAM, sound card and CD-ROM drive. A Mac version is also 
included on the disc.}

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