Time

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/GERMAN/SPANISH These three programs on telling the time are designed both for classroom use and private study. When the program has loaded, a menu offers two options, Demonstration and Test. In Demonstration mode, the time is displayed on a clock with the appropriate words appearing below. By pressing H or M, you can advance the time in hours or minutes, and midday and midnight are indicated by flashing symbols at the corners of the clock face. Having worked through this part of the program, you are then ready for the Test option, in which you have to enter in words the time shown on the clock in response to the question Quelle heure est-il?/Wieviel Uhr ist es?/Que hora es? Accented characters are obtained by pressing the appropriate key in Graphic mode, for example 'e' on key E. If the correct answer is typed in. the country's flag shown at the side of the screen is hoisted higher on the flagpole, and it the answer is wrong, the correct version is displayed immediately below. At the end of the test, your score out of ten is given. These are extremely simple little programs with no frills or gimmicks, but provide a helpful opportunity for teaming to tell the time in the three languages. COMMENTS Control keys: letter keys to input the answers. Graphics mode enable accented characters to be obtained very easily Keyboard play: last Graphics: clear clock face Use of colour: not over-used

If you've got the time.....AVP can tell you what it is in German.