Lesson 2: ChiltonLibrary and Mango Languages

Basic Discovery Exercise:  ChiltonLibrary

1. Look up the maintenance schedule for your vehicle. View the whole chart and list 3 things that should be done at 30,000 miles.

§  Service/Inspect Brake hoses

§  Service/Inspect Coolant level, hoses & clamps

§  Replace Engine air filter

2. What was the most recent Technical Service Bulletin or Recall notice on your car about and when was it issued?

Upper Ball Joints on 12/1/2004

3. Click to the Repair tab and note some of the information about brakes for your car.

My Durango has an all-wheel ABS system which prevents the breaks from locking up.

The front end has break shoes and the rear is equipped with brake drums.

Basic Discovery Exercise:  Mango Languages

1. In Mango, choose a language. Before you click “Launch,” read about the language and culture. What did you learn?

The Italian culture intermingles with many parts of American culture including food and fashion.

2. Click “Launch” and try out a lesson. How helpful would this program be to help you learn a language? What did you like? What didn’t you like? Why?

Chapter 1:  Greetings, Gratitude, Goodbyes

I think Mango Languages would be helpful for anyone who is interested in learning conversational language.  I would definitely access this program if I were to travel abroad as a means of learning to communicate more effectively with “the locals”.  I can also see how the program could be used as a complimentary piece to accompany classroom language courses for world languages as well as supports for an English Language Learning program.  The pronunciation feature and self-pace are both nice features as they allow the learner to hear what they should sound like and keep a pace that best fits their learning needs.  I also enjoyed that the digital voices that guide the lesson do not sound computer generated.  Rather, they have intonation and sound like a pleasant human being.

Although I was looking forward to using the voice comparison feature to hear how close I was to sounding like the voices used within the program, I was disappointed that I was unable to get this feature to work with the settings on my computer.  I would have liked some general troubleshooting for this on the left-hand side of the screen where the Feedback menu is located.  I see that Mango has a mobile ap.  I look forward to giving this a try and taking my language learning with me.