"Tell Me More" for 2nd language: Has anybody used this?

[LBC]

I'm wondering if anybody has had experience with Tell Me More for 2nd language with their high school student. I'd like to hear about any pros and cons.

 

Thanks,

Lori

[merylvdm]

I have it - as well as Rosetta Stone. It has a much bigger variety of types of exercises than Rosetta Stone has, which my kids enjoy BUT I can't figure how you'd use this if you had no prior knowledge of the language. I have done a bit of Spanish alongside my kids, but when we got Tell Me More and I tried it out, the first levels were hard!! Rosetta Stone does a much better job of easing one in. My youngest started suing it when she was 6.

 

I use both as supplements. My kids do the bulk of their language work at our homeschool co op where they have a Spanish speaker teaching them. I use the CD Rom programs before they get to high school, and during high school in weeks when they don't have classes

Meryl

[katilac]

My 6th grader is using TMM alongside the First Start French from Memoria Press.

 

Pros: Lots and lots of exercises and dialogues. Lots. You can speak into the microphone and it will tell you if your pronunciation is acceptable (and you can adjust what is acceptable, from 'people will laugh at you yet understand you' to 'nearly a native.' There are lots of extras, cultural stuff and so on, videos you can watch, all online at their site. It tracks your progress. There are tests/assessments. You can record mp3s to listen to anytime. Several people can have user accounts.

 

Cons: Biggest con to me is that it's hard to navigate, in the sense that there's no 'lesson plan' or such, and there's sooo much there. For a rank beginner, I do think that it's most helpful alongside a written program, until you get your feet wet a bit. Oh, and you need the cd to run the program, which I hate b/c it's a pricey disc to let float around.

 

My dd is 11 and likes the program, uses it with no issues or supervision. She mostly just takes the 'guided path' of suggested lessons, but it's also easy enough to find specific topics like 'greetings' or 'numbers' and so on.