INTRODUCTION TO ANIMAL FARM =========================== 'Animal Farm' is one of George Orwell's most famous books, and possibly the most widely read. Because of the simple style in which it is written, it may be read by children as an entertaining story, as well as by adults searching for a deeper meaning. Written in 1945, this short novel is an expression of Orwell's disillusionment with Communism. It was the book which made him famous, although he consolidated his fame with his last book, '1984'. What is striking about the book is the way in which Orwell has so neatly captured several levels of meaning in straightforward prose. For many years banned in the USSR, it is a vicious satire of the Communist Revolution in Russia and the Stalinist years. On another level, it depicts the faults of any totalitarian system. However, the surface level of the animal fable has a certain charm of its own. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM =========================== The program consists of a series of activities to assist high school students learning Orwell's novel 'Animal Farm'. The student can select the activity of his choice from a series of menus. Activities include several quizzes or games, notes on a wide variety of topics, graphics of the Farm and even a competition with the chance to win worthwhile prizes. The games are designed to be fun and at the same time to provide a fairly painless way to memorise quotations, learn important passages, and in general, to become familiar with the plot, characters and themes of the novel. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS =================== The program in its current format will only run on a Premium, 256TC or Matilda Microbee. See Customization Notes below for other Microbees. The program can be run from 3.5" single sided, double sided or standard 5.25" Microbee disks. USING THE MENUS =============== You find your way around the different parts of the program by using a very simple system of menus. The choices offered at each level are shown on the screen. Just press the number key that corresponds to the selection you wish to run. To Find A Menu If a menu is not currently showing on the screen, you can almost always get to one by pressing the <> key. This will halt the current activity, and display the active menu. THE MAIN MENU ============= The Main Menu Options are described briefly below. Introduction This is a welcome to the program and a brief description of its features. Quizzes Choose one of the quizzes available from a further menu. Notes This also leads to another menu, listing the different topics for which notes are available. The Farm This segment reveals a map of Animal Farm as it is described in the novel, with enlargements of certain key areas and associated notes. Quit Return to CP/M QUIZZES MENU ============ These are the options available on this menu. Quotation Quiz Tests your detailed knowledge of the book by asking you to choose the correct speaker of each quotation. Over 90 quotations to really test you. Missing Words Vital passages from the text can be learnt by heart, as you guess the words missing from the screen. Great revision value! NOTES MENU ========== Major topics are: Plot Summaries This leads to another menu allowing you to select an overall summary or chapter summaries. Character Studies Another menu to select notes on any of the major characters Exam Questions A selection of notes on how to handle different exam questions. Themes Discusses the major ideas of the novel. Background Brief notes on relevant points. Style A discussion of Orwell's language. The Author Notes about Orwell's life and a portrait. INSTRUCTIONS ============ The program has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible. Most of the activities have on-screen help. Where more detailed instructions are necessary, this option has been included in the menu for that particular activity. Activities which include their own instructions are: Quotation Quiz (Games Menu) Missing Words (Games Menu) The Farm (Main Menu) CUSTOMIZING THE PROGRAM ========================= With a modicum of knowledge and the ability to use a text processor, you should be able to customise some of the data used in the program, if you so desire. The most obvious areas where this can be accomplished are as follows: QUOTATION QUIZ - The data for this quiz is contained in the text file AFQUOTES. The first item in the file is the number of quotes currently in the file. Don't forget to update this if you add or delete quotes. Each question must contain the following items: The quotation itself, the correct answer, 3 incorrect answers, a sentence explaining the context of the quotation, the Chapter number, the page number. Use ordinary Arabic numerals for Chapter and page numbers, not Roman numerals. A quick look at the file should make it clear what to do if you are still confused. NOTES - I don't recommend that you alter the notes, as my system for printing them to the screen is a little peculiar to say the least, but if you must experiment, then go ahead. Plot summaries can be identified by the file suffix .PLT , Character studies have .CHR , while other notes have the suffix .NTS The first item in each file is the number of screens or pages of data, then each 'page' has the number of data items on that page. Beginning an item with a * indicates that the item is to be high-lighted in the text. To print a blank line, include an item consisting of 4 or more spaces enclosed in quotation marks. You may need to experiment a little to find out just how much will fit on each page. MISSING WORDS - If you have a lot of time on your hands, and are by nature a patient and tolerant person like me, then you can try writing different PASSAGES for the Missing Words game. I'll leave you to figure out how it's done! Unfortunately, you won't be able to change the reference to the PASSAGE in the GAMES Menu. FAMILY FEUD - Not much you can change here, except for the True/False questions. These are contained in the file BORDATA.DTA Take care not to make the questions too long. I guess that's about all, unless you are one of those people who can't resist seeing what Orwell looks like wearing spectacles and a false nose. The pictures are all in Basic GRLOAD format. The modify the program to run on any disk based Microbee, you have to eliminate the loading of the graphics *.PIC images. These pictures are not essential for the program.