Are you one of those who never read instructions?!

 

• What are the CyberItalian Tutored Courses?
• How do I start my Tutored Course?
• What is Pinocchio doing on CyberItalian?
• Who will be teaching me?
• Where and how do I post my assignments, exercises and exams?
• How do I write Italian accented characters?
• How does CyberItalian grade students?
• Where do I see my scores and progress report?
• How do I listen to the audio?
• How do I use the pronunciation guide and record my voice?
• What are the basic technical requirements to use CyberItalian?
• What are the technical requirements to for the audio/video classes?
• What are the technical requirements to self-administer the audio lessons?
• How do I reschedule an audio/video class?
• How do I self-administer the audio lessons?

Testimonial: "The site pleasantly surprised me, it is very complete in its different approaches to language learning. The inclusion of a wide range of subjects makes it very interesting and fun too; and the extra activities are a great way to reinforce what you have just learned." see more testimonials

 

The CyberItalian Tutored Courses are an online educational program based on a combination of:

• Asynchronous sessions
• Self-administered lessons with exercises and exams
• Special Assignments
• Self-administered Audio lessons (self-paced) or Audio/Video Classes with the teacher (fixed-time schedule)
• Personal feedback from the teacher

After you Log In, go to My Courses and select My Tasks. The page will look approximately like this (slight variations depend on the course in which you are registered):

 

 

The current session is highlighted in the orange row and links become active only at the appropriate time (activated links remain always available during the course so students can go back and review the material whenever they want).

 

Start by clicking on Session 1. In the sessions students find all the necessary information, lessons, requirements and links to the material to study.

 

To access the Class Forum and post an assignment or message for the teacher click Class Forum.

 

To access the Audio/Video Class (or Voice Chat) at the scheduled date, just click on the link provided and allow the java program to download.

 

The main character in the CyberItalian lessons is Pinocchio, a traditional Italian character created in 1881 by Italian writer Carlo Collodi.

 

Pinocchio represents the idea of 'personal growth' at all levels (including intellectual and emotional). Personal growth is a very important factor in any learning process and the CyberItalian lessons show a progression in this sense. The best educational experience is the one that allows each student to express (bring out) the best of him/herself.

• In the CyberItalian Beginner Lessons, Pinocchio introduces himself, his family and friends, and discusses familiar topics. Students learn and practice basic language structures. They learn to describe and talk about familiar topics (family, food, transportation, travel...). In this level Pinocchio also discovers that his friends (the Cat and the Fox) are not very good friends, and he wonders about friendship.
• In the CyberItalian Intermediate Lessons, Pinocchio travels through Italy, meets with very famous Italian people (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rossini, etc.) and discusses cultural topics such as opera, art, literature. Students learn to narrate and to express themselves with more complex sentences. In this level Pinocchio asks to each famous person he meets: 'Cosa è l'amicizia?' (What is friendship?).
• In the CyberItalian Advanced Lessons, Pinocchio continues his travel through Italy, meets with other famous Italians (Ferrari, Galileo, Machiavelli, etc.), discusses important topics such as history, education and politics. Students learn how to write their resume in Italian, make hypothesis, refine and maintain the language using more complex structures. In this level Pinocchio wants to know what is the best job and how to be happy in life.

CyberItalian teachers are native speakers of Italian, highly qualified and dedicated to the promotion of the Italian language and culture.

 

If you have doubts or questions regarding your study, you have many ways to contact a teacher, ask questions, and find the answers to your questions. You can contact a teacher via class forums, e-mail, Ask-the-Prof service or Audio/Video class.

 

• assignments

Post assignments in the Class Forum so the teacher can correct them and grade them.

 

Use a word processor like Microsoft Word or similar to write the assignment in all its parts. When the assignment is complete you post it online. In this way, you do not run the risk of losing your work in case of connection problems.

• self-administered exercises

You find these exercises in the self-administered lessons.

 

After you complete an exercise, click on the little "Pinocchio-risposte" at the end of that exercise. This will show the correct answers to the exercise, what you wrote, and your score (scores are also shown in your Progress Report page).

• self-administered Exam

You find this exam in the self-administered lessons.

 

After you complete the exam, click on the "Pinocchio-risposte". This will show you the score (scores are also shown in your Progress Report page).

 

When you do the exercises in our Lessons, for certain words you need to use the Italian accented characters, otherwise the system cannot recognize your answer as correct.

 

Here are the Italian accented characters: "à, è, ì, ò, ù" (as in: caffè, università, più, etc.) or "é" (as in: perché).

 

English keyboards are different from Italian keyboards, and do no show the keys with the Italian accented vowels.

To write Italian accents use one of the following options.

 

Windows users - Option 1 - ALT key + numeric codes: in Windows, combinations of the ALT key plus a numeric code can be used to type a non-English character (accented letter) in any Windows application.
Example: To input the grave e è (138), hold down the ALT key, type 138 on the numeric keypad, then release the ALT key.

 

Accent	A	E	E	I	O	U
Grave (Cap)	À 0192	È 0200	É 0201	Ì 0204	Ò 0210	Ù 0217
Grave (Lower)	à 133	è 138	é 130	ì 141	ò 149	ù 151

 

Windows users - Option 2 - add the International keyboard: in this way you configure the computer so a small transparent window sits in the task bar that allows you to switch back and forth between the English and International keyboard. When you want to use accented letters just switch to the International keyboard. Then, if you want to type an accented letter you press the appropriate accent key and then the letter.

For example:

` + e = è

Similarly,

' + e = é

See instructions for adding the International keyboard. You can just leave the International keyboard on all the time. It will create some minor nuisances when you type certain punctuation marks. For example, in order to type [ ' ] you press [ ' ] then spacebar.

 

Mac users - OPTION key: when you want to add a letter with a symbol in just about any Mac OS X application, hold down the Option key and press the appropriate symbol key. Release the keys and type the letter you want to receive the symbol. Take "perché" — you type p, e, r, c, h, then press Option-E (to get the right-leaning acute accent), then e. As in most of these combinations, the acute accent key command is linked to the letter most likely to need the symbol in question — in this case, the letter e. But if you need to type the Italian limóne, say, you press Option-E, then o.

 

The left-leaning (grave) accent is simple to remember, because it has its own key: the ` above the Tab key. Just press Option-`and then the target letter: "Eccola là"!

 

Need to type a capital letter with an accent? Just press Option plus the appropriate key for your symbol, then press Shift as you type the letter you want. For example, to type Évian-les-Bains, use Option-E followed by a capital E.

 

Windows and Mac users - additional options for entering accents are listed here.

 

or

 

Editor for Italian characters: if you don't like any of the above solutions you can try this editor for Italian accented characters.

 

or

 

Copy and paste from here: you can go back to the oldest and simplest method and copy the Italian accented vowels from here or from our lessons, and then paste them in the exercise field:
à, è. ì, ò, ù, é. À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù, É.

 

Having a variety of educational materials and activities, CyberItalian grades students in different areas of study:

• Self-Administered Exercise in the Lessons - 10% weight - based on the percentage of correct answers
• Self-Administered Exams in the Lessons - 20% weight - based on the percentage of correct answers
• Audio Lessons - 20% weight - for participation, effort to speak and quality of communication (organized, clear, fluent)
• Assignments - 20% weight based on form and number of mistakes, grammar, accuracy, and overall sophistication in language and expression (40% of the grade), effort and quality of homework, thesis, examples, original ideas (40% of the grade), organization, style, expression (20% of the grade)
• Mid-term Test (available only for 16 week courses) - 10% weight - based on the percentage of correct answers
• Final Exam - 20% weight - based on the percentage of correct answers

In the Self-administered Exercises, included in the lessons, students receive an automatic score based on the percentage of correct answers. For educational purposes, these self-administered exercises can be taken several times (in this case, each time the student will have to re-enter the entire text in the exercise - which makes it a very good practice); the latest score of each exercise will be recorded over the previous one.

 

In the Self-administered Exams, included in the lessons, students receive an automatic score based on the percentage of correct answers; only the score of the first time you take the exam will be recorded.

 

Grades are given in numbers with the following values:

 

A+	97 - 100	Excellent, achievement surpasses the basic requirements of the course. Superior.
A	93 - 96	Excellent.
A-	90 - 92	Very good. Almost Excellent.
B+	87 - 89	Good, student fulfills all requirements. Better than Above Average, but not quite A- work.
B	83 - 86	Above Average.
B-	80 - 82	Average Almost Above Average.
C+	77 - 79	Slightly Better than Average.
C	73 - 76	Average.
C-	70 - 72	Slightly Lower than Average.
D+	67 - 69	Below Average, but making progress.
D	63 - 66	Below Average student approaches the standard requirements for the course.
D-	60 - 62	Almost failing.
Fail	Below	Failing.

 

In CyberItalian you find your scores and feedback from the teacher in the Progress Report page.

 

The page is divided into the different areas of study that students are required to complete.

 

The page looks approximately like this:

 

 

Please note: Column 2 in the Lessons area shows the percentage of exercises completed, Column 3 reports the average score of the completed exercises.

 

To listen to our MP3 audio files, your browser needs to be audio enabled and have Flash 6 installed or a later version.

 

Most browsers are audio enabled and have Flash already installed (you might just need to update your Flash version). If you have Flash, you will see the following image for each audio file:

 

click on the "Play" button (indicated by the orange arrow) to listen to the audio (DO NOT click on Pinocchio's head!)

 

To check if your browser is audio enabled and if you have Flash, use here the control buttons to Play/Pause and Replay the audio:

 

 

 

If your browser does not show the second image of Pinocchio with the Audio Control Box, it means that you do not have have Flash installed; please download* the latest FREE version from Macromedia Flash Player.

 

*Downloading a software is pretty easy. However, if you are not familiar with computers and the Internet, find someone, (a relative or a friend), who can help you in setting your computer and browser properly! Please note: CyberItalian is not responsible for the location, downloading, usage and properties of the recommended softwares.

 

To check the pronunciation of a word or sentence and record your voice you need to use the pronunciation guide.

 

When you open the "Pronuncia" window you will see the following image. Please allow the recording program to download completely before you press any button.

At this point use the control buttons and your microphone to record your voice. Then play back the audio and listen to your own voice speaking Italian!

 

You can compare your voice with the one of the pronunciation guide. Type a word or sentence in the box under "Enter text to be pronounced:" and press the button "Maria say it, please".

 

To use our pronunciation guides and recording system you need to have:

1. Headset/Microphone combination connected to your computer
2. Java installed

To verify if you have Java, please go to:

Java Tester

 

You should follow the instructions in that page: see if a pink box comes out telling you which version of Java is installed.

 

In case Java is not installed go to:

Java Download

 

press the blue button and follow the instructions. After installation close the browser, open it again and test the installation going to Java Tester.

 

To enjoy CyberItalian you need a computer with Internet access. Minimum Internet modem connection required to access the site is 56K (or up). Broadband recommended.

 

CyberItalian.com is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 6 and up), Firefox/Mozilla (version 1 and up) or Chrome (version 1 and up).

Newer versions of AOL should now work well (in case of problems please contact AOL customer support).

 

CyberItalian make use of pop-ups to facilitate the learning process: make sure you do NOT block ALL pop-ups. You should keep the default setting for your browser that blocks ONLY UNWANTED pop-ups. To check and eventually modify your browser settings, open the browser help or guide and search for popup or pop-up.

 

To listen to our MP3 audio files, your browser needs to be audio enabled and have Flash 6 installed or a later version.

 

See more info about listening to the audio

 

To use our pronunciation guides and recording system you need to have:

1. Headset/Microphone combination connected to your computer
2. Java installed

See more info about pronunciation guide and voice recording

 

The following are the minimum system requirements needed to attend our Audio/Video classes:

 

For Windows Systems:

1. Windows 2000 or later
2. Java 5 (J2SE 1.5) or later
3. Internet Explorer 6+ or Firefox 2+

For Mac Systems:

1. Mac OS 10.4 or later (PPC or Intel)
2. Safari 2+ or Firefox 2+

For All Systems:

1. 56K or faster Internet connection (broadband recommended)
2. Headset/Microphone combination
3. 512 MB System Memory
4. Javascript and Cookies enabled in browser
5. Java Web Start configured as helper application for browser

The webcam is NOT required as only the teacher will have this feature available (you will see the teacher but the teacher will not see you).

 

Check here to see if your system pass our requirements test

 

Are you having problems with IVocalize (the software we use for the audio/video classes)? See here

 

Downloading the program:

• The program we use for the audio/video group classes is very easy to use and does not require any complicated installation.
• Once you click on Classe Audio/Video insert your username and password.
• A java program will download automatically on your computer. No action is required from you.
• The audio/video group class will open on your screen.
• Technical problems with the opening of the program may be due to a firewall or other protections in your network.
• See more information on IVocalize website

Instruction for use:

• Once you have the audio/video group class on your screen, you will see the people logged in. To talk, press the Ctrl button on your keyboard or the little microphone on the lower left corner of the class.
• The teacher will place the educational material on the screen and you will start the conversation.
• Have fun!

 

The following are the minimum system requirements needed to self-administer the audio lessons:

 

For Windows Systems:

1. Windows 2000 or later
2. Java 5 (J2SE 1.5) or later
3. Internet Explorer 6+ or Firefox 2+

For Mac Systems:

1. Mac OS 10.4 or later (PPC or Intel)
2. Safari 2+ or Firefox 2+

For All Systems:

1. 56K or faster Internet connection (broadband recommended)
2. Headset/Microphone combination connected to your computer
3. Java installed

To verify if you have Java, please go to:

Java Tester

 

You should follow the instructions in that page: see if a pink box comes out telling you which version of Java is installed.

 

In case Java is not installed go to:

Java Download

 

press the blue button and follow the instructions. After installation close the browser, open it again and test the installation going to Java Tester.

 

Instruction for use:

• Once you have the audio lesson on your screen, follow instructions.
• Listen to the pronunciation guide, repeat what she says.
• When you are ready, use the recording box to record your voice as you read and as you reply to questions.
  
  
• Click the 'send' button to upload your file.

 

You have been assigned a schedule for your REQUIRED audio/video classes (select My Courses and My Tasks on the left Menu to see your schedule).

 

If you can't participate at the scheduled time, NOTIFY THE TEACHER immediately.

 

To reschedule the class, follow the instruction below:

1. CHECK the Calendar. Place the cursor on the class color to see details and time. The Calendar shows classes in your current local time, provided that your computer is set on your local time. PLEASE NOTE: Time is shown 'Italian-style' in the 24 hours (e.g. 3:30 = 3:30 am, 15:30 = 3:30 pm)
2. SELECT any yellow or pink class schedule that works for you. If it is convenient, you may also participate in two classes during the same week.
3. NOTIFY your teacher about your choice.

IF you have a conflict with the schedule shown in the Calendar NOTIFY THE TEACHER. You will be able to self-administer the audio-lessons at a time convenient for you.

 

For any question or doubt, Ask-the-Prof.

 

 

If you can't participate in the audio/video classes, you can self-administer the audio-lessons and send your recording to the teacher.

 

You can self-administer the audio-lessons at any time convenient for you (during the audio/video week), from school or from home.

 

It is very easy to do:

1. Go to MY TASKS.
2. Open the even sessions where you were supposed to participate in the Audio/Video Class (e.g. session 2, session 4, etc.).
3. Scroll down the page until you find the link to the audio-lesson to self-administer.
4. Click on the link and follow the instruction in the lesson to complete and send your recording to the teacher.

 

For any question or doubt, Ask-the-Prof.