1. DIALOGS
[PREPARATION][DIALOGS][EXERCISES][RESOURCES][INTERNET][INDEX]
[Launching SBP][Where do you want to go?][Unidades] /A>[Dialogs][Audio options]
[Hot text]
1. DIALOGS
[PREPARATION][DIALOGS][EXERCISES][RESOURCES][INTERNET][INDEX]
[Launching SBP][Where do you want to go?][Unidades] /A>[Dialogs][Audio options]
[Hot text]
If you've read over the PREPARATION document and figured out which SBP deployment method is best for your situation, then you're ready to start learning commercial Spanish. Your next step is to find the folder SBP Folder(1), which, depending on the method of deployment you have selected, is either on your hard disk or on the CD titled SBP CD ROM 1.
Important:
If you are working in a lab setting, you will probably want to use headphones to study SBP. Ask an instructor or a lab attendant if a headset is available.
To launch your application:
- Double-click SBP Folder(1) to open. Double-click the SBP Volume 1 icon. Now you will see the SBP spinning logo, followed by the Start Up Page. Your session is under way.
- Select a deployment option for your current session.
- Enter a user name (it doesn't have to be your real name, of course).
- Click the blue globe.
Important: Did you notice the RED FEET in the upper left hand corner of your display? That is your QUIT button. Click it any time during a session to quit SBP.
After you've clicked the blue globe on the start up page, SBP will take you to a page called ¿Para dónde va? (Where are you going?). If this is your first time using SBP, you will probably want to go to 0. Introducción.
This short unit will give you some background on the characters involved in the story which follows. The introduction will also give you a few tips on how to use SBP to study Spanish. The buttons at the bottom of the screen allow you to navigate back and forth in SBP, and access SBP's other learning tools.
To illustrate how you can study commercial Spanish using SBP, let's say that you're just starting, and you've decided to go to UNIDAD UNO. In Unit One, as in all SBP units, you will start with some warm-up material to prepare you to study:
- Overview of the dialogs and situations which will you will be studying.
- Learning objectives about the commercial, cultural, grammatical, and lexical content of the unit.
- Vocabulary basics to help you understand the dialogs in this unit.
- Questions to get you thinking about the topics which this unit deals with.
Note:
Each of these four preparatory sections has its own screen display. A screen display like this is called a card. Use the arrow in lower left of your card to go to a previous card. Use the arrow in the lower right to go to the next card. Once you've finished your warm-up exercises, it's time to go to the dialogs.
The dialogs, which constitute the core of the SBP curriculum, involve native Spanish speakers in typical business settings. Some examples include making international calls, making plane or hotel reservations, hiring a taxi, planning a trip, ordering a meal, making business appointments, conducting negotiations, and so on. This first dialog you will hear in UNIDAD UNO is just the beginning of a long story which gets under way in SBP Volume 1, develops in SBP Volume 2, and reaches its conclusion in SBP Volume 3.
Rebeca Oñate and Antonio Cortés work for an electronics retailer in Houston called MediaWorld. Their company has decided to take advantage of the economic conditions created by NAFTA to expand their business into México. They have a contact in Monterrey, México, named Jorge Montes, who may be able help finance and run a new MediaWorld franchise in Monterrey. However, Señora Oñate has forgotten much of the Spanish she once knew as a child. As she learns Spanish for the second time, you can learn along with her for the first time.
A small window called Audio options will automatically open each time you access a dialog card. You can use the Audio options window to adjust the sound volume on your computer. You can also choose the manner in which you listen by clicking the tiny arrows inside the window. You may:
- listen to the entire segment with no pauses.
- listen to the dialog line-by-line with pauses,
- listen to the dialog line-by-line, with each line playing twice,
- listen to the dialogs, in Spanish, followed by an English translation spoken out loud using your Macintosh English Text-to-Speech.
You will notice as well that whenever you play a dialog line-by-line, a written English translation will appear in the lower right of your dialog card. Would you like to focus on a particular line of dialog? Click on a character's name, and the corresponding line of dialog will play. You may listen to each line as often as you like.
Note:
If you are running SBP directly from your CD-ROM on an older model computer, your audio files may not play as smoothly as they would if you were using the hard disk only deployment method. In particular, you may notice that the first couple of words of a line of dialog are cut off. This is most noticeable on older Macintoshes which have slower CD-ROM drives, or somewhat less powerful CPU's. You can compensate for this by using the tiny arrows inside your Audio options window to find Adjust line speed. Try setting the line speed to 4, then playing a line of dialog by clicking on a character's name. This will delay the point at which the dialog line starts to play by a half-second or so. By adjusting line speed in this manner, you will be able to hear the entire line.
Hot text is any word or set of words which is clickable; aim your cursor at a hot word, click it, and something will happen. As you work through these dialogs, you will notice that hot text abounds in SBP. Click on any underlined word in your dialog, and SBP will open the dictionary, do a word search, and say the word out loud in Spanish for you. And any time you see the section symbol § followed by a number, just click and SBP will open your built-in grammar rule and automatically find a short grammar lesson which will help you understand the dialog. Did you come across a grammar rule or business tip that you wanted to save? Click on the small green globe in the lower right corner of the note, and SBP will automatically save it to your note pad. Then, once you've finished your session, you can print out all of your notes, or save them in a folder on your hard drive or diskette for later reference. When you're ready to continue the dialog, just click the next button in the lower right corner of the screen, and you'll go to the next card.
Study your dialogs as often as you like, and for as long as you like. Once you have completed a unit, you should open your exercise window and start practicing the Spanish you have learned. The next web page in this series explains how SBP interactive exercises work.
copyright © 1998 U.S. Department of Education
