Post date: May 6, 2013 5:33:26 PM
Dear Literacy Teachers and Researchers,
We're a free software project called PIE (Phonetically Intuitive English), which provides a novel approach to literacy education. Since our recent debut, we have been thrilled to receive positive comments from the US Department of Education[1], literacy experts and parents[2], and be covered by PCWorld and a number of other US and international media outlets[3]. The Department of Education recommended that the project be forwarded to local education authorities for consideration.[1] We were also invited to National Education Association Exposition 2013 (coinciding with NEA's 150th annual meeting) and got very positive feedback from educators nationwide.[2]
The said software can automatically add diacritics to English words in a student's Chrome web browser to show pronunciation (see [4] for a screenshot). As soon as the student is taught a one-page scheme (see [5] for the scheme), he would be able to start reading any English web page with such diacritics right away! The software also provides three modes (Full, Lite, Extra Lite) that progressively show fewer diacritics as the student becomes a more advanced reader (see [6] for screenshots of the three modes).
Traditionally, teachers use "phonics" as a method to teach children to read. Phonics is the pronunciation rules of English, such as the "vowel + consonant + e" pattern as in "take", "eve", "nice", "mode" and "cute". But such rules can be confusing. For example, "ea" has a wide range of diverse pronunciations in "speak", "steak", "bread", "Korea", "reality" and "create". In contrast, PIE directly shows every word's pronunciation, enabling students to start enjoying the pleasure of reading right away.
Besides transforming web pages to the diacritically marked form in real time, the software can also be used to produce diacritically marked books intended for children learning to read. This enables educators to both promote literacy and get rewarded financially. See [7] for a sample book and a toolkit that helps you create such books.
Cultivators of America's future, the time has come to usher literacy education from the age of the stagecoach into the age of jet aviation. :-)
Get the free software directly from here (requires the Chrome browser):
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pie-american/hlpncajbcabflblkdajhpogljllncdna
Or visit our project website for more information:
https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/
Best Regards,
The Phonetically Intuitive English Project
https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/
References
[1] Comment on PIE by the US Department of Education: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/general-resources/what-experts-and-users-say/us-department-of-educations-comment-about-pie
[2] Comments on PIE by literacy experts and parents: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/general-resources/what-experts-and-users-say
[3] Coverage of PIE by PCWorld and other media outlets: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/general-resources/media
[4] A screenshot: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/files/am_lite.png
[5] The one-page scheme: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/files/PIE_American_Chart.png
[6] Screenshots of the Full, Lite and Extra Lite modes: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/using-pie/modes
[7] A sample and a toolkit for creating diacritically marked books: https://sites.google.com/site/phoneticallyintuitiveenglish/publishing-pie-books/pie-books-for-literacy
Disclaimer: This message is not affiliated with nor endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. The content of any information posted herein does not reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Education.