LiveCode Templates for Language Learning

The following files are templates created in LIveCode. As is, they aren't really complete language lessons. The idea is for language teachers to adapt them to suit their own purposes and the needs of their students.

Claire Bradin Siskin csiskin@edvista.com

What software do I need?

What do I need to know?

Important Tips

Copyright Information

Credits

Ideas for Dictations
Karaoke Conversation
Listening Tasks
More Listening Tasks
Picture Choice
The Messy Desk
Two Choices
Type your answer
Vocabulary Lesson
What's Happening?

What do I need to know?

You will not need to know how to do advanced programming, but you WILL need a few basic skills. (If you are a former HyperCard or Revolution user, you may have these skills already.) This includes knowing how to do the following:

• make new cards, buttons, and fields
• copy, cut, and paste cards, buttons, fields
• change from browse to button to field mode
• modify existing buttons and fields
• change the scripts in stacks, cards, buttons, and fields
• delete cards, buttons, and fields
• lock and unlock the text in fields
• import audio files
• import graphics files

Most language teachers who don't have any specialized knowledge of computer programming but who DO have basic computer skills can learn to do all of the above in an afternoon.

If you don't know how to do the above, see the LiveCode for Language Learning page for websites where you can learn more about LiveCode. Abundant help is available.

Important Tips

Text fields: Most of the text fields in these stacks are unlocked to make it easier for you to change the text. You may want to lock them before you give them to your students.

However, some of the text fields are locked because they can't be clicked on and hidden unless they are locked. These contain a special script so that you can press the option key, place the mouse over the field, and click the mouse. The field will be unlocked. You can then change the text and move the mouse outside the field. It will automatically become locked again.

Card scripts: In some cases, there are scripts in the cards which will hide or show fields and buttons automatically when the card is closed. In order to preserve these, be sure to copy the whole card instead of just the buttons and fields on a card. If you change the names of any fields are buttons on the card or add or delete these, you will have to make corresponding changes in the card script to ensure that the card "behaves" properly.

The Templates:

Have students listen to a recording and write what they hear. This can be checked in a variety of ways.

Many CALL exercises permit learners to listen to a dialog, hear it line by line, record and play back their voices, and read the corresponding lines of text. Karaoke Conversation is an attempt to permit the student to "enter" the conversation. The student chooses a character from the dialog and records that part. When the entire dialog is played back, the learner's voice is substituted for that role only -- thus simulating a "real" conversation with other native speakers. There is also the option of listening to the original dialog for comparison.

Students listen to instructions, which direct them to drag an icon to a different part of the screen.

This stack may be the most difficult to adapt, and you may need help with the scripts. But it's probably the most fun for students!

Students are asked to click on a picture. In one mode, the "feedback" field disappears when they release the mouse, and in another mode, the fields stay on the screen.

The Messy Desk Download (307K)

Listen to a dialog, then read it line by line, and then answer comprension questions about the conversation.

A simple multiple-choice exercise which offers 2 choices. Of course, it can be modified to work with 3 or 4 choices.

Here are some low-tech ways of having students type an answer and getting some feedback on their answer.

TOEFL-type multiple choice vocabulary items. Individual feedback given for each answer. Students can see the related word forms for each word. Traditional, but students love it.

What's Happening? Download (51K)

Look at the picture and select the action that describes what is going on.