Lingua Latina Familia Romana
Interactive Latin Course I
by Hans H. Orberg
Reviewed by Martha Robinson
Purchase details: Lingua Latina Familia Romana Interactive Latin Course I by Hans H. Orberg. CD-ROM for PC (Windows 98/ME/XP), $29.95 retail price. Published by Focus Publishing. Please support HomeschoolChristian.com by buying these books using our Amazon affiliate link.
The Lingua Latina Interactive Latin Course I is a CD-ROM based version of Hans H. Orberg's Latin program. For an idea of the author's method of teaching and philosophy of learning please see HomeschoolChristian.com's review.
The Interactive Latin Course shows scanned copies of the pages of the Lingua Latina text. These pages are black-and-white with simple line drawings in the margin. When the VOX button is selected, a man's voice speaks the Latin text. At the end of each chapter, the exercises, Pensum, appear, and the student types in an answer. For correct answers, a positive sound plays. The student receives three opportunities to get a correct answer, while a red exclamation mark appears and a negative sound is heard for each wrong answer. After the third failed attempt, the correct answer is shown.
Navigation in the program is easy. Students can jump to a particular page by typing in its number, move by one chapter at a time, scroll one page at a time, or move to places that they have bookmarked in the five available bookmark buttons. Standard controls found on a tape or CD player govern the voice portion of the program.
Recommendation: The Interactive Latin Course could be a very useful supplement for Lingua Latina, or it could be used as a substitute for the text. For those students who are computer oriented and motivated to learn Latin, the instant feedback of the pensum exercises could be extremely helpful, but unfortunately for parents who need to assign a grade to the student's work, the program does not record correct or incorrect answers. This is a basic program, without color, slick graphics, and music; yet, it gets the job done. If a homeschooling family decides to use the Interactive Latin Course instead of the text, they should consider buying the Exercitia Latina, the Teacher's Materials and Answer Keys, and the Colloquia Personarum. Given its inexpensive price, the Interactive Latin Course is well worth considering for students who work well on computer-based programs.
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
Latin Curricula Comparison Chart to help select an introductory or intensive program.
Lingua Latina Part I
Living With Latin at Home
Studying Latin
Latin-Based Education, an interview with Cheryl Lowe
Reviews represent the opinions of the authors rather than the views of HomeschoolChristian.com.
