Language Adventure 1 helps children acquire any of its 6 featured languages — French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, and Japanese. Parents or teachers can select a language from this list as the the native language and the foreign language for each child.
The format is simple — children watch as a story unfolds before their eyes. The narration is mostly broken down into short phrases and is first spoken in the native language, then repeated twice in the selected foreign language. Children are then expected to use their microphone (not included) to repeat the phrases, which are then played back for them. These are accompanied by a visual reinforcement in the form of animations. The stories/lessons are sequential, each building upon the previous lesson. At certain points, children will encounter quiz exercises which effectively review the material just learned.
Composition exercises allow children to create their own animated sequences, and kids can record their own voices to narrate them. These sequences then become a part of the story, which is a reward in itself.
There are 3 levels of difficulty that can be chosen for each child at sign-in — Pre-Reader, Beginner, and Advanced. Additionally, there is an observer mode that can be enjoyed by younger children, and that does not require input. As such, younger siblings can benefit from the software as well.
Although children testers were initially confused by the interface, they adjusted quickly and enjoyed the program. The phrases learned are valuable ones, and kids seemed to absorb many important phrases. The animations helped to reinforce the words, phrases, and sentences learned, and kids particularly appreciated hearing their own voices played back as the animations were replayed.
