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Review of Spanish 5 Tell Me More Homeschool

Posted Jul 02 2009 9:38pm

Homeschooling Curriculum copy

Meredith Review BB


I was born in Venezuela and grew up hearing my parents speak Spanish and though I understand Spanish, I have trouble speaking it. When I visited my daughter, Katie Beth, in Mexico while she was studying in Guatajuato, she teased me about my attempts to speak Spanish. I kept messing up my vowel sounds. In high school, we learned to read, write, and to conjugate verbs.  Remember "Esta Susana en casa?" I wish we had done more speaking in Spanish class. I have tried many methods over the years to teach Spanish to my children, so I was filled with hope as I unpacked Tell Me More to review.

KB Merey Sarah on Calle de Beseo Gto Mexico APril 2006 Tell Me More is five levels of Spanish in one small box. Well, it's really ten levels, but you only have access to five. With eagerness, I opened the box to find one DVD, two CD-roms, one page of instructions, and one headset microphone.  "Is this all?" I wondered. Boy, was I surprised to learn how much information was packed in this little DVD--5,000 lessons of Spanish instruction!  There are four complete levels of Spanish instruction:  Complete Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Tell Me More uses the immersion method of teaching Spanish, which is the most natural way to learn a language. That is how we learn to talk as babies. We hear people speaking, gradually associating words with the things or people they represent. Honestly, though, immersion is not so comfortable when you are in high school or are an adult. While I respect the concept of full immersion, I prefer a little more structure for my children and my children prefer even more structure than I do when learning a language. Having a Spanish-English dictionary handy is a necessity for survival in our house with this method! ( Though there is a translation button that I discovered later! )

When you purchase this curriculum, you gain access to their website where you can set up your child's course of study. You can set up multiple accounts and might even want to set up an account for yourself to brush up on your Spanish! Honestly, it is all overwhelming at first, but beginning the introductory DVD and starting on 'Guided Mode' can help you as you take the plunge.

There are three ways to use the lessons:  Free to Roam, Guided, and Dynamic Mode. In 'Free to Roam,' the student chooses lessons based on her interest and level. In the 'Guided,' the student is guided along in a systematic way. 'Dynamic Mode' allows the student to progress at her own pace, adjusting the activities and lessons accordingly.


Tellmemore  The lessons are fun! They cover reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, vocabulary, and culture. You could even create your own workbooks from the Tell Me More lessons. There are several different kinds of lessons. There is the standard dialogues, cultural texts, and word associations. But, there are also word searches, fill in the right word, word order, mystery phrase, grammar practice, fill in the blanks, words and topics, videos and questions, crossword puzzles, sentence practice, words and functions, text transformations, written expressions, phonetic exercises, word pronunciations, dictations, sentence pronunciations, riddles, patchworks, mapmanias, role playing, key grammar explanations, and key vocabulary.

KB's pics from Megan 047 The headset with attached microphone is used by the student so that their pronunciation can be evaluated. Impressive! You can repeat the words over and over again until you get the pronunciation right. ( That's good for me!) The student's voice pattern is compared to the proper pronunciation pattern. If the pronunciation is close, the light turns green. Very cool!

If you are computer-challenged like me then this curriculum will feel overwhelming. I felt out of my comfort zone the entire time I was installing and looking over the material. However, if you and your children are typical homeschooling families who love technology, then this curriculum will be exciting and fun to use.

You can purchase Spanish Tell Me More for $319.99 on their website.  Yes, this is quite expensive, even though you can use it for the entire family. But,there is a ninety day trial period, during which time you can get your money back if you don't like the program when you purchase from the official site. Interested? If Spanish is not the language you want your children to study, Auralog also offers Dutch, German, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, and Arabic.

Auralog provides free 24/7 customer service when you purchase Tell Me More. Even if you just need help with translation, you can get help right away. Pretty nice perk! If you are interested I would suggest taking advantage of their free trial and product demonstrations. Make sure this program is for you before plucking down a large chunk of change.

Que tengan una buena semana!  Abrazos para todos ustedes!

Meredith Sig Homeschooling copy
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