Introduction
This program is an interactive language learning platform based on Greg Thompson's Growing Participator Approach (GPA), specifically focusing on Phase 1.
The primary goal is to help you recognize basic Hassaniya vocabulary and phrases through auditory and visual association. This is especially useful for learners who do not yet have access to a live language nurturer or are learning outside of a speaker community.
Core Philosophy
- NOT A REPLACEMENT: This software is designed to prepare you for human interaction, not replace it. Live nurturers provide feedback and social context that software cannot.
- TPR METHOD: The app simulates the "Dirty Dozen" technique, where a learner reacts to a nurturer's prompts by pointing at specific pictures to build foundational comprehension.
Main Dashboard Controls
- Start Learning / Continue: Drops you right into the first lesson, or picks up exactly where you left off.
- Review: Starts Global Review mode, testing you on a randomized mix of your selected deck.
- ❓ (Instructions): Opens this guide!
- ⚙️ (Settings / Edit Mode): Expands the menu to let you customize your review deck and manage your save data.
Customizing Your Review Deck (⚙️)
When Settings are open, you can tap directly on any lesson card to manually check/uncheck it for Review Mode, or use the quick-select buttons:
- Select All: Adds every single lesson to your review deck.
- Select Started: Adds only the lessons you have actually visited.
- Select None: Clears your deck completely.
Managing Progress (⚙️)
- RESET ALL: Completely wipes all progress and starts you fresh as a New User.
- DOWNLOAD SAVE: Saves your current progress to your device as a file.
- UPLOAD SAVE: Loads a previously saved progress file so you can resume on any device.
Installing the App and Offline Mode
For the best experience and to ensure your offline files are never deleted by your phone, you should install this site as an app on your Home Screen and download the offline data:
- iPhone/iPad (Safari): Tap the Share button (square with an up arrow) at the bottom of the screen, scroll down, and tap "Add to Home Screen".
- Android (Chrome): Tap the Menu button (three dots) in the top right corner, and tap "Add to Home screen" or "Install App".
- Open the App: Go to your phone's Home Screen and open the newly installed Hassaniya app.
- Download Offline Data: Tap the Settings (⚙️) gear, then tap Offline Mode. This will silently download all audio and image files (approx. 13MB) to your device so the app runs perfectly without an internet connection.
Normal Learning Mode
When you enter a lesson:
- PLAY ALL: Click this to have the program introduce the vocabulary on the page. It will automatically move on to QUIZ MODE.
- REVEAL NEXT: Use this to manually unlock the next hidden picture.
- TOGGLE TEXT: Use the "L" (Latin) or "A" (Arabic) buttons to see the written forms. For a pure "listening-first" approach, leave these disabled.
Quiz Mode
- Click "QUIZ" to begin. The program will play a random Hassaniya word.
- Click the matching picture.
- CORRECT: The picture flashes green. Correctly identifying a word 3 times marks it as "Mastered."
- INCORRECT: The picture flashes red, and then blue while playing the sound of the picture you clicked. Then, it repeats the original prompt.
- REPEAT: Click this to hear the current quiz word again.
Understanding the Content
- ALTERNATIVES: Pictures with slashes ( / ) in the text represent synonyms or different forms of a word. You should learn to recognize all variants.
- AUDIO VS. SPELLING: Written words follow standard norms, while audio represents natural, relaxed Hassaniya speech. They may not match letter-for-letter; this is intentional to help you learn real spoken language.
Acknowledgments
- This app was developed and adapted from the original "Computer-assisted GPA" program created by a linguist colleague.
- The voice recordings featured in this program are those of the original developer.
- This program uses pictures derived from original GPA materials designed by Greg and Angela Thompson, as well as the SIL "Art of Reading" package.