Category : Science and Education
Archive   : FRENCH2.ZIP
Filename : TEACHER.TXT

LANGUAGE TEACHER

by Andrew Bartorillo
Distributed by Micro Tutor Products
103 Baughmans Lane, Suite 303
Frederick, Md. 21701
Copyright 1982-Released to the Public Domain

LANGUAGE TEACHER is a series of menu-driven language tutorial programs
designed to be run on the IBM PC/XT/AT/jr or any compatible clone. Each program
in the series contains hundreds of word combinations and verb conjugation
forms. A line printer can be used with LANGUAGE TEACHER to take advantage of
its versatility.
Also included is the capability to select language-to-English or English-
to-language combinations, choose multiple choice answers, be retested on
misses, print a multiple choice test, and to run a full quiz diagnostic routine
with line printer output. Of particular interest to non-English students is the
capability to select the direction of the combinations.
All word, phrase, and verb conjugation selections are done randomly by the
program the the user being unable to predict what the next selection will be.
The program package is not designed to teach conversational language or
pronunciation but, instead, to provide practice drills in order to increase
your working vocabulary and to enhance your use of the conjugation forms.

The LANGUAGE TEACHER series was originally published by Acorn Software
Products, Inc. of Washington, DC. Since then the company has gone out of
business and the author is releasing the series to the Public Domain. If you
find any of the programs in the series to be usefull, a suitable payment ($5 to
$10) would be appreciated so more programs of this quality can be developed.

PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS:

Minimum system configuration: LANGUAGE TEACHER is written in Microsoft
Basic and requires a minimum of 64K bytes of RAM and Advanced Basic, one disk
drive and a suitable high resolution monitor. Preferred monitors are the IBM
Monochrome Display attached to the IBM Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter
or a green screen or "direct drive" RGB monitor attached to the Color/Graphics
Monitor Adapter. In most cases, only a high quality color monitor or green
screen will provide the resolution necessary to display the special chaaracters
used with LANGUAGE TEACHER. All other program functions will be suitable,
though, if a low quality color composite monitor is used.
Optional equipment includes an 80 column line printer.

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS:

Power up your system with a DOS diskette containing BASICA in disk drive
"A". Load BASICA into memory and remove your DOS diskette from the disk drive.
Insert your copy of LANGUAGE TEACHER into disk drive "A", type RUN'TEACHER" and
press the Enter key.
NOTE: Due to the large amount of string space used, your computer will
occasionally seem to "hang up" or "go to sleep". This is due to Microsoft's
Basic string manipulation (better known as "garbage collection") and is not a
machine or program malfunction. The time rarely exceeds 8-10 seconds. The
occurrence of this phenomenon decreases in systems having more than 64K RAM.

SPECIAL CHARACTER SET:

LANGUAGE TEACHER utilizes the special function keys to input the special
characters used in the language. These keys are active only when a non-multiple
choice drill is selected in which you must enter the direct equivalent of the
required answer. The 25th line of the screen will display which function key is
associated with which foreign character.
NOTE: Due to the inability of the average line printer to be able to
recognize these special characters, programming is implemented to convert these
special characters to their "normal" letters before being output to the line
printer. Once you have obtained your printout, insert the special marks by
hand.

MISCELLANEOUS:

If a multiple choice type quiz has been selected, you will only be given
15 seconds (25 seconds for verb conjugation) to input your answer. If the time
expires before you make your choice, you will be credited with an incorrect
answer. NOTE: If the computer performs its "garbage collection" routine while
timing is in progress, program coding is implemented to prevent your time
remaining from falling to zero.
If you have not chosen a multiple choice type of quiz, you will have to
type in the exact answer. In the case of being quizzed with a noun, you must
also type in the definite article ("the") that proceeds the noun.
If your original option was the verb conjugation drill, no retesting can
be performed. Also, the diagnostic display will let you know how many of each
person and tense you missed. If you missed more than 3 of any person/tense, an
"*" is displayed beside the applicable person/tense, indicating you need more
practice.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

The extent of the vocabulary of each program is given below. Since the
program randomly selects from its contents in each option, you truly have a
thorough drill in each language!
SPANISH I: 750 Spanish/English word combinations, 1488 verb conjugations
and 150 Spanish/English phrase combinations.
SPANISH II: 800 Spanish/English word combinations and 2108 verb
conjugation forms.
FRENCH I: 784 French/English word combinations, 1600 verb conjugations
and 196 French/English phrase combinations.
FRENCH II: 864 French/English word combinations and 1600 verb
conjugation forms.
GERMAN I: 800 German/English word combinations, 1860 verb conjugations
and 160 German/English phrase combinations.
GERMAN II: 800 German/English word combinations and 2015 verb
conjugation forms.
ITALIAN: 816 Italian/English word combinations, 1500 verb conjugations
and 114 Italian/English phrase combinations.


We hope that you have many enjoyable and informative hours working with your
LANGUAGE TEACHER program. If you have any suggestions or problems with using
LANGUAGE TEACHER, feel free to correspond with the author using the address
listed below. Please make your comments as specific as possible and enclose a
self-addressed stamped envelope:

Andrew P. Bartorillo
c/o Micro Tutor Products
103 Baughmans Lane, Suite 303
Frederick, MD 21701