by David
Sephton
I run a small software
company, Primrose Publishing near Cambridge in England. I have a team of about
a hundred dedicated linguists around the world working with me developing
programs for teaching and learning languages.
They all work independently, part-time, “at arms length”.
With my wife I have been developing these programs for over twenty
years. As languages and needs are
constantly changing so the programs have to be regularly updated and new ones
created. As the technology advances so our software has to develop to keep in
step in order to exploit the latest possibilities.
Unique approach
The software is called Tick-Tack. It works in a unique way making it
very quick and easy for the user to create impressive and relevant text in the
foreign language. It offers over twenty programs and covers fifty languages,
though not all languages are available in all the programs. We are constantly adding new ones. The
latest version of the Tick-Tack software is called TT2007.
The software is used by
universities, colleges and schools in many countries, sometimes purchased in
bulk by the Ministry of Education. It
is also widely used by companies and organizations as well as by individual
business executives, teachers, parents and students.
The programs have proved especially
popular for promoting blended learning and helping teachers to integrate software into
traditional class-room teaching. The two programs
that have particularly caught the imagination of teachers are those for
Business and for Travel & Tourism. They are available in more than 30
languages, including Lithuanian and Japanese, but they have been developed in
much greater depth as target languages for French, German, Spanish, Italian,
and English.
The Business and Tourism programs are project-based and provide a
realistic and authentic environment. Everything is in the target language, with
multilingual word-lists and voice recordings of all the material. Their special
value lies in a wide range of practical tasks which are innovative and
challenging. Model answers and solutions are provided.
Student plays the role of a trainee
The programs are based on an International Sports Group called
Promotics International. It has a separate company in each of the five
countries. Each company has the usual departments including a travel sevice and
an associated hotel. The student takes the part of a trainee employed in the
relevant company. The trainee does
authentic work exactly as in a real company.
All the information and instructions are generated from within the
documents and voice-mails. Sometimes they are in the form of memos, or
hand-writtem notes by the manager scribbled on the foot of the letter or fax,
or a phone-call from the Managing Director on a visit to America or a
voice-mail message left by a distributor in Hong Kong.
Working in each department
Working in each of the departments, trainees have to carry out a wide
range of tasks relating to sales, buying, service, personnel, accounts,
advertising, etc. These involve handling in-coming letters, faxes and e-mails
and replying to them, answering the telephone, listening to voice-mail
messages, drafting replies and then recording them using the microphone. The
trainees have to deal with angry customers, handle complaints from agents, edit
leaflets, book flights, draft staff adverts and create web-pages. In doing this
they have at their finger-tips a wealth of Tick-Tack material to help them.
Working in the hotel
The trainee then moves on to the associated hotel and assists the hotel
manager with the multiplicity of problems that make daily life in a busy hotel
especially stressful. These range from making reservations, providing
information and dealing with lost property to organizing town walks and
pacifying dissatisfied guests. Using the microphone as a telephone he/she has
to explain to a hotel guest who has got lost, how to find their way by car from
the airport to the hotel.
Library of sentences
To help the learner create a reply,
edit a web-page, draft a phone-call or write an e-mail, Tick-Tack provides a
wealth of relevant material. At the heart of all the Tick-Tack programs, is an
extensive library of sentences and phrases, in mother tongue and target
language, relevant to the particular program. This suggests a huge variety of
words and phrases that could be used.
To make access quick and simple, the sentences are divided into topics
or themes and each one has a code-number which corresponds across all the
languages. Using these, it is very easy to create an interesting piece of
relevant text in the foreign language. Users then edit this draft text to
fine-tune it to their needs.
Further help is provided by
Multilingual word-lists which can be accessed alphabetically in both mother
tongue and target language.
It is this selecting and editing of
existing phrases and sentences, this manipulating language on the screen to
create an authentic document, that is so motivating and educationally so
valuable. The user learns new vocabulary and, in particular, learns how to use
it “in context”. It requires
concentration and can be hard work but it is immensely rewarding and motivating.
Students are amazed at what they find they can achieve using Tick-Tack.
To help teachers get started and to
provide useful guide-lines, detailed lesson plans are included for Business and
for Tourism. These have been created by dedicated teachers who are using the
programs in class.
Many firms and organizations, as
well as hotels and travel agents, and individual business executives, use
Tick-Tack to help them in their day-to-day work. It is a thoroughly practical tool as well as ideal learning
material. I use it myself all the time to help me write emails in a dozen
languages and to prepare telephone calls.
In drawing up the programs great
emphasis has been laid on developing clarity of expression and on fostering
creative writing.
As well as a Survival program and an ABC program for
early learners, the DVD includes programs in a variety of languages for Finding
a job, Using the telephone, Writing e-mails, Finding your way around on an
exchange visit, Going shopping, Working in a hotel, Teaching a class, Making
presentations, Conducting negotiations, Essay-writing, Graphs & Charts,
Family & holidays, and creating picture postcards for sending by e-mail.
The languages cover an immense range from Basque to
Rumantsch Grischun, from Catalan to Indonesian, and from Armenian and Esperanto
to Maltese and Greek (both Ancient and Modern). Three Latin programs (Magister,
Grammaticus and Rhetor) have their own range of practical tasks, as do the
Starter and Everyday programs. The latest DVD contains a number of Tick-Tack
programs in Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.
Technical details
The software operates under Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.
A network version is available. A selection of the programs and languages is
also accessible on-line. The software is supplied on a DVD which contains all
the programs and almost all the languages.
Starter and Everyday programs
The Starter and Everyday programs are designed for general language work, concentrating on creative writing, with special attention to grammar, spelling, vocabulary and pronunciation. They contain extensive exercises in French, German, Spanish, Italian and English, voice-recordings of all the sentences, multilingual word-lists and help-files. They can be accessed in more than thirty languages, each of which can also be used as a target language.
Library of sentences
Each program offers a library of sentences divided into topics. The sentences
have their own code-numbers that correspond across all the languages. You set the source language to your
mother-tongue and the destination language to the target language that you are
studying.
Select your sentences
As with the other Tick-Tack programs, you scroll through the sentences
in your mother tongue and select the ones required by the exercise, or ones you
choose yourself. This puts the foreign equivalent on the screen. In this way you create a draft text in the
foreign language. You then have to edit it, making whatever additions and
changes are required by the exercise to create your document or to draft your
own personal text. The exercises include model answers.
Fascinating challenge. The task of modifying the draft text and turning it
into the final document offers a fascinating challenge, which tests ability,
provides unrivalled practice in manipulating the language and helps develop
vital computer skills. You also learn important vocabulary “in context”.
Free help by e-mail is provided throughout the year. Free updates can be
downloaded from the Tick-Tack web-site (click Lesson Plans and scroll to the
end). Workshops are run throughout the year in many parts of Europe. Teachers
can buy a personal copy of the DVD for use at home for a nominal price.
We
are currently developing a completely new range of language programs under the
title “Tick-Tack Tech” for students and for people working in the technical
& engineering fields. The first program, for Mechanical Engineering, is
included on the DVD in English and French. Other languages will follow. Programs
are planned for other industrial sectors.
My background
I studied languages at Oxford University, and have spent much of my
life in business, as a senior executive in a variety of international
enterprises. I have run successful companies in New York, in Singapore, in
Kuala Lumpur, in Madrid, and in the UK, and have been closely involved with
most European countries. I also run my own business-consultancy operation.
I have distilled my first-hand experience of business into the
Tick-Tack programs for Business, for Travel & Tourism, and for Engineering
so that everything in them is authentic and practical.