TOS Homeschool crew review~ Auralog Tell Me More Homeschool German

What fun! The Crew got to actually preview a product due to be released in April. Auralog’s Tell Me More Homeschool edition is an immersion foreign language program with some really neat features.

The program will help you determine which level you’re going to start with if you have studied the language before, and then you will be able to progress through 5 learning levels from your starting point. Of course, if you have never studied that particular language before, you simply begin at the beginning.

Here are some more features:

* Create multiple user accounts

* More than 4 years of language learning included

* Lesson study guides for every lesson

* Thousands of exercises covering all the skills to learn a language

* Speech recognition technology

* Up to 10 hours of video

* A 24/7 online chat advisor

* 1 new lesson available online every week

* Test your progress

* Progress guaranteed (terms and conditions apply)

* Headset included

And if all this wasn’t enough, you have lots of choices. You can choose from three Lesson Modes:

Free-to-Roam Mode- This choice lets you try any of the lessons or activities. This mode is recommended for those who have already have a pretty good grasp of the language.

Guided Mode- These lessons are presented in order of increasing difficulty. I chose this one since it’s recommended for the beginner. I’m the sort that likes someone to just tell me what to do so I can get busy doing it. This mode has the added bonus of a “day planner” where you can set up a schedule and goals for yourself in regard to Auralog lessons. You can tell it which days you’d like to study and how long you’d like your lessons to be. A reminder near the top of the screen lets you know if you’re coming close to those goals.

Dynamic Mode- This mode supervises your progress and offers you the activities that most fit your needs and goals. It looks like this option is best for those who have either been using the program for a time or have used another program and already know which areas they need to work on to perfect their language skills. Since you can change which mode you want to work in any time you log in, I may decide to use Dynamic Mode later.

I let Ninja (15) decide which language she wanted to study since she was in the targeted age range. She chose German. I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t see this language as being a useful one, especially since we’re on the West Coast, but I think it was a good choice since she’s pretty into it. Besides, that is my hubby’s heritage, so why not let the kids learn more about it, right? The first time Ninja used it, she popped the headset on her head and sat using it for a few hours. Apparently she really liked it. Soon we could hear her practicing her German and speaking out loud for the voice recognition software to evaluate her pronunciation. She picked it up pretty fast and has progressed further than I have. That’s not surprising. She’s a smart one.

I have to warn my readers that this program can be a little confusing if you don’t read the directions. I still haven’t found all the features mentioned, (lol) but I figure that’s all part of the immersion experience anyway and we’re just going with the flow and enjoying the ride. I think this program is well worth a bit of time spent searching to find all the really cool features included in the software. From what I understand, I’ll get a lot more out of it by actually reading the manual and printing off the guides available in the introduction. I also looked around a bit and found a “tools” button that explained a lot more than what is on the surface. When all else fails…

While nosing around I found the 3D animation and graph feature that aids in teaching the student how to improve pronunciation. It’s so cool! You also have the option of lessons on the go: You can download lessons onto your computer to be converted into files useable on your MP3 player. Again, so cool. Unfortunately, Ninja was unable to upload it onto her Zune, but DH was able to use it on his MP3 player.

Oh! And since this program is useable as 4+ years of high school credit, Ninja is all set. I just hope Tink won’t decide she wants to study Italian because I want them to learn Spanish. Lol.

Auralog has produced some amazing software here in this product. I’m just flabbergasted that they were so generous as to send my family and several other Crew Member’s families these five levels. It’s an unbelievable blessing.