Painter Bear's Language Bridge

Operating Instructions

There are four versions of Painter Bear's Language Bridge: Spanish/English, French/English, German/English, and Italian/English. The program provides a unique way for anyone to learn common vocabulary and phrases in another language. Each program includes over 1,000 vocabulary words and phrases, including colors, numbers, foods, and helpful travel phrases. The game play of the program is to translate words correctly in order to complete a painting of a bridge. When the painting is completed, the student will have the option of playing a driving game in order to "drive" over the bridge and earn points, plus the student will be able to display the "bridge art" in the game's virtual art gallery.

Refer to the Teacher's Manual on the CD for an explanation of the tracking function and for more detailed descriptions of the game play and interface. Please note that the manual is available in a variety of formats, including HTML and PDF. Therefore, if you have a web browser or Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may wish to use the HTML or PDF version.

To play the game, proceed as follows:

1. Start the program, and click past the opening screen.

2. In order to save the program's high scores, the program will install a file onto the computer's hard drive. Macintosh® users may find these files in the System Folder; Windows® users may find them in the WINDOWS folder on the computer's hard drive. Upon entering the program for the first time, the program will ask you if installing these game files onto the computer is okay. To continue with game play and save your scores, click "Yes". If you click "No," you will not be able save your high scores, and you will not be able to access the "High Scores" screen.

3. Upon starting the program, you will be able to choose your native language, and all questions will be asked in that language. Answers to the questions will be in the other language.

4. At the Main Menu screen, you will have a choice of over 30 categories of various vocabulary words and phrases. Each category of word or phrase is represented by a picture button, and when you place the cursor over the button, the name of the category is spoken and is written in the lower portion of the screen. To choose a category, click on the appropriate picture button.

5. Upon choosing a category, you will be transported to the Question and Answer screen. At that screen, you will be asked to choose the correct translation of a given vocabulary word or phrase.

6. As you translate vocabulary words correctly, small pieces of a representation of a painting will appear below the bear. Ten correctly answered questions will complete the painting; when the painting is complete, you will be asked if you would like to go for a drive. If you click "Yes," you will be transported to the Driving screen and will have the opportunity to earn points. (If you click "No", you will be transported back to the Main Menu screen and will not earn any points.)

7. At the Driving screen, you will have an opportunity to drive over a bridge while maneuvering around obstacles. To maneuver the car, use the keyboard's up and down arrows to control speed, and the right and left arrow buttons to steer the car. As you maneuver around the obstacles and drive across the bridge, points will accumulate. When you have reached the finish line of the bridge, click on the red arrow button to return to the Main Menu screen.

Troubleshooting Problems and Answers

Problem: The program runs slowly on my computer.

Answer: This occurs on some system configurations that have intensive use of existing RAM. If increasing virtual memory is not effective, restarting with extensions off (by holding down the SHIFT key as the computer is turned on) or quitting all other open applications may help. To gain even more speed, you can also have a qualified technician add additional RAM.

Problem: The help buttons do not work and I can't hear the music.

Answer: All of these messages are audio. Therefore, if you have a computer that does not have a sound card, when you click on these buttons, nothing will happen. However, you should be able to operate the software without these messages by consulting the "Operating Instructions" and the "Teacher's Manual", or simply by experimenting with the program.

Problem: The "Save" button in the "Save" dialogue box is inactive ("grayed out"), and I cannot save my game or tracking information.

Answer: You might be trying to save to a CD-ROM or locked diskette. Designate a different location for the saved document (e.g., a folder on your hard drive).

Problem: When I attempted to print my tracking information, I received an error message.

Answer: If there is no printer set up with your computer, you may receive an error message. If you do have a printer, check your printer settings and connections.

Problem: I left the program running; when I returned, portions of my screen had disappeared.

Answer: If your screen saver is activated while the the program is running, a portion of your screen may disappear. If your screen saver interferes with regular game play, try disengaging the screen saver program.

Problem: After I began using the program, a file called "bridge.hsc" appeared on my hard drive.

Answer: In order to save your high scores, the program will install a file onto your computer's hard drive called "bridge.hsc." If for some reason, you would like to delete all of the high scores, you may do so by deleting the "bridge.hsc" file from your hard drive. Deleting the folder will delete all of the high scores, so you should choose to delete it with caution. After deleting the file, the next time you enter the program, you will need to agree to have the program install files onto your hard drive in order to begin saving high scores again.