Tell Me More: A Quick Guide for Students
Headset and microphone: To do the self placement tests and the audio activities it is recommended that you purchase a headset with microphone (available at the UniversityBookstore) . To connect the headset and the microphone to your PC. plug the color coded wires (light green and pink) into the same color ports in the back (or front ) of your PC depending on the model.
Login:
Save this URL as a bookmark for quick access.
This linkhas beenposted on the home page of St John’s Centraland also appears as a short cut on the desktop of all incoming freshmen’s laptops.
Your username for logging in is the beginning of your St. John’s email address, e.g. if your email address at St. John’sis your user name for TMM is john.smith09
No password is necessary. Click “Confirm” to log in
Languages: - Dutch, English as a Second Language, French, German , Italian, and Spanish are available from your laptop on as well as off campus.
-Arabic, Chinese and Japaneseare availablefrom St. John’s network, on campus only.
Tutorial: On the home page of Tell Me More you can take a guided orientation tour to help you choose your learning path
You can choose the language of your portal from the home page (top right drop down language button (English is the default) but you can change it to French, Spanish, Italianor German. However should you opt for another language as default, no English translation will be available within the activities.
Options: From the envelope icon on top right of the home page, select “options”. You can then choose to deactivate the music that is automatically turned on when you open TMM. From these options you can also select cultural texts.
Learning Paths and Levels
There are 2 learning paths: - everyday vocabulary
- professional/business related vocabulary.
Levels:For each path there are 5 levels: beginner, intermediate, intermediate plus, advanced and expert.
Select your learning path and your level to adapt the program to your objectives.
There are 2 modes: - guided (just do the activities as they are presented to you)
-free to roam (select the topics and activities or skills you are interested in, i.e. grammar or clothes etc.).
Your choices will be listed on the home page. If you want to change your level or learning path click on “Your objectives” from the right side menu and make your new selections. When you go back to the home page (click the triangle on the lower left) you will see this new learning path added to your previous paths. After selecting your level, select “All skills” to access all activities or specific skills for fewer targeted activities. Then click on the underlined level and path to load up contents.
If you experience problems downloading contents for a particular learning path (you get 99% downloaded but then get the hour glass), you have cache problems, contact your support team.
Navigating: click the Home button on the lower left to get to the home page, click the previous button (triangle with an arrow) to get to the previous page. To exit the program click the X button in the upper right corner.
SelfTesting:
Three kinds of tests are available: a placement test, a progress test and an achievement test.
1) The Self Placement Test:
To find out your proper level, before starting lessons for the first time, do the placement test: Click on “Your objectives” then click on “Placement Test” .The placement test is available once only. When answering questions you cannot go back to the previous question. Time available for each question is only 30 seconds. There are 64 questions and the test lasts about 45 minutes. Your score will go from 0 to 10.
Here is a quick in interpretation of the scores: 0-2: beginner, 2.1-4: intermediate, 4.1-6.0: intermediate +, 6.1-8: advanced, 8.1-10: expert
2) The Progress Test
To find out your progress with TMM, do the progress test, click on “Evaluating what I’ve learned”.
3) The Achievement Test
When you have reached an advanced level do the achievement test (available only twice) which lasts from 60 to 90 minutes. TOEIC is the achievement test which corresponds to TOEFL for ESL.
Important: When taking the tests or doing the oral activities make sure that the sound has not been muted.
TMM Language Activities:
There are 37 different types of activities among which a pronunciation graph: the green lines represent the intonation and the blue line, the pitch. Students are expected to try and reproduce the native speaker’s pronunciation of the model. A score of 3 and above means that the word would be recognized by a native speaker. The perfect score is 7. But even among native speakers the patterns will change and not match the model’s intonation and pitch exactly.
Checking for right answers: Click the solution button (which looks like a sun in the upper right side of the toolbar) to find the right answers to an activity.
Getting an English translation for a particular reading activity: click in the upper left corner. To find out more about a word click the red button in the upper left corner. (Note: if you have selected a language other than English as your default language, this feature will not be available)
For a specific lesson: click on the + sign next to your learning path on the home page.
Additional Activities: These can be found at the bottom of the home page on the link:”Lesson of the week and Euronews” . A video clip is downloaded weekly which is different for each language and which you can use to learn more about current events and culture in your target language.
Support:
The Computer Lab in Sullivan Hall: for help with software installation and proper running. The GlobalLanguage & CultureCenter (former Council Hall): for help on questions about TMM software use.
For faculty: please contact the Center for Technology Education, Bent Hall room 447
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