Okay, here is our only multiple-choice exercise. We like to think of it as a sorbet ; use it before you start working with the really interactive stuff. It's a quick review to get you reoriented to whatever unit you have just studied. The format is pretty straightforward. 1) Go to the contents card for your desired unit. Preguntas will be the first entry on the list. 2) Click directly on the word Preguntas, and you will go straight to the first question. 3) Read over the question and the answers. When you think you've got it, click directly on the answer of your choice, then check the feedback field for messages.

If your answer is correct, SBP will tell you so. Now you can click the small next button in the lower right corner of the exercise window to the next question. There are anywhere from 10 to 15 questions for each unit.

What happens if your answer is wrong? Keep an eye on the dialog window below your exercise window. SBP will automatically scroll to a dialog card where you will be able to find the correct answer. Read and listen to the dialog again, then try to answer the question again.

Now that you've warmed up with multiple choice, it's time for your input. When you get to the last question, click the small Ejercicios button inside the exercise window.

Note:

If you want to keep working on the exercises, don't click the large Ejercicios button on the bottom of the dialog window. Those buttons are toggles. That is, they open and close windows. If you click on the large button, your exercise window will close, and you'll have to reopen it and go back to the contents cards. You can save some time by using the buttons inside the exercise window. You will go directly back to the list of exercises for your current unit, where you can select a new activity. Next on the list: vocabulary.

Now it's time to start using your Spanish. Click directly on Vocabulario inside the contents card of your exercise window, and you will go to a brief explanation of how to do the vocabulary exercise. When you've read through the instructions, click on the Initialize button. This will reset the exercise and load the words on which you will be tested. Within a couple of seconds you will see an exercise window like the one shown here, and you'll be ready to work. An English word will appear in a field in the top middle portion of the window. Your cursor will start blinking in the white rectangle just below your English clue. Type in the Spanish equivalent and press return. Then, check the field just below your answer field.

If your answer is correct, SBP will tell you so. If there are any errors, SBP will pinpoint them and offer you a hint on how to correct your answer. You will notice that whenever you answer is incorrect, the English word will appear in a list near the bottom of your window. Meanwhile, at the top of the window, you will see a series of small data boxes. The correct box tells you how many words you have answered correctly. First try tells you how many words you answered correctly on your first try. Out of tells you how many words you have attempted. Rate gives you the percentage of words you have answered correctly. Score calculates an overall performance score based on the number of words you have attempted, the number you have answered correctly, and the number you answered correctly on the first try. To go tells you how many items are remaining.

Tip:

Pay special attention to the use of articles and accent marks. For instance, if the English entry is the country, then make sure you supply the appropriate definite article in your Spanish translation.

Let's say that for the particular vocabulary exercise you are working on, there are 50 items. You work through them from beginning to end, and answer all but 15 correctly on the first try. At the end of the exercise, SBP will give you the option of saving the results of your exercise if you want to. If you choose to save, your results will automatically be appended to the current document in your note pad. Click the RESTART button, and you will see a message in the dialog box:

You may REVIEW words you have missed or RESTART from a clean slate. Please note that if you start from scratch, the scoreboard will be reset.

If you select RESTART you get to start all over. If you select REVIEW, your program will recycle the list of words you missed the first time around. Now you have a list of 15 English words to translate into Spanish (that is, the ones you got wrong the first time around). Let's say you get all but 5 of these correct the second time around. You click REVIEW again, and you have a list of 5 words to work with, and so on until you've answered all words on the list correctly. Once you've done that, you can click on the small Ejercicios button and choose another activity.

The next exercise in your interactive repertoire is verb conjugation. In each of the SBP dialogs, certain verb forms or tenses are emphasized. For example, in Unidad 1, (regular -ar verbs and the present tense are emphasized and certain stem-changing verbs are emphasized in Unidad 3. Your conjugation exercises give you the opportunity to work with this next material in context. 1) Select Conjugación from the menu in your exercise contents card. Read the instructions on the next three cards you see. 2) Click Continue to start from where you left off last time. 3) Click Initialize to start over from a clean slate and erase any previous work in the conjugation exercise.

Note:

The Continue button will work only if you are running your software from your hard drive. If you run SBP from the CD-ROM, all answers to all exercises disappear whenever you quit.

The next card you see in your exercise window will look like the one shown here. It's a paragraph which summarizes the action you have studied in one of the units. You will notice that some of the words are missing, and that an alphabetical list of verbs in the infinitive appears near the top of your window.

• Read the paragraph on screen, and, based on context, decide which verb makes sense in which blank. Use your mouse or your tab key to select a blank line. Type the conjugated form of the appropriate verb in the blank.
• Press return, and check the feedback field near the bottom of the window for an analysis of your answer.

If your answer is correct, SBP will tell you so. The corresponding infinitive on the top of your window will change to red, indicating that the verb has been used. If your answer is incorrect, check the feedback field for messages.

Remember:

The section symbol § is hot. Click directly on it and your grammar window will open with a short lesson to help you. If you get stuck, use your mouse or your tab key to go to the next item. You may answer items in any order you please. You can come back to items you have skipped at any time, and you can go back and forth between cards in the exercise if you wish.

Note:

The paragraph in which the blanks appear is also hot. Click on any word for a dictionary search.

If you click Notas during your verb exercise, SBP will ask you if you want to save a copy of your work. If you choose to save, SBP will tally your results and append them to the end of the current document inside your note pad.

Before long you will be used to working interactively with Spanish in context. This conjugation exercise, however, is limited to verbs. In the next type of exercise -- Charadas -- you will work with all categories of words in context. The section below explains.

SBP's Charadas word game is a lot like the game of Charades which you may be familiar with. In traditional Charades, one player is given a certain phrase which he or she will try to convey to a partner by means of gesture. By the same token, in a Charadas session the computer will have a certain phrase which it will try to convey to you, but by means of verbal clues rather than visual clues. For instance, if the computer's clue were "the opposite of sister,", the word "brother" would probably come to mind.

1) Click directly on Charadas inside your unit contents card. Read the instruction cards which follow. 2) When you come to the last instruction card, Initialize to reset the exercise and get ready to begin.

Charadas will first ask you to choose a level of difficulty. If you choose hard, Charadas will scramble all of the words in a sentence. If your choose middling, it will scramble most of the words. If you choose easy, it will scramble some of them. Here is what a typical Charadas phrase might look like:

Ella eneti nau natuj noc el ñeosr Montes

Since three of these words -- ella, el and Montes--- are already recognizable, you have some context to work with. Your task is to unscramble the words in red. You start by clicking on a word of your choice and reading the clue which SBP returns. Let's say that you clicked on noc and got this clue:

lo contrario de "sin"

Charadas is hinting at the opposite of "without." The correct answer, in other words, is "con," or "with."

• Type in your response and press return.
• Check the feedback field for messages.

SBP will check for spelling, accent marks, and so on. If your answer is incorrect, SBP will give you a hint as to what sort of corrections are needed. If your answer is correct, then SBP will tell you so, and replace the scrambled word with the unscrambled version. Your phrase will then look like this:

Ella eneti nau natuj con el ñeosr Montes

Now you have a little more context to work with. Click on another word in red, and another clue will appear on screen. Type in your answer, and press return. The more words you unscramble, the more context you have, and the easier the exercise becomes. Before long you will have unscrambled the entire sentence.

But wait: there's more to it than that. What you actually have to unscramble in a Charadas exercise is an entire paragraph which deals with some aspect of the dialog you have been working with. Once your first sentence has been unscrambled, you will have a second one to work with, then a third, and so on, until all sentences in the paragraph are back in their original, unscrambled form.

These sentences themselves form a cohesive paragraph, but only when they are placed in the proper order. And not only does Charadas scramble the letters inside words, it also scrambles sentences inside paragraphs. You have to reorganize the sentences into a paragraph that makes sense and flows smoothly. You do this by clicking directly on top of a sentence inside the field near the top of the window. When you click on a sentence, it will move towards the top. Let's suppose, for example, that you think the third sentence in your scrambled paragraph should be the first sentence. Click on it once, and it moves up to become the second sentence. Click it again, and it moves up to become the first. Do the same with the other sentences, until you think you've got the right order, then click the play button on the top of your exercise display. SBP will let you know if your sentences are in the right order.

All four units in SBP Volume 1 include at least one Charadas exercise. And once you have mastered the Charadas in the third unit of SBP Volume 1, you will be comfortable with the basic writing process in Spanish. Now it's time to express yourself creatively!