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Published: 2012-02-04 14:38:12 +0000 UTC; Views: 2185; Favourites: 35; Downloads: 34
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Drawn by the marvelous ToddlerGirl, [link] .Unifon is an alternative set of letters for English, in which there is one letter per sound and one sound per letter. Teaching it to kids instead of standard English lets them learn how to read a lot sooner and a lot faster. Further info available at [link] and [link] .
(Alternate version with standard English speech bubbles, at [link] .)
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Comments: 12
GSnail asked: If kids learned a dictionary key first, could it backfire?
It might not help but there is no evidence that it would hurt or be more than a temporary setback.
When the beginning readers were transcribed into Pitman's ITA, progress was twice as fast as with the
traditional reader. However, learning to read whole words in ITA did not help students with traditional spelling.
The key difference between Malone's Unifon and Pitman's ITA was the teaching method.
Unifon was a writing to read program. Kids learned to read by learning to spell words the way they were pronounced.
The fast learners tutored the slow learners. The key task was to write messages and stories for classmates.
Students were supposed to learn 40 sound signs and in case they didn't they could consult the wall chart.
They were never encouraged to memorize whole words. As soon as they demonstrated mastery or the ability to write any word they could pronounce, they transitioned to traditional spelling. It only took 3 months to achieve full literacy in Unifon. It can take ten years for 50% of the students to achieve full literacy in the traditional writing system.
When the Unifon school was compared to other schools in the Chicago area using standardized test, the Unifon
school came out on top. All the students were reading above the 3rd grade level after 9 months. Learning the dictionary key seemed to give the Unifon students a 2 year head start. After 3 years, only 50% of the students in a traditional elementary school are reading at grade level. All Unifon students achieved this milestone in the first year.
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I feel that may backfire, as they would eventually need to read proper letters and that would be much harder. So the initial 'my kid can read early' wouldn't matter if they ended up behind their peers in grade school. Still, it is a nice thought, and the comic is very cute.
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Actually, according to what research there is on the topic, using Unifon as a preliminary alphabet allows children to learn "proper letters" faster and easier than normal, not slower; sometimes as much as several grade-levels /ahead/ of their peers. [link] and [link] have several references backing this up, if you want to look up the primary citations for yourself.
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Here is a testimonial by a former Unifon student
Thursday, January 19, 2006, Darellee Regnier
“Dr. Ratz was the person that turned my life around. My mother was told that I was ‘retarded’
and that I would never learn to read. My mom found Dr. Ratz. We were living in Venice, FL at the time
and would drive to Sarasota every Saturday. I would have to check with my mom to see how long I was tutored by Dr. Ratz. I do know that because of the program I returned to school after the summer
reading at a 5th grade level at the beginning of 2nd grade." “I am now a teacher”
I suppose a "proper letter" or "efficient alphabetic symbol" is one that is associated with only one and only one phoneme instead of the usual average of 14 in the traditional writing system. It is much easier to memorize /Í/ for /ai/ than to memorize a dozen other spelling patterns which may also represent other phonemes. [1] www.spellingsociety.org/journa…
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I've wondered if there was something like that. Now I know.
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knew i recognized toddlergirls work adorable wow she draws foals sooooo cute wow ive never seen that kinda writing before so i was amazed i actualy could read this no problem
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wut da fuq
xD kidding. this is so cute! I don't really understand how that teaches kids english, but it's cute. :3
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imma asume its cuz everythings written as its pronounced so no worrys of how do you say it
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