How do I use the Babel Fish dictionary?

How do I go to a new unit in fusée 1?

How do I start the website activity?

How do I see one of the websites for each unit?

How do I answer the questions online?

How do I enter longer answers in French to activities?

How do I type accents on my computer?

How do I go to a new unit in fusée 1?

If you're on the opening page for fusée 1 (with "fusée 1" at the top) you can click on the unit you want to go to in the list on that page, which has the different topics for each unit as well. You can also use the navigation bar at the top of the screen to get around the units more quickly. As you'll see the navigation bar stays at the top of the screen wherever you are within the fusée website. Just click on the unit in the list that you want to go to.

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How do I start the website activity?

When you choose one of the units from fusée 1, a new page will open with the websites that we recommend for this unit. You can read about the websites here before deciding which one you want to investigate. Then, click on the title of that website to open the activity for that site.

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How do I see one of the websites for each unit?

Once you've started the activity there will be a link to open the actual French website at the top of the page. When you click here, the website will open inside a separate window. This means that you can quickly change to and fro between the questions in the activity and the French website where you'll find the answers. If you do another activity, then the website for that activity will open into the same window as the last one, to avoid having too many separate windows open at the same time.

If you're using a PC computer, there are two ways you can change between the different windows: either use your mouse to click on the buttons on the "Start" menu at the bottom of your screen, or hold down the "ALT" key and press "TAB" to choose the right window.

When you've finished the activity the window with the website will close automatically, so that you don't end up with too many windows open at the same time!

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How do I answer the questions online?

When you're answering simple questions in the activities that just ask you to match up sentences or translations, or that give you multiple-choice, there are two ways of choosing your answer.

In some questions, use your mouse to click on the "drop-down" list next to the actual question, and then click on your chosen answer in this list.

In other questions, you will see a short list of the different choices of answer, with "check" boxes next to each one. Choose your answer here by clicking in the check box next to the right answer.

There are a few other questions where to answer you have to type in a word in English. To do this you simply click your mouse in the text box or boxes nearest the question and then type in your answer.

When you've finished the answers to all the parts of one question, click on the button underneath to find out how you did, and which parts of the question you might have got wrong. You can then go back and try to get these parts right again.

When you finish all the questions in that part of the activity you can print out the page with all your answers on it. If there are further questions in the activity, you'll see a button which you should click on to take you to the next page.

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How do I enter longer answers to activities?

Writing longer answers is easier to do in a word processor such as Microsoft Word or, if you prefer, by hand - they can then be marked by your teacher. Questions like this will automatically load into the word processor and give you the choice of typing in your answers on the sheet or printing out the page and then filling in your answers by hand.

If you are using Netscape, then you might be given a warning window before this part of the activity loads - under the "What do you want to do with this file?" question, click on "Open it"and then click on OK. If you're unsure about this, check with your teacher.

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How do I type accents on my computer?

When you're typing your answers in French on Microsoft Word, you'll need to use accents on some letters. There are two ways of doing this:

1. Click on the "Insert" drop-down menu at the top of the screen in Word, then click on "Symbol" on the list. This brings up a small window of different accents and symbols. If you choose "(normal text)" in the list of Fonts at the top of the box this will give you a big selection of accented letters - to use one of these just double-click on the letter itself in the grid and it will appear in your answer.
   
   
2. A much faster way of adding symbols in Word involves using what are called "shortcut keys" (this is only possible on a PC). This means pressing several keys together plus a letter to produce the right accent. To do this, follow the instructions below:
   
   

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How do I use the Babel Fish dictionary?

When you click on the link at the top of this page to the Babel Fish dictionary, an interactive translation box will appear in the bottom half of the window. Type in the French word that you want to know the meaning of (ignoring accents), then choose "French to English" in the drop-down menu, and click on the "Translate" button. A translation should then come up in the same window.

Remember that a computer can't always accurately translate a sentence, so it's best to just enter one word at a time rather than entire sentences, which will probably give you some rather odd-sounding translations. Check with your teacher before you use the glossary.

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