French Dictation

Crash

Rosetta McLeod

CRASH COURSE By Rosetta McLeod LINGUA FRANCA Recently I attended a national conference on 'The Micro and the Language Specialist' which attracted delegates not only from Britain but also from other European countries. The conference certainly brought home to me the significant role that the microcomputer is now playing in the teaching of languages, from helping young children to read, to encouraging older pupils and adults to master a foreign language. This month, then, Crash Course looks at two publishing houses who have produced programs concerned with language development. The English Language Tutors from Options international aim to teach the basics of the language to primary school children with language difficulties. The author, Edward Ingram, has a degree in Psychology and has had a great deal of teaching experience with children suffering from profound language disorders, such as aphasia and autism. The programs have been thoroughly field-tested in schools. The Options range also includes three foreign language tutors - French, Spanish and German - which have bee designed to help beginners learn the languages and also to provide a revision aid for exam students. The programs cost £8.95 each and come with a detailed information booklet. AVP Computing, too, whose programs featured in Jule Crash Course, have also issued some interesting modern languages programs. I particularly enjoyed the French Crosswords program, and the Dictation package, combining the computer program with audio input, is a worthy study aid. These two programs cost £10.00 each, while the Time programs for French, German, or Spanish cost only £6.00 each. For further information about any of these programs, contact: Options International, [redacted] AVP Computing, [redacted] FRENCH DICTATION This package contains both the computer program and a recording by a native speaker of the 10 dictation passages which the student can attempt. A menu of options appears on the screen, and to begin with, only the first option 'Enter student version'can be selected. On choosing this, you are then instructed to listen to the passage of your choice all the way through to gain an understanding of its whole meaning. Then you must listen to it phrase by phrase and type in what you hear. The last stage is to rewind the tape and listen for a third time, in order to make any final changes to the version now on the screen. Obviously, for this program to be useful, meticulous accuracy in following the instructions is required and the booklet draws attention to ways in which the program can produce misleading results if used incorrectly. For instance, a word omitted completely will not be detected as an error. When the full dictation has been entered, the menu reappears and you can then choose to see your errors and view the master version for comparison. If a ZX Printer is attached, a punt-out of both the master and the student version can be obtained. The master versions are also provided in the booklet. No attempt is made in this program to quantify your errors because, as in an exam, the mark awarded is not arrived at solely by counting the number of misspell words. It is hoped that, by viewing all your errors and studying the master versions, you will be able to understand the mistakes you have made. I found this program to be a very sensible way of preparing for the requirements of O Level dictation with the audio element being very clear and easy to follow. COMMENTS Control keys: phrases typed in as normal, with characters obtained through the Graphics mode Keyboard play: good Graphics: none Use of colour limited