"All you remember is the darkness and the sensation of moving. It all happened so quickly. You recall the sound of

branches crunching under several pairs of feet moving swiftly through the jungle, the sound of a gurgling stream

approaching and then fading suddenly into the distance. You feel no fear for you have no idea of what the future

holds. You just remember moving through the darkness, flying through time and space to a place you could never

imagine."

Welcome to El Secreto de Ek Balam!

El Secreto de Ek Balam makes learning Spanish more engaging by immersing you in a

mystery that takes place during the Age of the Maya. Taken from your village in the night, you

find yourself a captive in a distant land. You must find the strength and courage to move

forward and rise to new heights within your new world. In order to improve your place within

the society, you will serve the great lord, U'Kil-Kan Lek-Tok (Divine Snake Head), Sacred King of

Talol. Your guide will be his sajal, the noble Chapat Muwaan. In service to them, you gain

prestige and move up through the ranks. Mysteriously, you find that you have a connection to

the past and future that makes the present seem less puzzlingly. You meet each challenge with

determination and are rewarded with new knowledge and skills that serve you well. Others see

greatness in you. You are someone worthy of admiration and respect. Little do you or they

know how important that will be in solving El Secreto de Ek Balam.

To solve El Secreto de Ek Balam you will complete a series of tasks by progressing

through a series of modules. Each module will focus on grammatical, listening, speaking,

writing, reading or cultural activities. By completing the modules, you will gain prestige and rise

from a captive to the very heights of your civilization. To successfully complete the modules,

you will view a variety of websites containing textual explanations, audio files, video tutorials,

games and quizzes. The materials are freely available on the Internet. It is up to you to study

the material well enough to complete the module assessment.

Once you have studied the materials and feel confident in your knowledge, you can take

the module assessment quiz. In order to successfully complete the assessment, you must score

100%. If you cannot figure out a question, visit the WIKI. There you will find a page dedicated

to each module. First, look to see if your question has already been answered. If not, post your

question and return later to find your answer. Do not spend too much time trying to figure out

an answer on your own. It is not a good use of your time and you will soon become frustrated.

Instead, review previous materials or go do something entirely different. Your question will be

answered and you will be able to move forward. Here in El Secreto de Ek Balam, you will find a

community of learners working together to learn Spanish.

El Secreto de Ek Balam includes several features that will make your learning more

engaging and successful:

Narrative with embedded storyline tasks that are completed by successfully completing

module assessment

Grammar explanations from a variety of web sites, in a variety of formats--text, audio,

video, games, activities, flashcards

Open Educational Resources (OER) -- no-cost learning materials

Health points earned by completing writing, speaking, listening, reading modules

Cacao beans earned by completing cultural modules

Market for spending earned cacao beans, purchased items stored

Progress indicators for feedback on completion pace

Link to WIKI for module-specific questions

Links to Google Translate - Spanish to English, English to Spanish

Link to Chapat Muwaan for general questions

To begin, visit http://jtabraham.org/ekbalam and click Enter site.

When you enter the site, you will find the following page. Press Create Account.

Complete the form with your information. Use your student email address. Click Submit.

Once you have created your account, enter your gamertag and password to enter Ek Balam.

Once you are in Ek Balam, you will find a variety of information. This will be your main

view while working on El Secreto de Ek Balam. Use the information to measure your progress.

Navigate through the story or find resources using the different buttons and links.

To complete a module, view the different websites and study the materials. When you

are ready, complete the assessment quiz. It will open in a new window. You must score 100%

to complete the assessment. Use the WIKI for questions.

The module assessment will open in a new window. Complete the questions and check your

answers.

When you successfully complete the quiz, you will see a message "Please submit for credit."

Enter your gamertag and password. Click Submit.

When you see the message "Congratulations! You have completed this task," your score has

been successfully added to the database and you may close the window. Return to Ek Balam

and Click the Continue Story button to move to the next module. If you do not see your new

level, close Ek Balam and log in again. You should see your new level and the next module.

Congratulations! You have created your account and completed the first module. Continue

your progress through El Secreto de Ek Balam and have fun learning Spanish.

Earning Health

As a captive, food is given to you and your health is maintained. Once you gain your

freedom and have your own land, you'll need to get your own food and maintain your health.

This will be indicated by the Health icon and text. When you notice that your health is Poor,

you must earn more Health points. To earn Health points, click on the word Health.

You will see a list of available modules to gain Health points. The modules will consist of

writing, speaking, listening and reading activities. Complete each activity by clicking on the

word Incomplete. This will open the module in a new window. Follow the instructions as you

would in a grammar module.

After you complete a module, you can see your Health score increase by clicking on

Update Health. The completion date will appear in place of Incomplete. You may have to wait

for a response from Chapat Muwaan before continuing between the modules.

To return to the grammar modules and the story, click Return to story. This will bring

you back to the task that you are currently working on.

El Mercado

Throughout your journey of Ek Balam, you will be given opportunities to do extra tasks

to earn cacao beans. Cacao beans were used by the Maya like money. They traded for them

and with them. About once a week, Chapat Muwaan will send you a message inviting you to

participate in an activity for which he will reward you. You can then use these beans to buy

things at the local market. Your inventory will be stored and your balance kept.

In the left margin, you will see a link to El Mercado, your current cacao bean balance

and a link to earn more beans. To enter El Mercado, click on the link.

Upon entering the market, you will see all of the products you have the opportunity to

buy with your beans. These objects filled a typical Maya market, corn, squash, cotton, turkey,

fish, blankets, among many others. Currently owned items will be stored in the Owned column.

To purchase items, enter the number of objects you would like to purchase in the

Quantity column and press Update Basket. You will notice several of the fields filled with

values. The total number of items selected in this purchase will be reflected in the Total

number field. The total price for the items selected in this purchase will be shown in the Total

price field. You will also see your After purchase balance in the After purchase field. To

complete the purchase, enter your gamertag and password and press Purchase Items.

The values of all your items will be updated and stored and your new Current Balance

will be displayed in the upper right corner.

To earn more beans, click the Go to Cultural Modules button in the lower left corner.

This will open the Cultural Modules list page where you can find all the available activities. You

can earn 10 beans for each completed activity.