SPANISH INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS STUDENT MANUAL Before beginning, here are some general instructions. First, don't be afraid of making a mistake. You cannot hurt the computer by entering an incorrect choice. The worst that can happen is that you'll have to start over. Look over the keyboard of your computer and find three useful keys. The "'" key will be used after a vowel to enter the accent mark. The "~" will be used after an "n" to modify it. The "\" is used to stop the program at most places. Another key that you may use is the "F1" which is used to recall a response in the numbers and arithmetic program. As you run these programs, you will be shown a series of menus. Many menus have a choice for obtaining information about the specific program that is being run. The information will give you pointers on operating the program, and sometimes some hints. To make a choice from a menu, press the number that corresponds to what you want to do. You do not have to press Return (or, Enter as it is labeled on other keyboards) to make a choice from a menu. Most menus have a "default" choice that is indicated with brackets ([ ]). If you press Return, that is the choice that you will select. On most menus, you may quit to the previous menu by selecting the number corresponding to quit, or by entering a 'q' or by pressing the symbol '\'. STUDENT'S MANUAL 2 This is the first menu that you will see: ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS <1> [ Vocabulary tests ] <2> Verb tests <3> Days of the week <4> Months of the year <5> Numbers and arithmetic <6> Timed test of noun genders <7> Timed test of verb tenses <8> Change screen colors <9> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ From this menu, you may choose to run any of the listed programs, you may choose to quit, or you may change the color of the screen. If a program is not available on your computer disk, then it will not appear on the menu. STUDENT'S MANUAL 3 If you press Return, you will begin the default choice. In this case, that is choice number 1, the Spanish vocabulary test. The computer will search for this program on the disk and show you the next menu. ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH VOCABULARY <1> Instructions <2> [ Start Vocabulary Test ] <3> Select vocabulary files to include <4> Change length of test (now 100) <5> Change test format <6> Change directory or drive for data <7> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ From this menu, you may read some instructions (choice 1), begin the test (choice 2), or change some of the features of the test. If we press 3, we see the next menu. ------------------------------------------------------------ There are 11 vocabulary files here. Set the file range desired for the test. Enter numbers or use the arrow keys to go through the list, pressing Return to make your choice First choose lowest. ==> < 1> Year 1, First file <11> Year 2, Fifth file ------------------------------------------------------------ This menu tells us that there are 11 vocabulary files available. We may choose a range of those files by selecting the first file and the last file. The arrow points to the first STUDENT'S MANUAL 4 file. If we press return, then file number 1 will be selected and the arrow will move to the last file. If we want to select a file other than file number 1, we may either enter it's number (say, 4), or we may use the up and down arrow keys to view the names of the files. When we find the one we want as the first file, we press Return to finalize the selection. After selecting the last file, we return to the Vocabulary menu again, and we may begin the test, or we may make other changes. The default length of the test is 100 words. We may decrease that, if we like. The default test format is to be shown an English word or phrase and have to enter the Spanish equivalent. We may reverse that, if we wish, or we may decide to have a multiple choice test, where we are shown a word and asked to select among four words of the other language. When we are ready to start the vocabulary test, we can either press Return or 2. While taking the test, we can get a very small hint by entering ? followed by Return instead of the word. If we want to quit before the test is completed, we may enter either 'q' or '\' by itself at the prompt, followed by Return. The initial settings for the vocabulary program are: use all available vocabulary files, present a fill-in-the-blank test, ask for a Spanish definition of an English word or phrase, and make the test 100 words long, if there are that many words available. STUDENT'S MANUAL 5 If, back at the main menu, we had chosen "Verb Test," we would have seen a similar menu: ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH VERBS <1> Read instructions <2> [ Test verb tenses ] <3> Choose tenses to include <4> Set difficulty level of verbs <5> Set length of test (now 100) <6> Change directory of verb data files <7> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ From this menu, instead of choosing the vocabulary files to include, we may choose the tenses to include in the test. If we select 3 from this menu, we will see the next one. ------------------------------------------------------------ Choose tenses desired in test. Press when done. <1> Presente de indicativo <2> Prete'rito <3> Imperfecto <4> Futuro <5> Condicional <6> Presente de subjuntivo <7> Todos tiempos ------------------------------------------------------------ STUDENT'S MANUAL 6 This is a bit different, because we may choose any number of tenses from the list. We simply press the numbers for the tenses we want. Arrows will appear to indicate which ones we have chosen. When we have completed our selection, pressing Return will take us back to the previous menu. If we select choice 7 from the tenses menu, however, there's nothing left to select, so we go immediately back to the Verb Test menu. From the Verb Test Menu, we may also change the length of the test (remember each tense has up to six forms, such as first person singular, first person plural, etc.). We may also select the difficulty of the verbs, where 1 is the least difficult and 4 is the most difficult. Once in the verb test, we have the same option to quit at any time as we did in the vocabulary test, by entering '\'. The initial settings of the verb test are: use all tenses available, use all levels of verbs available, and present a test with 100 words, if that many are available. STUDENT'S MANUAL 7 Back at the Main Menu, we had the choice of two calendar tests: days and months. Here is the menu for the test of days of the week. ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH DAYS <1> Read instructions <2> [ Start Quiz of Days ] <3> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ With these two programs, we have fewer choices to make. We may begin the test, read instructions, or quit. In the test itself, we will be shown a simple calendar. In the test of days, we are told a day and asked either what the next day will be or what the day before was. This will go on until we enter 'q' or '\' to quit. In the test of months, we will be asked to name a month in the year, going through the year in random order until we choose to quit. STUDENT'S MANUAL 8 Another choice from the Main Menu is "Numbers and arithmetic" which gives us this menu: ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH NUMBERS <1> Read instructions <2> [ Start Number Test ] <3> Change largest number (now 99) <4> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ The only thing to set here is the largest number to include. This must be no larger than 99, but beginners will probably set it to ten. In this program, you usually are told two numbers and asked to perform arithmetic on them, such as addition, subtraction, or multiplication. You must enter the words for the result. Occasionally, the program will ask you to enter the numerals of a number, as a change of pace. If you make a small mistake, you may redisplay your answer and edit it. This usually happens when you've made an arithmetic mistake, but the Spanish words you wrote were the correct words, but for the wrong number. Pressing either the F1 key or the up arrow key will redisplay the entire answer, and you can use the backspace or left arrow key to correct it. The right arrow key will display one letter at a time of the last answer. So, if the answer were "ochenta y seis" but you entered "ochenta y cinco" you may use the right arrow to redisplay "ochenta y " and then type in "seis". As before, you quit by entering 'q' or '\'. STUDENT'S MANUAL 9 Once you have mastered some nouns or verbs, you may try the "time trial" tests from the Main Menu: "Timed test of noun genders" or "Timed test of verb tenses." The menus that you see are similar to ones before. For noun genders: ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH NOUN GENDERS: <1> Instructions <2> [ Start Vocabulary Test ] <3> Select vocabulary files to include. <4> Change length of test (now 50) <5> Set speed of test <6> Change directory or drive for data <7> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ The main difference here is that you have a limited amount of time to respond, and you may change that amount of time (either faster or slower) with choice 5. Once you begin the test, you will be given the opportunity to position your fingers over the keys 'm' and 'f' before the program shows you nouns from the vocabulary lists. You have to decide whether they are masculine or feminine. The initial settings for the noun genders program are: use all available files, make a test of 50 words, if that many are available, and allow 3 seconds for an answer. STUDENT'S MANUAL 10 The "Timed test of verb tenses" is similar. ------------------------------------------------------------ SPANISH VERB TENSES <1> Read instructions <2> [ Test verb tenses ] <3> Chooses tenses to include <4> Set length of test (now 100) <5> Set difficulty level of verbs <6> Change directory of verb data files <7> Set speed of test <8> Quit ------------------------------------------------------------ Again, you may alter the amount of time you have to respond, as well as change the tenses, verb difficulty, and length of test. The program gives you time to position your fingers over the number keys, and then you must press the appropriate keys to identify a verb's tense. The initial settings for the test of verb tenses are: use all available tenses, use all available verb levels, and make a test of 100 words, if that many are available. This quick run through is enough to get you started. The important things to know are how to start and how to stop. You noticed that we didn't mention some of the choices in the menus, particularly the one on changing the directory for data files. Most users won't need to do that, but the option is there, so that you may have the programs and the vocabulary and verb data files in different places. This may be most useful as you build your vocabulary, or share the programs with other people.