French With Flair

Cambridge Micro Software have added two computer-assisted language-learning modules to their library. They come together on a single 80-track disc, are avilable in French (as Quelle tete! and Jeu de menages) or German (as Kopfjager and Umziehen), and are intended for children in their first or second year of language-learning.

The first module is based on identikit pictures. Using high light selection, you match facial features and adjectives, both chosen from a list in French or German, as the case may be.

The computer draws the results until the face is complete, and composes simple descriptive sentences at the bottom of the screen, emphasising any changes in articles and the position and agreement of the adjectives.

In the second module, where the aim is to provide practice in spelling and the use of prepositions, the screen shows the plan of a house and you're asked to arrange various items of fur niture in different rooms.

The items appear on the plan when you type in responses to questions in French or German about where to put them. Both modules are excellently documented, nicely presented on screen with adequate graphics, and generally well-programmed with some interesting touches.

For example, in the second module up to three spelling mistakes arc accepted before the computer fails to understand a response. It then presentswhat it thinks you meant, and asks for confirmation.

With no authoring facility provided, teachers may find the vocabulary content of under fifty words per module a serious limitation, but the fact that faces and houses can be saved on disc and dumped to a printer, opens up a number of possibilities for classroom use, such as guessing or detective games.

The price of £18.34 per pack is no bargain for two comparatively small programs. But you'll be paying for a high educational quality and an imaginative use of the micro.

Gabriel Jacobs