Hebat! learn Indonesian CD ROM

HEBAT! Indonesian
An Interactive Indonesian language program for beginners
Ages 9- Adult

Overview
Hebat! Indonesian is divided into four modules with each module containing four topics at three different learning levels. These levels are based on the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Guidelines. The levels cater for beginning and developing Indonesian learners. Hebat! Can be used as part of a class based Indonesian program or as a self guided program from middle primary to junior secondary and is equally appealing to adult learners. The four modules are designed to complement Suara Siswa language resources developed by the Curriculum Corporation but are equally well suited to support any well-developed Indonesian program.

Language Development

Module one deals with greetings, numbers, parts of the body and personal details. Module Two covers the family, My things, clothing and houses. Module Three looks at time, going places, eating and Bertis day. The last module examines the topics of play, getting around, the weather and animals. In total there are 96 learning and assessment activities, which sequentially introduce new vocabulary and sentence structures in a highly colourful and captivating manner. Each module and topic builds on previous learning experiences.

The program features delightful cartoon characters, stories, film strips of native speakers talking about their daily lives, a customised English - Indonesian dictionary which can be accessed at any time, and an option to see spoken text visually in order to assist understanding. Learners are assisted throughout the program with very clear directions and very high quality sound, and are able to progress at their own pace and repeat exercises as often as they like in order to achieve mastery. The program is very user friendly and comes with a comprehensive user`s guide.

One of the strengths of the program is the variety of activities that are presented to the learners at every level. The visually appealing graphics combine well with the audio components of Hebat! to greatly assist in the development of the learner`s reading and listening skills. Native speakers model language usage, which further enhances development of the learners listening skills. The pronunciation of the speakers is clear and accurate

Classroom Usage

From a teacher`s perspective Hebat! offers many classroom opportunities and allows the class teacher to keep a record of the students activities, allowing for the accurate tracking of the students progress and engagement in the program. The Hebat! uers manual has a very useful teachers section, which simply outlines how the program can be used in a class context as well as advising how to set up class lists and monitor student`s progress Learner`s have the opportunity to receive a merit certificate upon completion of the program, complete with the learners name and score. Teachers also have the option of producing a merit crtificate to reward individual student pogress and achievement.

This program would be an appealing and highly motivating component of any Indonesian teaching program at the primary or junior secondary level. Students will enjoy the challenge presented by the games and intereactive activities.

* Reproduced with permission

Lee Herden, Curriculum Advisor LOTE, Catholic Schools Office, Armidale

New Horizons, Spring1999, Term 3 1999 | Issue 11- No.3, pp84

HEBAT!
A CD-ROM from Curriculum Corporation for young learners of Indonesian Curriculum Corporation, 1998
Carlton, Victoria (Site Licence available)

Preamble
I first undertook a review of Hebat! early in 1999 with Belinda Griffiths, a colleague from the University of Tasmania, as part of an extend review of twenty CD-ROMs for learning French, German, Indonesian and Japanese. We originally analysed Hebat! in order to establish whether it was a suitable CD-ROM for motivated preservice teachers to work through at their own pace in order to learn some basic Indonesian. Compared to other CD-ROMs available on the market for French, German and Japanese, we did indeed rate Hebat! highly. I have drawn on that experience as part of my analysis of the program as a resource for primary and secondary learners of Indonesian.

The First Review
Our original study examined the following aspects of Hebat!:

• ease of use
• style of production
• cultural links
• estimated time to complete the course
• extent to which it covers the four macro skills
• teaching method used
organisational focus(es) employed
• assessment strategies employed
• costs
• suitability for use by preservice teachers who are beginner learners.

Hebat! rated well in all areas.

Produced as a National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) initiative and linked to the Suara Siswa (National Indonesian Curriculum) materials, there has obviously been much collaboration with practising Indonesian teachers during the development of the resource, thus adding to its strengths.

The Package
Hebat! is accompanied by an installation guide and user manual. The CD-ROM is compatible with both Windows and Mackintosh platforms and is easy to install. The visuals are bright and bold, with attractive, stylised cartoon type characters throughout. The program is designed for both complete beginners (Modules 1&2) as well as for learners with some prior knowledge (Modules 3&4). The target audience is primary and lower secondary (or Suara Siswa Stages A, B, 1 and 2).

The modules are organised thematically: Saya (`Me`), Di rumah (`At Home`), Hari Saya (`My Day`), and Di luar rumah (`Outside the home`). Each module consists of four sub-topics that all contain exercises with three levels of difficulty (the language structures become more complex as the learner moves from levels 1 to 3).

Main Features

Listening comprehension is clearly the area in which users of Hebat! will benefit most. Learners listen to the Indonesian and click on buttons, icons or screen content (or click and drag) to practise and progress. The text is clear and spoken by native speakers and there are variations in speech styles where learners are exposed to a number of male and female voices that differ in pitch and pace. Learners have to rely on the aural/oral forms of language in order to progress as a written text version of the language used in Hebat! is not always available - an excellent strategy for developing learners` listening comprehension skills.

The English in the `help` system is created by clicking on a cute little tortoise who guides learners around the main menu and gives hints on how to tackle exercises. A dictionary is available at all times.

Hebat! covers the Australian Language Levels (ALL) Guidelines` activity types 1-4 only; there are no aesthetic tasks based on activity types 5 and 6. Of course the well-organised teacher will set complimentary tasks to extend learners` creative use of language. Learners work their way through various exercises and receive a score for completing them correctly. Correct responses are awarded by a fanfare and incorrect answers by a honking sound. There is a facility to enable the teacher to keep track of learners` progress and learners can save their files to maintain scores. A certificate is available to those who successfully complete the program.

According to the publishers, the CD-ROM is `designed to extend and complement other language learning activities`; ie to consolidate language already learnt. However, the preservice teachers who took part in the pilot study considered that in certain areas the CD-ROM did in fact `teach`, eg in the areas of counting numbers and telling the time. The fact that the program can to some extent instruct - or even reteach material to learners who have not grasped it in the normal classroom setting- must therefore be an added bonus.

Cultural Links
The extent of which learners can gain valuable knowledge about the people and cultures of Indonesia through use of this CD-ROM is questionable. Although there is some socio-cultural content in the videoclip sections, and although cartoon-type characters `look Indonesian` (in a stylised way), have Indonesian names, and live in extended families, Hebat! contains only limited cultural context in comparison with other CD-ROMs available.

Technical Notes
The sound is clear, yet normal classroom `wear and tear` may eventually affect the sound quality of the CD-ROM. After five of the preservice learners had worked with the program, I noticed that the sound had become somewhat clipped and distorted, causing unnatural pauses within and between words and also causing some speech to be out of sync with the visual material. (A warning note included in the package, however does not note that this may be a sign of wear and tear but rather the `sound applet RSX 3D Tray Tool` interfering with sound quality. The warning note suggests ways of controlling this problem).

Conclusion
The preservice teachers who were part of the original evaluation project commented that Hebat! did not mandate speaking practice. One teacher also commented that although it is possible to work through a great deal of content, she didn`t feel that the CD-ROM format itself lends itself to the learner being able to consolidate knowledge of this content into a retainable form. All the more reason, therefore, for teachers to have learners use the program in small snippets and allow them to demonstrate what they have learned. Notwithstanding this, however, Hebat! remains a worthwhile adjunct to the multi-level primary or junior secondary Indonesian classroom.

*Reproduced with permission

Lesley Harbon is a lecturer in Primary Languages other than English in the Faculty of Education at the University of Tasmania, Launceston campus

Babel, Volume 34, Number 3 | Summer 1999-2000 pp 33-34

Hebat!: Learn to speak Indonesian
Date of Review: 06/03/2000
NALSAS; Curriculum Corporation
Publisher: Curriculum Corporation: Melbourne, VIC., 1998
System requirements: Windows 3.1; Windows 95; Windows 1998; Windows NT; Macintosh; CDROM
Description: Divided into four sections, the CD ROM teaches basic Indonesian words and phrases relating to greetings, number, family, pets, time and travel.
Review: This excellent introduction uses native speakers whose clear phrases are reinforced by text (Indonesian and English) and cartoon-style illustrations designed to appeal to young learners, but are not out of plave with older people. Three levels of difficulty, games to play, a dictionary and scores kept individually make it an excellent tool for beginning and advanced students. OZ
Curriculum Areas: Languages Other Than English (LOTE)
Suitable for: Middle/Upper Primary; Lower Secondary
Descriptors: Indonesian Language - Study and Teaching; Indonesian Language - Vocabulary; Indonesian language - Conversation and Phrases; Student Evaluation
Reviewer: accessED
Rating: Highly Recommended OZ

Published on Classroom Resource Reviews at http:/crr.qed.qld.gov.au/reviews

* Reproduced with permission

Classroom Resource Reviews

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This is an interactive CD-ROM that is suitable for Lower Secondary students. Some of the topics covered within the program are – Halo, Nomor, Keluarga, Isinya apa?, Toko Pakaian, Di Rumah, Waktu, Ke mana-mana, Binatang dll. Each topic has three levels. The program involves students listening to exercises and then completing a quiz testing listening skills and being able to remember what they have just learnt. Students get given a progressive score for each of the activities and once they have overall finished the program they get a rewards certificate. On each screen there is access to an Indonesian-English dictionary and instructions to assist with each activity.

It contains colourful graphics and a variety of video clips. For example, in the topic on indicating position, students will hear a position e.g. Di atas meja and the students will have to click on a kecak and move that kecak to that position. There is then a “cute” graphic of a magician if the student answered the question correctly.

When I first saw the video clips I thought that it was a bit simplistic, however, after getting a few of my Year 9 students to test out the program they thought that it was amusing and fun. The best feature about the program is that it does not need any teacher assistance and the teacher can check the progress of the student. It would be a good CD-ROM to have in the classroom for students to play with if they finish their work early. That is if you have a number of computers with sound blasters (and earphones) within the classroom. I don’t think that you could use this CD-ROM for introducing a topic and expecting students to learn the basics of the topic. The negative feature of this program is that it does not contain many reading and writing activities. I believe that it is better for revision.

I personally would not buy a class set of this CD-ROM but I would buy one or two copies to have for students who always finish work early and sit in class waiting for the next activity.

*Reproduced with permission

Pip Capon, Indonesian Language Co ordinator, Melbourne High School

Suara VILTA October 2001 |