Learning for fun with a little help from your amis!

Whoa! Hang on there a minute. I can hear the cries now of "This isn't a game!". Well, on the surface this is very true indeed. However, start to play around with this little program and you'll begin to see why it's been included in the Gameplan section.

Probably the worst part of learning a language is getting to grips with the vocabulary and this is where French Test can help you out. Listed on side one of the disc are a whole host of different categories for you to discover, ranging from personal details, through house and garden, to cars, hospitals and diseases. The list is endless, with the French and English translations provided alongside.

Take a look at the option menu and you'll see that you have the chance to test yourself n as few or as many pieces of vocabulary as you wish.

Each section is listed as basic or higher, which is intended to run alongside the requirements for the GCSE exams and can be used under the supervision of a teacher.

Try a quick test first on a single category, try the translations and the next time around, you'll be asked to rectify your mistakes. At the end of each test, a progress assessment will keep you in touch with how well you are doing.

Later on, you can try merging different categories to improve your word power as you power towards those all-important exams. If you feel you can try without cheating, have a go at the mental tests for a quick overview of what you have learnt already. On side two of the disc, the fun really starts as you get to grips with the whole dictionary of french words.

Take a few at a time to start with and test your wits against the guillotine. It's a bit like Hangman really, pick the letters to make the English translation of the word. Get it right and you get a little tresbien signal, get it wrong and you'll see the guillotine building up slowly to the grand finale - you lose your head!

Once you've got over the guillotine act, get hold of a spare disc and start inputting your own entries. If you get homework on a regular basis, fill it in and test yourself, creating your own tests to suit yourself, French Test is an excellent utility which helps to put the fun back into learning.

Use it little and often for the best results and GMF programs is so confident of its success with your studies that if you don'tget your GCSE French after having used French Test, they'll refund your money, providing you send the program and proof of failure back to them.

Personally, if you use it well, your chances of failure should be very slim indeed.