For example, the learners interact with pictures to distinguish the letter T/t from other different letters. They give time to learners to consciously think about and use the rules available to them in their learned system (Krashen, 1981, 1985).
The activities and games are attractive and interactive. After students learn the predictable relationship between the sounds (phonemes) and letter combinations (graphemes), they are introduced to regular three letter consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. It teaches letter-sound relationships by providing a friendly navigation system that explicitly focuses on each letter of the alphabet. The first stage of reading on the opening page is “ABC’s: Let’s get ready to read” (see Figure 4).
The website, with its easy navigation tools and visual cues, allows learners to engage in varied activities, games, and materials independently, in pairs, or with the whole class. Its main purpose is to help learners master speech sounds and letters in a meaningful context where students can “negotiate meaning to accomplish a real-world, communicative task” (Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003, p. Although the website is designed primarily for first grade students, it could be also used with ESL/EFL beginners. It is designed, produced, and published by experts with successful backgrounds and experiences in publishing educational products. Stephen Schutz, Susan Polis Schutz, Jared Schutz Polis, Brandi Chase, and a team of educators, artists, designers, animators, musicians, and engineers from all over the world Website for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special needs, homeschooled, and English language learners (ELD, ELL, ESL) Ethical Standards for Authors and Reviewersĭecember 2009 – Volume 13, Number 3 Title.