Navigation

Illustration: the control panelWhen you first visit a reading the audio will begin to play. Pause it by hitting the space bar or by clicking on the Pause button. Play it again by htting the space bar again or clicking on the Play button.

There are lots of ways to navigate within a reading! To jump backwards and forwards, use the left and right arrow keys or the << Rwd and Fwd >> buttons in the Control panel. Clicking on a sentence will make the reading jump to that location. You can also jump backwards by hitting the number keys. Hitting the 5 key for example will cause the audio to jump back 5 seconds.

Viewing Translations

When you place your cursor over an underlined word, a translation will appear. Certain readings also allow you to view sentence translations. When this is the case, you will see a page symbol after each sentence. Place your cursor over the page to see the translation.

You can also save definitions and translations for later review. Right click on the word and select Save Definition. The definition and the sentence and the surrounding sentence will be saved. (This feature is not enabled on the demo.)

Reading Practice

The English writing system isn't entirely intuitive and logical, and poses a significant challenge to ESL students. The readings enable students hear the text as they read it and the navigation features enable students to easily re-hear passages as often as they need to become comfortable with it. The translations of challenging words and the sentences provide the keys necessary to understand this text.

Listening Practice

Developing the audio comprehension skills necessary to understand the rapid velocity of speech is a huge challenge for foreign language learners. The Interactive Readings are especially designed to help students do this. Select the Hide Text while Playing checkbox.