  Speaking a language and achieving proficiency in another one is a highly
complex process which requires the acquisition of various kinds of knowledge
and skills, like the learning of words, rules and patterns and their connection
to communicative goals (intentions), the usual starting point. To help the
learner to acquire these skills we propose an enhanced, electronic version of
an age old method: pattern drills (henceforth PDs). While being highly regarded
in the fifties, PDs have become unpopular since then, partially because of
their lack of grounding (natural context) and rigidity. Despite these
shortcomings we do believe in the virtues of this approach, at least with
regard to the acquisition of basic linguistic reflexes or skills (automatisms),
necessary to survive in the new language. Of course, the method needs
improvement, and we will show here how this can be achieved. Unlike tapes or
books, computers are open media, allowing for dynamic changes, taking users'
performances and preferences into account. Building an electronic version of
PDs amounts to building an open resource, accomodatable to the users' ever
changing needs.
