Fluency Builder 1

 

We now offer a version of this software that can be installed and updated at a single location on the school network (for WINDOWS computers).

Spanish Fluency Builder 1 is an introductory learning tool that can be used alone or with other language programs. It cultivates a vocabulary that people can use together. It uses everyday categories of animals, numbers, colors, adjectives, clothing, body parts, people, pronouns, greetings and good manners in common constructions like these:

Fine, thank you.	Bien, gracias.
I like blue.	Me gusta el azul.
I don't like the little one.	No me gusta el pequeño.
three yellow ones	tres amarillos
Good afternoon, Mr. Morelos.	Buenas tardes, Señor Morelos.
My hand hurts.	Me duele la mano.
Does your head hurt?	¿Te duele la cabeza?
Where is my shirt?	¿Dónde está mi camisa?
Where are your shoes?	¿Dónde están tus zapatos?
Where is Mary?	¿Dónde está María?
She's at the store.	Está en el mercado.
two women and a cat	dos mujeres y un gato
I want three green ones.	Quiero tres verdes.
I'm tall and good-looking.	Soy alto y guapo.
My dog is short.	Mi perro es bajo.
Dawn is a pretty girl.	Alba es una muchacha bonita.
Bob is not well.	Roberto no está bien.
The house is small and brown.	La casa es pequeña y café.

Fluency Builder 1 consists of 8 levels, or clusters of activities. Each level has an Introduction that is followed by a Practice Session. In the Practice Sessions you will become accustomed to: 1) shorter response times, 2) items presented in more complex sequences, and 3) more voices speaking at a natural speed.

Because Introductions take 15 to 20 minutes to complete, your schedule may require you to use the Bypass mode from the start. Practice Sessions take 2-1/2 to 3 hours before you can move to the next level, except in Bypass mode. You can make your way through Practice Session activities in any order, and you can work them as often as you please. In Bypass mode you can ignore Introductions, but you could be bypassing procedures and information that you'll wish you had for the Practice Sessions.

We now make Bypass the default mode, and many younger children will need it until they learn to respond quickly. The most difficult part of the Fluency Builder is getting past the urge to second-guess oneself and go at a self-determined pace, especially with the goal of avoiding all errors. The psychology underlying the program is unleashed in a supervised pace designed into the activities. Errors disappear in the process. Once students move past any initial frustration, performance rises. Young children do learn to cooperate with a supervised pace. Most five-year-olds probably should start out in Practice Sessions until they’re comfortable with the supervised pace. They often refer to the activities as games. In Practice Sessions, they are free to wander in the best way.

When you have gone through all the activities in all the levels, you are nowhere near the finish line. Fluency involves hearing and reacting physically to words and phrases until they become part of you. A certain amount of repetition is unavoidable, and learning a language takes persistence. In most of the more than 100 activities of this software, the voices, colors, layouts, pictures and, most importantly, sequences and guidance keep changing to make it impossible to predict exactly what will happen.

So, even though you can get through a Practice Session in two and a half to three hours, you can go back and practice the activities as often as you please without seeing and doing the exact same things over and over. Still, you should alternate between this and our videos or other programs you may be using, to keep the learning fresh.

Assuming the student is proficient with a computer mouse or touch pad, this is what you can expect if you follow our method as described in the Getting Started document:

1. The reflex to second-guess yourself during response times will weaken and maybe even almost disappear. Everybody has the reflex.
2. The unproductive urge to go back and fix mistakes will diminish considerably or disappear. This urge breaks momentum and slows down learning.
3. Your accuracy will soar.
4. You will begin to automatically think certain things in Spanish.
5. You will find all kinds of occasions to use what you are learning.
6. You will access the Spanish in your head without passing through an English translation.
7. You will get more out of other Spanish software that you may be using.
8. You will go incomparably farther for no more money than what you could have paid us for a single hour of private instruction.

Our primary focus is to start people on foreign language by age 6, making products that keep up with them as they continue their learning through the elementary school years and beyond. But older siblings and adults can use the included age group of their choice: 6 to 8, 9 to 11, or 12 and up.

A vocabulary/phrase tool called the Maxionary™ is now included in Fluency Builder 1 at no extra charge. Fluency Builder 2 expands on Fluency Builder 1. Both Fluency Builders contain important updates.

A video of Fluency Builder 1 in motion
Orienting students to the Fluency Builder
Scrolling Tour of Fluency Builder 1

Acknowledgments | Contact Us | FAQ | Terms

©2010 Max and Max™ Spanish. All rights reserved.
PO Box 141, New Palestine, Indiana 46163