Abstract:
A verb tense teaching system using multimedia and its method are disclosed. The invention runs on a computer executable hardware platform. By integrating multimedia technologies and verb tenses by a computer storage medium, users can more readily learn verb tenses. The invention combines multimedia data and verb tenses data so that users can adjust a time unit to present different multimedia data for learning verb tenses.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The invention relates to an application of storage media and, in particular, to a verb tense teaching system that is combined with and run by multimedia computer technologies and the corresponding methods.  
           [0003]    2. Related Art  
           [0004]    The most difficult aspect of learning a foreign language is its grammar rules. Grammar rules are abstract combinations of statements extracted from innumerable examples. They usually have neither fixed rules nor definite right-and-wrong formulations. Thus, one cannot use normal logic concepts to determine grammatical errors. Learners often ask questions such as why a particular sentence cannot be expressed in some other way. The answer is usually because of grammar rules. Each language has its own specific grammar rules.  
           [0005]    Taking the most commonly studied language, English, as an example, verb tenses are the most difficult part. Especially for Chinese speakers, the difference in language systems increases the difficulty in learning English. Chinese speakers are not used to different tenses due to time differences. However, this is part of English grammar rules.  
           [0006]    Conventional learning methods mostly use books or some abstract explanations in words. Learners are provided with descriptions of various tenses and when to use a particular tense and sentence pattern. This learning style is quite boring and cannot achieve its intended goals. Although some TV programs or teaching videos provide richer pictures or actions, they still cannot provide interactive learning simply because of their own limitations.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    In light of the foregoing, the invention provides a verb tense teaching system using multimedia and its method. It offers users a bidirectional interactive verb tense teaching system. The system can play multimedia verb tense data for users as time changes require changes in sentence structure.  
           [0008]    The disclosed multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system and method includes a language knowledge database, a time unit and a processing unit. The language knowledge database stores tense-related multimedia data, including a grammar rule database for storing verb tense data and tense code data, an animation database for storing corresponding animation data and animation codes, and an animation correspondence table that relates grammar rules and animation data. The time unit manages the correspondence between verb tense data of the language knowledge database and time. The processing unit receives a command given by a user to the time unit. According to the processing result by the time unit, the processing unit reads and plays the corresponding language data and multimedia data from the language knowledge database. Multimedia data for different verb tenses generated according to different times are provided to users so they can learn verb tenses interactively. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow. However, the following description is for purposes of illustration only, and thus is not limitative of the invention, wherein:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram of the disclosed multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the language knowledge database of the system in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the grammar rule database of the system in FIG. 1;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the animation database of the system in FIG. 1;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing steps in the disclosed multimedia-aided verb tense teaching method;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a list of basic verb tenses in a preferred embodiment of the multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system and its method;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 shows verb tense rule descriptions and succeeding animation relations of the embodiment in FIG. 6; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 8A through 8F are demonstrative screens of the multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system and method. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]    As shown in FIG. 1, the disclosed multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system  100  includes a system processing unit  110 , a time unit  120  and a language knowledge database  200 . It provides users  11  and  12  an interactive environment for learning verb tenses. As shown in the drawing, user  11  connects to the system  100  via the Internet, while user  12  connects to the system  100  directly.  
         [0019]    The language knowledge database  200  stores verb tense related multimedia data, including a grammar rule database  230 , an animation database  210 , and an animation correspondence table  220 . The grammar rule database  230  stores verb tense data and tense code data. The animation database  210  stores corresponding animation data and animation codes. The animation correspondence table  220  relates grammar rules with corresponding animation data.  
         [0020]    The users  11  and  12  generate a command by adjusting the time. The command is processed by the time unit  120  and the system processing unit  110 . Multimedia data corresponding to the required verb tense are read out from the language knowledge database  200  and played. The multimedia data include animations with texts, sounds, and pictures.  
         [0021]    With reference to FIG. 2, the grammar rule database  230  has a verb tense code list  231 , storing codes that correspond to tense data recording tense example sentences and descriptions. The animation database  210  also has an animation code list  211 , storing codes that correspond to animation data for all verb tenses. The animation correspondence table  220  stores the relations between the two sets of codes, i.e. the correspondence between the codes for the animation data for all verb tenses and the codes for verb tense data recording tense example sentences and descriptions.  
         [0022]    As shown in FIG. 3, the grammar rule database  230  includes a verb tense code list  231 , a tense rule description database  232  and a tense database  233 . The tense database  233  stores example sentences of all tenses, including simple present tense data  2331 , simple future tense data  2332 , future progressive tense data  2333 , present progressive tense data  2334 , present perfect tense data  2335 , simple past tense data  2336 , and so on. The tense rule description database  232  stores descriptions for all verb tenses, providing users another way to understand tense rules in addition to multimedia data. As described before, the tense code list  231  connects associated multimedia data.  
         [0023]    The animation database  210  includes an animation code list  211  and a verb tense animation database  212 . As shown in FIG. 4, the verb tense animation database  212  stores multimedia data corresponding to all verb tenses, such as simple present tense animation data  2121 , simple future tense animation data  2122 , future progressive tense animation data  2123 , present progressive tense animation data  2124 , present perfect tense animation data  2125 , simple past tense animation data  2126 , and so on. The animation code list  211  gives codes of animation data for all verb tenses.  
         [0024]    With reference to FIG. 5, the disclosed multimedia-aided verb tense teaching method first establishes animation data, verb tense data, a time unit  120 , and the relations between them in step  401 . Step  402  receives a command entered by a user, i.e. the change command given by the user on the time unit  120 . The time unit  120  can be a clock or a calendar that users can adjust to change the verb tense in the multimedia data. Step  403  reads the change of the time unit  120  in response to the command. Step  404  obtains animation data and verb tense data corresponding to the tense after the time change. Step  405  plays the animation and verb tense data. Step  406  determines whether all data has been played. If they are not finished, then the data are read and played. Otherwise, step  407  determines whether the data should be repeated. If so, then the data are played again.  
         [0025]    To make the contents of the invention more evident, an embodiment is given below for explanation. As shown in FIG. 6, each piece of verb tense data has corresponding example sentences and animation codes. Each verb tense also has its description and a succeeding relation (see FIG. 7). Actual animations are shown in FIGS. 8A through 8F, which play multimedia data for different verb tenses. Each picture has a clock for the user to adjust to provide animations and example sentences for different verb tenses.  
         [0026]    Effects of the Invention  
         [0027]    The invention discloses a multimedia-aided verb tense teaching system and method that includes a language knowledge database, a time unit and a processing unit. The language knowledge database stores verb tense-related multimedia data. The time unit stores the correspondence between verb tense data of the language knowledge database and time. The processing unit receives a command given by a user to the time unit. According to the processing result by the time unit, the processing unit reads and plays the corresponding language data and multimedia data from the language knowledge database. The user can adjust the time and multimedia data for different verb tenses are generated for users to learn the tenses interactively.  
         [0028]    The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.