101languages.net

Turkish 101 has an excellent promotion offering some free videos for beginners in Turkish. I went on to purchase the course, thinking that this was the methodology to be used. Unfortunately, it's not.

The beginner's course contains huge chunks of discussion of Turkish culture and language use.

I was looking for spooled, speech practice to get me started with the language. I need to be able to turn it on and let it roll as I'm doing other boring things such as cooking or cleaning. Others might want to listen on the cellphone while travelling or at the gym.

I was able to listen again to any class I wanted but,... I would have to listen to the very lengthy discussion on culture and language use, again every time, as well as breaking off what I was doing to 'rewind' or find the practice section I wanted.

I was looking for drills but there were no drills. I was looking for the kind of extension practice that up-to-date language instructors know how to formulate but there was nothing of that kind.

Culture and language usage is valuable, of course, but I feel it needs to be separate from the speaking practice.

I was disapointed to find that there were not videos at all in the real courses. There were visuals, yes, but only such as I make myself for my university classes with PowerPoint or other software. These are 'still' images, not active, interactive practical work. These materials require reading more than listening / speaking.

I already have what 101 offers, free from many sources. Alternatively, I have books offering more for a fraction of the price.

Modern language teaching methodologies recognise that some older strategies are not useful for promoting active speaking skills.
The Turkish speaker made painful pronunciation errors which I do not expect for this price and from a professional company (werb for verb, wowel for vowel, for example).

I learned more from a CELTA-trained and inexperienced student in three classes than I learned from a year's access 101's large store of classes.

I am very disappointed indeed with Turkish 101 and feel that my money was wasted.