AS French / A*ttitudes "Dissert" - DEMO
Français! Français! Interactive Activity Bank - DEMO
¡Español! ¡Español! Interactive Activity Bank - DEMO
Free AS French / A*ttitudes software download - Voyages, transport et tourisme
Free Spanish software download - En la cafetería
Free French software download - Basic grammar, articles, negatives, etc.
Vocab Test Program - free download for TaskMagic users
TaskMagic2 Multiple Text Match Maker
Non-TaskMagic FREE French stuff...

Writing essays to order for an examination is a skill which is not easy to acquire within the short time available at AS level. A*ttitudes "Dissert" is designed to hone your students' essay writing skills from the word go in the AS year, giving them the systematic practice required to gain a high grade within two terms.

The TaskMagic A*ttitudes "Dissert" program is one component of the A*ttitudes "Dissert" resource and contains activities based on the 12 thematic units from the A*ttitudes course from www.alevelfrench.com, which are...

(1) Voyages, vacances, tourisme
(2) Les jeunes, la jeunesse
(3) L'éducation
(4) Le genre - les hommes et les femmes
(5) La santé
(6) Les traditions
(7) Les loisirs
(8) Les rapports entre les gens
(9) Le monde du travail
(10) L'environnement
(11) Le sport
(12) La publicité

Each unit contains three sample essays demonstrating different ways of approaching the same question. For each of the 36 sample essays, the TaskMagic resource provides interactive and print exercises which practise key vocabulary and phrases, text sequencing, gap-filling and text reconstruction in a variety of ways.

This demo contains interactive exercises and worksheets based on just one of the 36 sample essays which make up the full resource, listed in roughly increasing order of difficulty.

Email Steve Glover at alevelfrench@googlemail.com to find out more about the A*ttitudes course and the "Dissert" resource.

Download the "Dissert" DEMO as a zip file

1. Click on the link, choose "Save", and decide where to save the zip file.
2. Once it is downloaded "Open" the file. (If you are asked to confirm this, choose "Allow")
3. Then "Extract All the Files". Make sure the box to "Show extracted files" is ticked. This will make sure that the folder will open once the files are extracted.
4. Run the file attitudesdissertdemo.exe (which is the one with the yellow smiley face, if you can't see file extensions).
You can move these files to wherever you like, but keep the 3 elements (attitudesdissertdemo.exe, attitudesdissertdemo.exe.manifest, filesetc) together in the same folder.

The Français! Français! Interactive Activity Bank is the ideal companion to the Français! Français! book and audio CDs from www.language-factory.co.uk

The Activity Bank programs take the images, vocabulary, songs, poems and dialogues from the book and audio CDs and convert them into a whole range of fun interactive activities, games and exercises, incorporating the audio from the CDs, which you can use on individual PCs or with your interactive whiteboard.

The Français! Français! Interactive Activity Bank is available in 4 separate parts or as a complete resource covering all of the units from the Français! Français! book. The Français! Français! Interactive Activity Bank programs are available from www.language-factory.co.uk

The Français! Français! book contains over 60 pages of fun content, with songs, poems, rhymes and dialogues covering over 30 different topic areas. This demo contains interactive exercises and worksheets based on just one of the 30 topics which make up the full resource (or approximately 10% of the activities available in Part 1).

Download the Français! Français! DEMO as a zip file

1. Click on the link, choose "Save", and decide where to save the zip file.
2. Once it is downloaded "Open" the file. (If you are asked to confirm this, choose "Allow")
3. Then "Extract All the Files". Make sure the box to "Show extracted files" is ticked. This will make sure that the folder will open once the files are extracted.
4. Run the file FraFraIABDemo.exe (which is the one with the yellow smiley face, if you can't see file extensions).
You can move these files to wherever you like, but keep the 3 elements (FraFraIABDemo.exe, FraFraIABDemo.exe.manifest, filesetc) together in the same folder.

The ¡Español! ¡Español! Interactive Activity Bank is the ideal companion to the ¡Español! ¡Español! book and audio CDs from www.language-factory.co.uk

The Activity Bank programs take the images, vocabulary, songs, poems and dialogues from the book and audio CDs and convert them into a whole range of fun interactive activities, games and exercises, incorporating the audio from the CDs, which you can use on individual PCs or with your interactive whiteboard.

The ¡Español! ¡Español! Interactive Activity Bank is available in 4 separate parts or as a complete resource covering all of the units from the ¡Español! ¡Español! book. The ¡Español! ¡Español! Interactive Activity Bank programs are available from www.language-factory.co.uk

The ¡Español! ¡Español! book contains over 60 pages of fun content, with songs, poems, rhymes and dialogues covering 27 different topic areas. This demo contains interactive exercises and worksheets based on part of just one of the 27 topics which make up the full resource (or approximately 15% of the activities available in Part 1).

Download the ¡Español! ¡Español! DEMO as a zip file

1. Click on the link, choose "Save", and decide where to save the zip file.
2. Once it is downloaded "Open" the file. (If you are asked to confirm this, choose "Allow")
3. Then "Extract All the Files". Make sure the box to "Show extracted files" is ticked. This will make sure that the folder will open once the files are extracted.
4. Run the file EspEspIABDemo.exe (which is the one with the yellow smiley face, if you can't see file extensions).
You can move these files to wherever you like, but keep the 3 elements (EspEspIABDemo.exe, EspEspIABDemo.exe.manifest, filesetc) together in the same folder.

Below you will find a link to download a free standalone TaskMagic program (which does NOT require TaskMagic) which provides a step-by-step introduction and practice of some French basics.

This unit is ideal for beginners at primary or secondary school level. It covers a lot of high frequency expressions & concepts in a short space of time.

The content of the unit is:
- classroom / schoolbag items
- c'est / ce sont
- indefinite articles: un, une, des
- negatives: ne ... pas
- asking yes / no questions: e.g. c'est...? ce n'est pas...?
- oui / non / si
- yes / no; or; open questions
- the use of est-ce que...? and qu'est-ce que...?
- definite articles: le, la, les
- simple imperative: passe-moi..

The download contains 15 TaskMagic3 files, which are accessed via a simple menu screen. Each of the 15 TaskMagic3 files contains a variety of exercises, games and activities which can be used on individual computers or on an interactive whiteboard. In total there are over 250 interactive exercises and over 60 worksheets based on the 15 files.

The download is completely free and not time limited. It does NOT require you to have TaskMagic.

It is intended to give you an idea of the kinds of things that can be done easily in TaskMagic3, using your own content (your coursebook, schemes of work etc). It also demonstrates the use of TaskMagic matching files containing only a few items, which would not have worked with previous versions of TaskMagic.

Download the TaskMagic Sample Unit as a zip file

1. Click on the link, choose "Save", and decide where to save the zip file.
2. Once it is downloaded "Open" the file. (If you are asked to confirm this, choose "Allow")
3. Then "Extract All the Files". Make sure the box to "Show extracted files" is ticked. This will make sure that the folder will open once the files are extracted.
4. Run the file TMFrBasic1.exe (which is the one with the yellow smiley face, if you can't see file extensions).
You can move these files to wherever you like, but keep the 3 elements (TMFrBasic1.exe, TMFrBasic1.exe.manifest, filesetc) together in the same folder.

This free program allows you to create vocab tests of up to 100 questions. Tests are marked automatically and scores are saved on the computer / network for you to access later.

NB. Many of the vocab practice and test features of the Vocab Test program have been incorporated into the Text Match, Picture Match, Sound Match and Grid Match components of TaskMagic3.

• Up to 100 questions.
• You can quickly import data from TaskMagic Text Match and Grid Match files, as well as from other Vocab Test files or from txt files.
• There is a quick input function allowing you to quickly type all of your questions and answers into one text box.
• Questions can have up to 3 correct answers.
• You can choose whether or not to award scores for partially correct answers / words.
• You can choose whether answers are case-sensitive.
• You can select a priority element for a particular answer, so that this element scores 50% irrespective of the rest of the answer.
• Students can opt for a practice session or a test. The practice session steers them towards the correct answer if they get it wrong. They can ask for a hint to help them out, or they can skip the question (in which case they are told the correct answer). Answers that are not answered correctly first time are repeated.
• The test awards scores according to your criteria. Unless you opt otherwise, the test awards a percentage score for each attempted answer by comparing it with the expected answer.
• Scores can be saved either automatically via the student's username or by requesting the student to type in their name, depending on how you set it up.
• There is a results viewer screen allowing you to see all available results. You can choose to see only results in a given time period. You can also opt to see the highest result per student or the most recent result per student for a particular test.
• Scores are in % format by default, but you can opt to view them as a mark out of 10, 20 or other.
• When you click on a particular test result (ie. the name / username of the student, date taken and score) you can see all the expected and given answers for that particular test and the individual scores awarded for each question.
• You can select multiple results and print them as a list or export the data as a CSV (comma separated variable) file, which can then be opened in Excel.

Download TaskMagic Vocab Test

Once it is downloaded, extract the contents.
The zip file contains a folder, VocabTest, containing 3 files:
1) TMCreateVocab.exe - the teacher version for making tests and accessing scores.
2) TMPlayVocab.exe - the student version
3) vocab.dat - a hidden file (If you can't see this file change your folder options to view hidden files), see below for details.
NB: All 3 files should be kept in the folder 'VocabTest', which you can copy to your computer or network.

Technical Stuff Relating to the file vocab.dat:
The file vocab.dat contains information on what to do about saving student scores. Currently it is empty of contents, but you will be able to try out the Vocab Test program yourself.
However, if you want to use it with students or install it on a network, you will need to add a couple of bits of information to it to make it do what you want. See the information below.
NB// You may have to get a technician to help you out with this!!!
The Vocab programs access this file to look for 2 pieces of data, which should be on the first 2 lines of the vocab.dat file:
1) On the first line of vocab.dat, the full path of the directory where student scores are saved and from where they can be accessed. If students are accessing the program from various workstations linked to your network, it makes sense to save the student scores to an area on the school network. This needs to be a folder to which students have write access (so that their scores can be saved), but preferably they shouldn't know where it is. Make it a hidden directory. So you could [ask someone to] set up a hidden directory at P:\Languages\TMVocabTestScores (or whatever name you like in whatever location on the network), and then you would type on the first line of vocab.dat P:\Languages\TMVocabTestScores
*NB. If you leave this line blank, the scores are saved by default to [Application Path] + \TMVocabTestScores. (ie. a folder called TMVocabTestScores is created wherever the program itself is located.) This is fine if you have put the program files on the network, although students are unlikely to have write access to it. This is also fine if you want to save all scores on your own computer (which means that students will have to do the tests on your computer, too...). It's no good if the program files are copied to each local workstation, as the test scores will also be saved on separate workstations.
2) On the second line, either the word username or the word inputname
That's it. Nothing else.
- username instructs the programs to save the the scores automatically to the specified or default location, using the student's username for future reference.
- inputname (or leaving the line blank) instructs the program to ask the student whether they want to save scores for the test, then asks them to provide their first name and surname. (This is the option you would need if all students were doing tests on the same computer).
All 3 files should be kept in the folder 'VocabTest', whether you copy it onto individual machines or on your network. If you copy the folder to individual machines, you will need to make sure that the information contained in vocab.dat is the same on each computer.
Please contact us at mdlsoft@mdlsoft.co.uk if you have any questions / problems.

This free program can be used by anyone who has a licensed version of TaskMagic2 installed on their computer or network. The Multiple TextMatch Maker allows you to convert long lists of matching text items into TextMatch files. Copy and paste table content from web pages or from a Word document, and the Multiple TextMatch Maker checks and reformats the list before saving it as multiple TextMatch files. So now you can create hundreds of TextMatch files in a matter of minutes!

TaskMagic2 already has a Quick Input screen that allows you to paste content from other sources to create a single TextMatch file, but this downloadable extra makes importing from external sources so much easier, and it creates a whole load of files with a couple of clicks of the mouse.
When you save your multiple files, you choose a name for the file (eg. holidays.MDL) and all files are saved with that name + a number. (ie. holidays_1.MDL, holidays_2.MDL etc). If you later decide to add a new batch of files with the same name, these can be added to the existing list of numbered files.

Download the TaskMagic2 Multiple Text Match Maker

The zip file contains one file: TaskMagicMultiTextMatchMaker.exe

The Multiple TextMatch Maker makes reference to creating .tmfla, .tmfoot, .tmjmp & .tmtb files. These files were used with some special edition games which are no longer available.

NB. All of the quick input features in the Multiple Text Match Maker have now been incorporated into TaskMagic3. TaskMagic3 also allows you to create files with many more matching items (up to 10,000) so there is no longer the need to create multiple files in TaskMagic3.

The files below have been on our website for ages, and since people are still downloading them, we thought we may as well include them again. Somebody is obviously finding them useful.

Fr_Verb_Tables.doc - One A4 page: A brief summary of the 3 main regular verb groups as well as some of the most common irregular verbs. Listings of the six parts of the present tense and past participles. Subject and Reflexive Pronouns. Step-by-step instructions on how to form the Perfect Tense.

Fr_Perf_Imperf.doc - One A4 page: Comparison, use and formation of the Perfect and Imperfect Tenses.

Fr_Simplification.doc - Two A4 pages: Simplified aid to recognition and construction of Present, Perfect, Imperfect, Pluperfect, Future, Simple Future and Conditional Tenses.

FrenchFunctions.doc - Two A4 pages: Simple language functions broken down and translated into French.

Fr_Indic_Prons.doc - One A4 page: Grid of articles and possessive adjectives etc. Subject, Direct Object and Indirect Object Pronouns.

GCSE_Vocab_Booklet.doc - A 20 page booklet containing all of the above as well as vocabulary sections aimed at helping students to write about events in the past. Particularly useful for preparing for coursework on past holidays etc. Vocab lists contain information about verb types and auxiliaries.

fl_characters.doc - One A4 page: A list of Keyboard Shortcuts for all of the letters and symbols required for French, Spanish, German, and probably more besides.

FrenchConv.doc - 6 pages: This is a protected word document (forms protected: password = mflteacher). I have chosen to leave it protected so that students cannot inadvertently delete questions etc. The document contains questions broken down into six conversation themes.

FrenchConvQuestionList.doc - One A4 page: This contains all of the questions from the document above on one page so that teachers can use these questions for the speaking exam. I'm not sure how useful this will be for the new format GCSEs, but still...

FrenchDocs.zip - All of the above as one zip file.