So, I found this site yesterday that is...
Well, it's...
That's to say it's...
Well, it just is.
Have you ever encountered something that was so awful you want to tell everyone how bad it is, yet so useful that you also want to recommend it to people?
I'm not talking about one of those "so bad it's good" kind of things, where the awfulness is actually the charm, but rather something that is equally bad and good.
This site is the source of my bipolarisation:
http://mudila.lastekas.ee/
It's a site designed to help Estonian kids improve their language skills. It has songs, games and activities as well as sections where you can work on learning vocabulary. It's clearly designed for children between the ages of three and six, and has the option of using subtitles in Estonian or Russian, so I'd say it's probably intended for Estonian preschoolers.
It's terrible. Really and truly terrible. The songs are awful, the animation is terrible, the games are designed in such a way that you can't repeat the question (or the answer, if you missed it), the animation is terrible, the music is inane, there are no explanations for anything and the animation is terrible.
Did I mention that the animation is terrible?
And yet...
And yet it's actually quite useful. The option to play "easy" games entirely within the Estonian vocabulary (no English language support at all) was fantastic. I found the songs and games helped to reinforce some of my existing vocabulary and expand on it with new words that I could work out from the context (and then confirm using a dictionary). Repeating the songs and games helped it to sink in a little better, and even just pottering around on the site for half-an-hour made me feel like I was making progress.
So, I'd play a game, or watch a song, and think, "Oh, good lord, that was horrible - I must do that again." At no point did it get any less horrible, but I actually had to drag myself away.
The whole site is like an exercise in Yin and Yang. The horribleness and the usefulness hugging tightly to each other, with a little bit of the useful within the horrible, and a little bit of the horrible within the useful.
Then again, maybe I'm just desperate for interactive resources that are beyond the "hey, let's introduce you to this crazy language" stage, but not as advanced as everything else I can find.
All I want, people, is for someone to remake French in Action in Estonian and make it a bit more computer friendly. Is that too much to ask?
Yes, I know there's Eesti Keel ja Meel, which is trying to do the French in Action thing with the framing story (right down to the blond chick in the long skirts), but it really doesn't have the same approach to vocabulary. In FiA, they would grab the key vocabulary and phrases and repeat them in multiple contexts with different people (and a mime). EKjM wastes valuable time each "episode" showing you pretty pictures of the countryside when it could be giving you extra vocabulary/grammar lessons. The exercises you can do aren't really as good as multiple and varied exposure to the vocabulary.
That said, I don't mind EKjM. I think the way they are trying to do the FiA framing story is kind of cute. It just feels like they couldn't quite figure out if they wanted to create a language programme or a tourism brochure.
At least that Mudila thing knows what it is. It's not a very good whatever it is, but it's not trying to sell you the "Visit Estonia!" package at the same time. Maybe Estonian preschoolers aren't on the "Visit Estonia!" hit list.
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