Good Software for Adult Literacy
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passenger888
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu Jan 25, 2007 7:10 pm
Good Software for Adult Literacy
I am teaching adult refugees ESL and literacy. I was wondering if anyone has found computer software to teach basic reading and writing that is geared towards adults.
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Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
I have used Autoskills and found it really good. It is repetitive but sometimes that is what they need. I would only recommend using it for a portion of the lesson though - perhaps half an hour because it requires a lot of concentration. There are discrete lessons and they can see their progress, repeat lessons if they want.
If your school can't afford Autoskills you can still use the computer. I got a phonics typing program and the students learned to type using that.
I would type out their stories as they dictated them to me and then they would do various activities with them on the computer - the computer can read it back to them if you get those kind of programs - I think it is called Dragon - will have to look that up.
You can make cloze exercises and crossword puzzles from the words - just google cloze exercises and crossword puzzles and there are various free programs.
They can get pictures to go with their stories from google images or you can buy a digital camera and put their own pictures in their stories.
I really like using old Mac Classic computers because they have so few commands on the pull down menus and the students learned to use them very easily. Often computer repair clubs have a lot of these old machines because they are so out of date. I saw one Mac store using them for doorstops. There is a ton of educational software developed for these old computers as well.
Have you visited the computer section of your school board? I found the technicians a fountain of information and no one ever visits them. They are usually stuck in their workshops repairing and no one thinks to ask them. They often have tons of old stuff sitting on the shelf along with programs.
Depending on their country of origin, there have been a lot of very specific books developed for students. Just google their country of origin and ESL and you will get a list of books. If your program can't afford them take the list to the local library and see if they will buy the books for the ESL and Adult Literacy section and then you can borrow them.
If your school can't afford Autoskills you can still use the computer. I got a phonics typing program and the students learned to type using that.
I would type out their stories as they dictated them to me and then they would do various activities with them on the computer - the computer can read it back to them if you get those kind of programs - I think it is called Dragon - will have to look that up.
You can make cloze exercises and crossword puzzles from the words - just google cloze exercises and crossword puzzles and there are various free programs.
They can get pictures to go with their stories from google images or you can buy a digital camera and put their own pictures in their stories.
I really like using old Mac Classic computers because they have so few commands on the pull down menus and the students learned to use them very easily. Often computer repair clubs have a lot of these old machines because they are so out of date. I saw one Mac store using them for doorstops. There is a ton of educational software developed for these old computers as well.
Have you visited the computer section of your school board? I found the technicians a fountain of information and no one ever visits them. They are usually stuck in their workshops repairing and no one thinks to ask them. They often have tons of old stuff sitting on the shelf along with programs.
Depending on their country of origin, there have been a lot of very specific books developed for students. Just google their country of origin and ESL and you will get a list of books. If your program can't afford them take the list to the local library and see if they will buy the books for the ESL and Adult Literacy section and then you can borrow them.