# The &klettres; Handbook

Anne-Marie
Mahfouf

    annma@kde.org

2001
Anne-Marie Mahfouf
&FDLNotice;
2002-10-08
0.99

&klettres; is an application specially designed to do help the user to learn alphabet in a new language and then to learn to read simple syllables. The user can be a young child aged from two and a half or an adult that wants to learn the basics of a foreign language.

Three languages are available at the moment: Danish, Dutch and French.

KDE
kdeedu
klettres
Danish
Dutch
French
language

## Introduction

&klettres; is a very simple application that helps a child or an adult to learn the alphabet and some simple sounds in his own language or in another language. The program picks up a letter or a syllable in random, this letter/syllable is displayed and the sound is played. The user should then type this letter or syllable. Training is done in the levels where the letter/syllable is not displayed, only the sound is played. The user does not need to know how to use the mouse, the keyboard only is needed.

There are three languages available at the moment: Danish, Dutch and French.

Two different Look and Feel allow you to adapt &klettres; to your need. For a child, the menu bar and the language button are not visible. We assume that a child will not want to set the language himself. A box allows him to choose the different levels. For an older user, the background is not so childish and the menuBar is present.

To use Danish as a learning language, you need to have the Danish keyboard layout set up on your system in order to type in special letters of the Danish alphabet. Please use &kcontrol;, in the section Peripherals and submenu Keyboard.

## Using &klettres;

&klettres; has 4 levels. Levels 1 and 2 deal with the alphabet and levels 3 and 4 concern syllables. For a very young child (2 1/2 to 4), I would suggest that he/she is sitting on your lap in front of the computer and that you do the game together.

### Levels 1 and 2

Screenshot of &klettres; Level 1
&klettres; level1

This screenshot shows &klettres; on Level 1, language is Dutch and look-and-feel is grown-up.

In level 1, the user sees the letter and hears the sound. He then has to type in the letter in the box. If it is correct, the next letter appears (without having to press Enter or whatever). If the user types the wrong letter, he hears the sound again. In this level, the user memorizes the letters and recognizes them on the keyboard.

The user can type in either lower or upper case letters. The letters are automatically put in upper case so that a child will match them with the keyboard. He can type only one letter at a time.

Default is Level 1 when you run &klettres;.

The first time &klettres; is run, default is set to French and Level 1. After the first time, the language setting is saved in a configuration file on closing of &klettres; and loaded the next time, with Level 1.

The look-and-feel is saved in the config file and therefore is kept until you change.

The letters appear in random order.

Screenshot of &klettres; Level 3 &klettres; level3

Here is a screenshot of Level 1 with the kid look and French language.

Clicking in the Level combo-box and choosing Level 2 or using the Levels menu brings you to level 2. In that level, the user only hears the sound of the letter and has to type in the letter. If he is wrong, the letter appears to help him.

### Levels 3 and 4

Screenshot of &klettres; Level 3 &klettres; level3

Here you can see &klettres; level 3, grown-up look-and-feel and Dutch language.

In level 3, the user sees the syllable and hears the sound. He then has to type in the letters in the box. If the first letter of the sound is wrong, the user cannot type in the second one. The letter disappears and he has to try again. The number of letters is two or three, it depends of the language.

Screenshot of &klettres; Level 4
&klettres; level4

Here you can see &klettres; level 4, kid look-and-feel and French language.

The sounds appear in random order.

Clicking in the Level combo-box or using the Levels menu in the menuBar and choosing Level 4 brings you to level 4. In that level, the user only hears the sound of the syllable and has to type in the letters. This level is quite difficult for a young child.

## Command Reference

### The main &klettres; window

#### The File Menu

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

  Quits &klettres;

#### The Levels Menu

&Alt;L Levels Levels

  Choose the level

#### The Settings Menu

&Ctrl;M Settings Show MenuBar

  Toggle the MenuBar

&Ctrl;T Settings Show ToolBar

  Toggle the ToolBar

&Alt;A Settings Learning Language

  Choose the language to learn between Danish, Dutch and French.

&Alt;f Settings Look and Feel

  Choose the style of &klettres; between Grown-up and kid.

## Developer's Guide to &klettres;

The English sounds are the most needed at the moment. They would be the default language if the user language is not available.

## Questions and Answers

&reporting.bugs; &updating.documentation;

The background picture does not appear.

You need to configure with the `--prefix` option set to your &kde; directory or to add this directory to your path.

Why are there only three langages?

In order for me to add a new language, I need the sounds for the alphabet and some basic syllables. Someone speaking natively the new language must record these sounds in ogg format. For levels 3 and 4, the syllables must be choosen by a teacher: these must be the syllables you have to learn just after the alphabet in order to learn well the basics of this language. Please send me a mail if you are able to do that.

## Credits and License

&klettres;

Program copyright 2001 Anne-Marie Mahfouf annma@kde.org

I am very grateful to the following people whose contribution has been greatly valuable:

- Dutch sounds: Geert Stams geert@pa3csg.myweb.nl

- Danish sounds: Erik Kjaer Pedersen erik@binghamton.edu

- Background picture: Renaud Blanchard kisukuma@chez.com

- Splashscreen: Primoz Anzur zerokode@yahoo.com

- Splashscreen sound: Ludovic Grossard ludovic.grossard@libertysurf.fr/email

- Support and coding guidance: Robert Gogolok mail@robert-gogolok.de

Documentation copyright 2001 Anne-Marie Mahfouf annma@kde.org

&underFDL;

&underGPL;
&documentation.index;