Petra Lingua: A Review

We tried out a program called Petra Lingua for six months.  I got both Spanish and German.  (In addition, they offer Chinese, Russian, and French.) Both boys study Spanish, and Bee was interested in German, but we have put that on hold for a while, mostly because it was very difficult to find German materials to work with. 

I found that Petra Lingua is a decent vocabulary builder, and Bug, my younger child, found it fairly entertaining.  One thing I did not like is that the exercises include a lot of written words.  I believe that for proper pronunciation, language study should be completely oral in the beginning stages.  I also didn't feel that the exercises promoted learning.  My children did not have to remember anything--they could click to hear the correct answer before selecting it. 

So, the pros are:

• Good company to work with.  When my package expired, it was not automatically renewed.  
• Native speakers and solid content. Words are pronounced correctly with correct grammar. 
• They offer German and Russian, 2 languages where it is difficult to find materials for teaching young children. 
• It's inexpensive, as little as $3.99 a month, if you pay for a year of access.  It's $7.99 to get one month at a time. 

The cons are:

• I do not think this material can stand on its own.  The parent would need to reinforce, so it's more of a supplement.  
• Exercises are boring, and I did not think that my children learned anything from doing them.  
• Too much writing.  I don't see why they can't have children click on a picture after hearing the spoken word. 

In conclusion, I think it's worth trying, but I think it's more of a supplement rather than a complete program.