Mango, I Must Have You!

Mango is a language learning website that you can take advantage of for free thanks to the Madison Public Library system. I checked it out on a tip from former Literacy Network Executive Director Greg Markle. You can take advantage of Mango by going to this link on the public library website. Put in your full library card number and it will lead you to a screen where you will create a profile, i.e. a user name and password. Once you log in you can use it to learn English, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Urdu or one of a dozen others.
Your computer will have to have up-to-date versions of Adobe Flash and Java in order to use it. If you don't you can follow the prompts to update them.
It has a few things in common with the well known application The Rosetta Stone, which Literacy Network has in its mobile learning lab. If you have a headset or a microphone available to you, plug it in and try the speech sampling feature, which lets you record your answer and compare it to a very clear native speaker's voice.
For the tutor who wants to learn a little bit of his or her learner's language or for the learner who needs a little more practice between lessons, Mango is a great deal. Do check it out.