What is Hot Potatoes actually? It is a suite that includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web:
The JQuiz program creates question-based quizzes. Questions can be of four different types, including multiple-choice and short-answer. Specific feedback can be provided both for right answers and predicted wrong answers or distractors. In short-answer questions, the student's guess is intelligently parsed and helpful feedback is given to show what part of a guess is right and what part is wrong. The student can ask for a hint in the form of a "free letter" from the answer.
The JCloze program creates gap-fill exercises. Unlimited correct answers can be specified for each gap, and the student can ask for a hint and see a letter of the correct answer. A specific clue can also be included for each gap. Automatic scoring is also included. The program allows gapping of selected words, or the automatic gapping of every nth word in a text.
The JCross program creates crossword puzzles which can be completed online. You can use a grid of virtually any size. As in JQuiz and JCloze, a hint button allows the student to request a free letter if help is needed.
The JMix program creates jumbled-sentence exercises. You can specify as many different correct answers as you want, based on the words and punctuation in the base sentence, and a hint button prompts the student with the next correct word or segment of the sentence if needed.
The JMatch program creates matching or ordering exercises. A list of fixed items appears on the left (these can be pictures or text), with jumbled items on the right. This can be used for matching vocabulary to pictures or translations, or for ordering sentences to form a sequence or a conversation.
In addition, there is a sixth program called the Masher. This is designed to create complete units of material in one simple operation. If you are creating sequences of exercises and other pages that should form a unit, you may find the Masher useful.
Hot Potatoes is freeware, and you may use it for any purpose or project you like. You can download it from: http://hotpot.uvic.ca/. It is quite easy to use and it doesn't take much time either (once you know hot to work with it). If, for example, you want to create a JCross this is what you have to do:
1. Go to the desktop and click Hot Potatoes (if you don't have it, download it first). Then click JCross. If a window opens inviting you to chose a language, please chose the default language English.
2. When the JCross screen appears go immediately to Manage Grid - Automatic Grid Maker.
3. This window opens. Before proceeding think about what lexical or topic area you want your learners to practise.Then list the words in the white box. A separate line for each word. You can for example write (just for practice) - love, hate, adore, loathe.When you have finished click on Make Grid.
4. When the Grid is made clues have to be written. Click on Add Clues and this box appears. Select a word, add the clue in the text box and then click the appropriate OK on the right. When all the clues have been added, click OK at the bottom and you will be returned to the main screen.
5. After clicking on the bottom OK you will be returned to the main Grid. Add a title (this will appear in the finished crossword and is important for printing reasons). Then go to the File menu and Save As. Remember to create a Folder and save the file in the appropriate Folder. Give your file the same name as the title. Then return to the File Menu and scroll down to Create Web Page. Click here and you will be invited to save again. Do so, but be sure the File extension is htm. When you have done this a window will open asking if you want to view your crossword now. Click in the appropriate place - View the exercise in my browser.
6. You can also change the appearance, instructions, fonts and buttons by going to Options -->Configure Output or Fonts. Just experiment with it. The appearance has a preview.
7. Now, if you want to try a crossword puzzle exercise, please follow this link:
I would say that this type of exercise is easy to create and the students would enjoy solving them. The level of difficulty for the clues depends of course on the level of your students and you can use the same crossword for different levels just by changing the clues. I hope you'll have fun trying a JCross and if you need help, just let me know.
