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What others are saying | Program benefits | Features | Reviews | Preview | Word lists | Adult spelling versions
Adult spelling user feedback
Personal Best Spelling and our other learning systems are being
used all over the world. Here are some of the latest additions to
the many adult and workplace literacy
tutors, adult
learners, colleges, universities,
companies and government departments where Old Way/New Way® is
improving learning and performance in spelling.
"It's like a teacher I never had."
"I left school at 15 not knowing how to spell simple words
like 'any', 'there', 'their', 'dancing', 'colour', 'become', 'because',
'believe', 'open', 'once', 'days of the week or month'. Since I’ve
been working with Personal Best Spelling improvement in my spelling
has been unbelievable. At 47 years old I thought I was just thick
as two planks. Not the case. I have a learning brain and I am enjoying
it. It's like a teacher I never had."
Jonathan immediately experienced success
"Many tutors working in adult literacy programmes are often
faced with learners who are showing limited progress despite everyone's
best efforts .... In many cases, despite years of learning and
the exposure to a variety of different tutors, discouragement slowly
begins to pervade the effort, as nothing appears to work .... This
was the case of Jonathan, a mature learner in Galway when Frank
Monaghan, a literacy organiser in Galway, Ireland, introduced him
to the Old Way/New Way® technique. Following a few
brief workshops with Jonathan he was immediately experiencing success
and able to self-correct. Jonathan is now able to remember the
spelling of words months after being learned, which previously
would have been forgotten in hours. More importantly it shifts
the locus of control to himself so that with very little help from
a tutor he can work on his own spellings allowing him to focus
on writing poetry which he enjoys so much. It is with a degree
of pleasure that Frank, through the evidence of the learner Jonathan,
recommends the Old Way/New Way® system to other
literacy programmes."
"I would recommend the program highly" (Department of
Education)
In 1985 the Commonwealth Department of Education employed the services
of Personal Best Academy on behalf of several Aboriginal students.
In a letter of referral dated February 5, 1986, the Education Officer
reported that,
"Most of the cases were with secondary level students where
the intervention techniques with English and mathematics problems
proved most beneficial to all the students. Further to this, the
techniques proved remarkable in the case of a young adult who had
previously been struggling to hold a position in the Public Service.
This young person has now assumed increasingly more difficult and
complicated tasks and aspires to permanent employment and promotion.
I would recommend the programme highly on the results I have seen
in only one year."
This adult spelling program
- Transformed many poor spellers into proficient, confident spellers
when all other methods failed.
- Is a genuine adult learning tool for spelling, not just another children's
computer game dressed up as educational software.
- Does not insult the adult learner's intelligence.
- Knows how your brain learns, so it works with you, not against you.
- Identifies your bad spelling habits (habit pattern errors) and
quickly corrects them, once and for all.
- Helps you learn and remember your words from one day to the next.
- Is being used by adult and workplace literacy tutors, adult learners,
medical practitioners, police officers, colleges, universities,
companies and government departments to improve their spelling.
- Tests your spelling and tracks your progress.
- Uses proven learning methods endorsed by Australian education
departments.
- Is the only spelling tutor that uses Old Way/New Way®,
an effective research-based and user-friendly learning method.
- Uses an improved version of Look Say Cover Write Check, the old
standby method for learning spelling.
- Contains hundreds of editable word lists in both U.S. English
and U.K./Oz English, plus you can create and edit your own lists.
- Requires Windows operating systems (no Mac version)
- Is available as an affordable Windows software program downloaded or as
a low-cost one-page, self contained, multiple-user, re-usable, printable spelling
tutor.
Features
Personal Best Spelling is three spelling programs in one, so you
can Learn New Words, Test Your Spelling and Correct Bad Spelling
Habits.
1. Adult Spelling—Learn New Words
This helps you learn new words quickly so that you remember them
better. It uses a modified form of the widely used and recommended
method of learning spelling called Look Say Cover Write Check. Practice
or drill is built into the program in a special way to improve your
learning and memory.
You can create your own word lists, use the inbuilt lists or use
a wide range of ready-made special purpose word lists that you can
download from this web site. Ready-made word lists include lists
of commonly misspelled words, words that cause special difficulty
to adult learners and other useful lists.
You can learn sentence structure using the special contextual learning
feature that allows you to enter more than just one word at a time.
Foreign language learning is also possible using this feature because
you can learn words in their proper context.
You can also learn specialised occupational vocabularies.
2. Adult Spelling—Spell Tester
You can test your spelling of previously learned words. A special
feature is that the program remembers any persistent errors you make. If the
error is consistent , i.e., you spell it incorrectly in
the same way, the program recognises that you have developed
a learned error and it automatically saves these errors in a separate
word list for special treatment and correction.
3. Adult Spelling—Quickly Correct Bad Spelling Habits
The program uses a new learning method called Old Way/New Way®.
With Old Way/New Way® you can correct persistent,
learned and habitual errors. You can also, once and for all, learn
to spell those tricky words that you are uncertain about and often
have to look up before you use them.
Homonyms, words like "their" and "there", that sound the same but
have different meanings, often create confusion but this can be readily
resolved by placing the word in context when using Old Way/New Way®.
Old Way/New Way® is a new user-friendly and truly
effective method for changing incorrect learning to the correct version
and for eliminating uncertainty.
Personal Best Spelling is especially licensed to use Old Way/New Way®. The learning advantages that Old Way/New Way® gives
you and its other special benefits are all described and explained
in this web site.
And you can read some typical spelling case studies where Old Way/New Way® has helped people
of all ages become competent and confident spellers.
Reviews
Old Way/New Way® Learning is a quality endorsed resource
for adult education and higher education.
Computer Corner review of Personal Best Spelling by Bill Gillespie,
school Principal
".... This program takes a no nonsense approach to
the teaching of spelling... This is not a game dressed up as educational
software.... One advantage of this approach is that it can correct
persistent, learned and habitual spelling errors... It is worthwhile
visiting the web site just to read the information on the Old Way/New Way® approach to learning." Education:
Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation.
The Way Ahead: Old Way/New Way® and Mediational
Learning
Classroom. Issue 7, 2000, pages 12 - 13. Scholastic Australia
Pty Ltd.
This article describes how Old Way/New Way® is used to
improve spelling.
ZDNet Software Library review, 17 December 1998 (version 1; old
name for the program)
Personal Best Speller received a four star rating and was
the Editor's Pick.
"Learn new words and correct problem spelling with Personal Best Speller. Using an innovative and progressive method, this program encourages you to say the word, asks you to type it several times and tracks your problem areas. Three modules include learning new words, testing and correcting problems or habitual errors. The error correction uses a psychological approach by having you analyze what it is that you do wrong and repeatedly spell it the wrong way and then the correct way. You're asked to state what you've been doing wrong, typing in this statement and then correcting the spelling several times. Two word lists are available to work with in the demo version and registered users will be able to input their own lists. Personal Best Speller requires dedication and time, but its effective methods are sure to improve your spelling."
Mediational Learning: Old Habits No Longer Die Hard
By Dr Paul Baxter. Write On: Queensland Council For Adult Literacy
Newsletter. Volume 18, No. 1, September 2000, pages 10 - 15.
Discusses the theoretical background to Mediational Learning (a
derivative of Old Way/New Way®) and its application
to literacy teaching. Contains 32 references to research journal
articles and links to other Old Way/New Way® web
sites.
You can also read all the scientific publications on the Old Way/New Way® learning method in our annotated adult
spelling method bibliography.
Preview
Before you buy, please check out the many spelling
program features. You can preview
this spelling program, download
and try the demo adult version for free, and then purchase
the download using our secure spelling
program order form.
Word lists
Personal Best Spelling comes complete with hundreds of word lists
when the program is registered. Unregistered, the program contains
two word lists for demonstration purposes.
Registered users with earlier versions can download and use one
or more of the following word lists, as well as create their own
word lists. Please note the following details about these lists:
- Lists are zipped text files (ASCII DOS TEXT), take up very little
disk space on your computer, will download quickly and are accompanied
by a brief description.
- Unzip the word list files to the same directory as the one in
which you install the spelling program (usually c:\windows\pbs16adu),
so that the program can automatically find and use the word lists.
- Words are in both U.S.
English and U.K./Oz
English spelling.
- New lists are added from time to time. These are the currently
available lists:
Download lists of commonly
misspelled words (demons) here.
Download lists of the most
common words in children's reading, here.
Download lists of the most
common nouns in children's reading, here.
Download lists of a core
of words that students should be able to spell on sight,
without sounding, here.
Download lists of the most common words that cover about three-quarters
of adult reading, here.
Download all the above word lists in one file here: U.S.
English and U.K./Oz English.
Versions & prices
Software versions
Personal Best Spelling, adult version, is available in US English or in UK/Oz English. Simply select your preferred version when you download the program.
Purchase
either the download for AU$33 using our secure spelling
program order form. Spelling program site licences are also available.
Print version—one page printable, multiple use spelling lesson
For those who don't want to use a computer but still want to benefit from the Old Way/New Way® learning method and improve their spelling, Personal Best Spelling is now available as a low cost one-page, self-contained, individualised, printed, multiple use spelling tutor for adult learners and adult literacy teachers. If you decide after having used the print version that you want the software version, you can upgrade and only pay the difference. Printable spelling lesson details.
Ordering
The secure order form takes you, step by simple step, through the ordering process. You remain in control all the way. If you wish, you can also ask questions or make observations at the end of the form.
