Tip: Use Excel for Vocubulary Practice
I wanted to share a tip for Vocabulary Practice. I set up an Excel spreadsheet in the following way:
Two columns to the far left of the screen: 1st Column includes the English spelling of the 20 words or phrases of a lesson. 2nd Column has the Spanish translation, including the use of accents on letters when necessary. (I use the United States International Keyboard in Windows) I can cut and paste the above information from the lesson all at once by finding the flashcard of the lesson in the flashcards area and then using the "Words in this set"at the bottom.
Now copy these two columns so that they also show up NEAR the far right of the screen. In a column to the very far right of the screen, enter a formula such as +IF(B4=G4,0,9999999). In this example, the second column (B) contains the Spanish translation and column G has the repeated Spanish Translation. The idea is for 0 to show up if you have spelled it exactly the same on the right side of the screen as it is on the left, and for 99999999 to show up if there is any difference. Copy this formula to all 20 rows.
Now you're ready to practice typing the vocabulary. The first way to practice is to see the correct Spanish answer and then to retype it...very easy, but it helps you to learn the vocabulary.
Hold the mouse down so that you paint/select the cells which contain the Spanish vocabulary on the right side of the screen. You will see the correct Spanish spelling of the word or phrase at this point. Look at the English just to the left, glance at the Spanish, and then type the Spanish. As soon as you begin to type the Spanish the Spanish will disappear and if you type it back correctly and hit enter you will get a 0 on the far left column. If you get 99999999, then compare your answer to the correct answer which shows up in the 2nd column of your screen. After you hit enter, you do the same for the 2nd word in the list, the 3rd, etc. all the way down to 20 words or phrases.
Practice this way a couple of times and you will begin to learn the words and phrases and learn how to spell them exactly correct.
Now, delete the Spanish words in the nearly far right column and try to enter them correctly, by just looking at the English. If you type them all correctly, you will get 0's in the far right column. If you type it incorrectly you will get a 99999999. If you get a 99999999, see if you can detect your mistake without looking at the 2nd column. If you can see your mistake, fix it and see if you get it right and get a 0 to show up. If you can't get it right, then look at the 2nd column in order to see what you did wrong, and then fix it.
I have a spreadsheet with the first 15 lessons already entered (Lessons 1.1 - 1.15) I could email it to anyone who is interested. My email is kenhuizenga@new.rr.com.
By the way, you could also include specific instructional information from the lesson in the worksheet, such as the conjunctions of a verb. This section wouldn't be interactive as described above, it would just be informational.
Note that this spreadsheet can be used to learn the vocabulary the 1st time you learn it, but it is also very useful for review.
P.S. I have used a variation of this system to memorize the lyrics of music when I was in a choir.
6 Answers
This is a great idea because the flashcards have limitations. In my Spanish text the vocabulary lists often show two or three english words for each Spanish word. When I converted the vocabulary lists to flashcards (on SD), I had to pick the one main corresponding word and leave off other words. The other words show other meanings or enrich one's understanding. I will PM you with my email address. Once I have your spreadsheets I can not only practice lessons 1.1 - 1.15, but hopefully I can use your template to make my own lists. Thank you very much for this great invention!
I am very impressed that you figured this out! Now if I could just do it on my Mac . . .
For those who don't have the Micro$oft Offi¢e suite, you can download OpenOffice for free. It has a program called Calc, which is every bit as good as Excel. Well, actually, it's better...because it's free.
This is very good Ken. I would also practice by hiding the column with the spanish translations. I have a lot of these worksheets too, but not with your formula which I will try out now that you have shown us how.
Here's another tip for easily cutting and pasting a set of words and phrases from a flashcard "Words in this set"list.
This works using Mozilla Firefox as a browser, but does not with with Internet Explorer. If someone knows how to do the same thing with IE, please post the answer.
The problem: if you paint both columns and then cut and Paste Special (Text) in Excel, you get one list with both the Spanish and English intermixed...e.g.
- English word 1
- Spanish word 1
- English word 2
- Spanish word 2
- ...etc. for a total of 40 items in the list.
In about 1-2 minutes you could Ctrl-select every other item in this list twice and then cut and paste and get what you want.
However, any easier way to create the 2 columns you needs is as follow:
Hold down the Control Key while painting the column of English words with your mouse. Then Copy or do a Control - C. Then Paste Special (Text) in Excel. Do the same thing with the list of Spanish words. Then copy and paste to form your right two columns. In just a couple of minutes you can add another lesson to your spreadsheet.
Here's another tip for using this spreadsheet.
In the English column on the right hand side of the screen, change the font of the phrases and words that you have the most trouble with to BOLD.
Then practice only these on a regular basis.
Once you really know a word or phrase, and you're pretty sure you won't forget it, eliminate the bolding on the ones you know.
