Libraries across the country are seeking alternatives to Rosetta Stone after they pulled out of the library market. This attests to the commitment in public libraries to help people learn foreign languages, especially if the foreign language happens to be English.
As new options become available, and as libraries explore the idea of adding video games to their collection, a publisher for the wildly successful Nintendo DS hand held video game system is already publishing games to teach English to Japanese students.
Games have long been used as a teaching tool. Why should it be any different in the digital age?
Learned to type playing Ultima III 😉
Well, I did learn to type playing the D&D style adventure game ULTIMA III (and a bootleg copy of Ultima II) on my Apple II+ back in the day, since the game had a function for nearly every key on the keyboard. It sucked away hours of my time the way Sid Meier’s Civilization would later in my immediate post-collegiate years.
Too bad about Rosetta Stone, I did not know that they were pulling out of the library market. I’ve played around with Beta versions of Rosetta Stone and it was kind of fun, running through all the different modules, even Russian.
Another good software package I’ve messed around with is Transparent Language, which I’m confident is still going strong; Lots of sample texts, trying to teach language in context, with audio, etc. I was impressed with it in the mid 1990s, and I’m sure it’s still good.
Still, to really master a language takes face-to-face instruction with a competent teacher, diligence with homework, and eventually spending quality time in the target language environment (study abroad work, for at least a few weeks, or better a semester and yet better a year abroad); Libraries can also point to information resources about such study abroad programs, scholarships available, TESOL opportunities (Teach English abroad while learning the language of your host country), etc.
I have to admit I’m still a little skeptical about tying up library resources for pure pleasure gaming…at least some libraries provide OPAC-only (or OPAC + Library Databases) terminals for other patrons to use, in case the fully net-capable computers are tied up by gamers. “Educational” gaming usually isn’t as much fun as the thrill seeking kind. Learning to type using Ultima III instead of a “typing game” (a piece of software I also owned but rarely used) was a happy accident.