Instructions
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Go to the Sentence Builder lesson SB you'd like to learn.
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Click Start Lesson and choose Typing under Game Mode, then click Play!
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The lesson starts with the native speaker talking to you and asking you a question. At the bottom of the screen is a dialogue box with the text to type. You simply need to type it using correct spelling and punctuation EXACTLY as it is shown in grey text. This means starting each sentence with a capital letter, using appropriate punctuation like commas, hyphens, full stops, etc.
For languages with accented letters or special characters, like German for example, you can access a range of options after typing the base letter. For example, typing the letter s will give us the option to use the normal s (press 1) or ß (press 2).
Tip: There are a few alternative ways to select the required accented letter / special character:
➤ Use the assigned number from your keyboard (1, 2, etc), as explained above.
➤ Click the letter using your mouse.Note: If we're missing any variations, please let us know by submitting a feedback via the pink Feedback button on the right. -
You can also modify specific chunks using the ▲ or ▼ arrows. For this example, you can choose an alternative for roten, which is weißen, as shown below. Click to listen and type the selected text.
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If you wish to change the sentence to another chunk, click to edit and go back to the previous page.
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You can also change the input language using the keyboard icon on the left of the text box. This is useful for languages such as Mandarin Chinese which sometimes have English words within the sentence.
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Once you have correctly typed the sentence, the lesson will continue as normal and you will need to continue typing each sentence in the conversation whilst ensuring correct spelling, capitalisation, punctuation and spacing.
Challenge Question: I have correctly typed this sentence but it doesn't let me go through, why?
Answer: If you look closely, it's because I still haven't entered an exclamation mark to finish my sentence. Once I add the punctuation, the native speaker would automatically respond, and we could then continue typing out the conversation.
You may ask, what's the point in simply typing the sentences out when it's shown on the screen?
Good question! This is still called receptive processing of language from one skill (listening) to another (writing). Please refer to our explanation about pedagogy for more information. The other type of writing mode we've developed is the Spelling mode, wherein the text is hidden and the students are required to type out the conversation from memory whilst still ensuring correct spelling and punctuation. This mode is significantly more difficult, but a great progression to make after Typing mode has been successfully completed!
Now you should be ready to progress to Spelling mode or skip to Translation mode. Check out the Vocab and Grammar modes if you haven't yet, or feel free to go back and revise Pronunciation mode.
Please see these links for instructions on the other modes: