Phonics Tutor
Published by 4:20 Communications

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts
License: Free
 
Description:

Phonics Tutor starts students off with simple letter combinations, speaking the sounds of the letters, then blending them together. It starts with a base of 5 two-letter 'a' words. As the student progresses through the program, a couple more letters are added, and then three letter words are made. There are little tests throughout, each a tiny bit more demanding than the last - so that the student's skills and confidence in decoding and building words increases.

There are no fancy graphics in this program, just phonics. You can change the font to your favorite, and adjust the size, too. The presentation of the material is well thought out and systematic, slowly building with lots of repeating patterns, and teaches each sound before using it. The only area in the program that I think could use improvement is in how they prompt the student for input. I wish they used a little more English in their testing sequences - understanding that "at ah" means "Spell the word at, begin with ah (short a sound)" took a little getting used to. I think adding the additional verbal instructions would make the program easier to use. All the same, it is something that one can get used to, and the academic value of the program far outweighs this small quirk.

My children have many commercial programs that 'teach' reading using the phonics method. None break it down so clearly as Phonics Tutor does. If you need a sound backbone for a homeschool reading program, a tutor for a child who needs reading help (or even an adult, there's no cutesy graphics) or a review of classroom instruction, this program is it.

The demo contains the first 4 lessons, the full program includes all 128 lessons of Alpha-Phonicsbrief registration form to fill in. Your address is not required, although name, school, your title, grades taught and subjects taught are required.

Download Details

Requires:
Win 95 or NT

Filename: phonics.exe

Filesize: 2 MB

Download Sites:

US : Download from Home Page