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Literacy

Computer literacy without a home PC

The latest government guidelines on literacy encourage us to help children to read by looking at words in all the different contexts in which we come across them everyday.

See also our articles on using CDRoms and Multimedia at primary level

I prefer my child to read a book than to stare at a screen

Reading is important and PCs do have a role in helping children learn to read. In order to learn how the PC works, your child will looking at the instructions and stories on screen and this will help the reading process.

My son did not take easily to reading, but we began using a CDRom called World Explorer - he loved this and could be quite independent as the instructions were spoken as well as written - and he could click on the words to get them repeated, too.

He then started to be able to read those words in other contexts, simply because he was hearing them spoken at the same time as he was looking at the shape of them - that's how word recognition starts. It is just the same as an older child or adult learning a foreign language.

We also now have a CDRom called Story Maker which reads back the words my son types in on screen. He can tell from the distorted version of his words if he has mis-spelled or mis-typed a word and can go back and experiment (or use the dictionary) until he gets it right.

As we all know, learning by trial and experimentation is best ('active' learning) and what we learn that way stays with us longer.











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