Guide Review - TeLL Me More Kids
TeLL Me More® Kids is a young learner's software product for three different levels of learners from the ages of 4 to 12:- Kaliko's Home
- Kaliko's City
- Kaliko's World
Young learner's improve their English while exploring a virtual world around them. Each level expands and deepens the learning experience while exploring more complex environments. For non-native English learners each software package is available in a number of different languages. The program is based on speech recognition technology making the program very interactive and entertaining for young learners.
The Pros
TeLL Me More Kids is an outstanding program in all aspects. I've spent the last few weeks exploring the second level, "Kaliko's City" with my daughter and we continue to find new exercises and exciting activities. The best part is that my daughter is learning while we're having fun together! The basic premise of these programs is that users explore an environment by choosing any area that may appeal to them. This non-linear approach is ideal for young learners who don't feel intimidated by an apparent learning agenda.
Learner's are accompanied by two entertaining and informative characters who explain the exercises and various areas of the software in the learner's mother tongue. During installation, the user chooses whether he or she would like to learn British or American English. There is such a wide variety of activities that boredom will surely never be a problem. Activities include:
- Karaoke songs
- Animated cartoons
- Games
- Spelling Activities
- Pronunciation Practice
- Painting
- Matching Pairs
- Telling a Story
- Paint by Numbers
- Puzzles, and more
Users navigate the program by wandering around the immersive worlds and clicking on various buildings, rooms, etc. to enter into related vocabulary and exercise groups. Each object in these various rooms, public areas, etc. leads to either an activity, or appears as a notebook entry so that children learn vocabulary as they explore.
The technology used is very advanced and entertaining. Video clips, animations and other graphic elements all worked well on my AMD 500 computer. Probably the most impressive feature of this program, other than the truly impressive depth and scope of the program, is the speech recognition component. As can be imagined, the imperfect pronunciation of young learners can also be difficult to understand. However, this speech recognition software manages to recognize any reasonable attempt at copying the correct pronunciation. In this way, learners don't become too discouraged, which can often be the case with inferior speech recognition technology.
The Cons
The only negative aspect of this software program might be its demands on the computer. I can hardly imagine the program running smoothly on any computer less powerful than the recommended configuration. If you have anything less than a Pentium® II 400MHz machine, the program will probably be rather frustrating because of the time it will take for animations, video clips, etc. to load.
Recommendation
TeLL Me More Kids is an ideal program for anyone with young English learners. I would also highly recommend this program if you are teaching an ESL class in a school that is equipped with an excellent computer lab. Probably the highest recommendation comes from my daughter: Anytime I sit down at the computer to work she asks me if we can play with the program.
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