PAGE CONTENTS

Personal Best Spelling program home page

What will it do for me?

• Learning tool

Quality endorsed

• EdNA
• SA Education Dept

Who's using it?

• Adult learners
• Children & Parents

User feedback

• Adult learners
• Children & Parents

Independent reviews

• EdNA
• Classroom
• Teacher's Fedn
• Adult Literacy org
• Bibliography

Bad spelling habits

• Learned errors
• Habit interference

Program features

• Learn new words
• Correct bad habits
• Test your spelling

Learning methods

• Old Way New Way^®
• Look Say Cover Write Check times 5

Program versions

• Adult spelling
• Children's spelling
• Preview and trial it

Word lists

• US spelling lists
• Oz/UK lists
• Adult lists
• School lists
• Medical terms
• Police terms

Ordering

• Order form

USA version

Download or on CD. Orders

Australian/UK version

Download or on CD. Orders

Learn to Read in Nine Easy Steps

The spelling program for every adult and child

This spelling program:

• transformed many poor spellers into proficient, confident spellers when all other methods failed
• is a genuine learning tool for spelling, not just another computer game dressed up as educational software
• does not insult the learner's intelligence
• is being used by adult and workplace literacy tutors, adult learners, medical practitioners, police officers, colleges, universities, companies, government departments, schools and early learning centres to improve spelling
• 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
• tests your spelling and tracks your progress
• uses proven learning methods endorsed by Australian education departments (USA spelling version also available)
• 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
• provides 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 98 or later operating systems.

 

Quality endorsed by EdNA

Old Way New Way^® Learning is used in Personal Best Spelling and is an Australian Educational Network quality endorsed resource.

Old Way New Way is officially gazetted as an approved learning method by the South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services.

Spelling program user feedback

Lincoln gets ten out of ten every week

"Prior to Lincoln starting to use Personal Best Spelling, he was getting on average, only two out of ten words right in his weekly spelling test at school. Within one week of using Personal Best Spelling, Lincoln got ten out of ten in his weekly spelling test and he has continued to get ten out of ten, each and every week."

It's like the 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."

Your program gave Marian confidence and method

"Your program gave Marian the confidence and the method of how to learn and remember her spelling words. This in turn greatly improved her reading ability. Marian's confidence in herself has helped her to believe in herself."

100% on his weekly tests

"After beginning to use the Personal Best Spelling program, my son has successfully gotten 100% results on his weekly tests. I have recommended your product to others and hope that they find the success that my son has."

The only tutor (including human) that has helped him

"I wanted to take a minute to let you know how much your program has helped our son. He is 11 and in the 5th grade. He has struggled with spelling since at least 3rd grade. Your program is the only tutor (including human) that has helped him."

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 .... This was the case of Jonathan, a mature learner in Galway, Ireland. Following a few brief Old Way New Way^® 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."

So much less stressful for teachers

"The greatest thing about Old Way New Way^® is the self-correction children do. It's such an amazing thing to say to a kid, 'Can you see any Old Ways? ... Now, can you do the New Way for me?' and then they select their Old Way and do the New Way all by themselves without me doing a thing except ask those two questions. Old Way New Way^® is so much less stressful for teachers. I no longer get frustrated when some children have so many errors to correct. The notion of a 'dumb child' disappears and instead you know that they simply have more resistant Old Ways."

Recommend it (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."

 

Spelling program independent reviews

Endorsed by EdNa Online

Old Way New Way^® Learning is a quality endorsed resource for adult education and higher education.

Five Star rating

Personal Best Spelling received the Five Star Rating at TUKIDS, the children's software section of the TUCOWS software library. The adult version was Editor's Choice in the ZDNET software library.

* * * * * TUKIDS 5 STAR RATING. The Kids Software Section of TUCOWS

The school teachers, parents, adult literacy teachers, learning support tutors, and their students in these spelling program case studies tried many different spelling programs, mnemonics, and other spelling aids, including catch-up classes or personal tutoring, before they tried Personal Best Spelling.

Using these conventional, and some not so conventional, methods of teaching spelling they found that children and adult learners still forgot the words they had learned from one day to the next.

Personal Best Spelling changed all this. Learners who used this program actually improved on spelling tests immediately after they started using the program; their vocabulary increased; they actually remembered the words they had learned the day , week or month before; their self confidence improved; their teacher's assessment of their learning ability changed and their outlook on learning became a lot more optimistic. This was empowering for both teachers and students.

These spelling program case notes should be read in conjunction with the spelling program's theoretical underpinning of this program and the long history of successful research, workplace trials and independent evaluations to which the underlying teaching and learning methodology has been subjected. The sum total of this evidence will stand up to the closest scrutiny.

Computer Corner review of Personal Best Spelling by Bill Gillespie

Education: Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation.
".... 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 website just to read the information on the Old Way New Way^® approach to learning."

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 spelling method bibliography.

 

Breaking bad spelling habits

Have you noticed whenever adults and children misspell a word they spell it the same wrong way? Consistency in spelling errors indicates they have learned to spell it "wrong". They now have a "learned error" or a habit error that, like all bad habits, dies hard.

Experience the powerful influence of habit patterns as blocks to learning by taking this brief self-test.

Many poor spellers don't actually have a learning disability; they have a learned disability, i.e., they have many learned errors that impede learning and defy correction by conventional teaching and learning methods.

Only Personal Best Spelling uses Old Way New Way^®, an Australian government endorsed learning method, backed by Australian government funded research and school trials. Old Way New Way^® quickly overcomes learned errors and bad habits and accelerates learning.

Personal Best Spelling also uses an improved version of Look Say Cover Write Check, a widely used method of learning spelling, to quickly learn unfamiliar words.

The Old Way New Way^® approach to spelling draws on newly emerging research into the psychology of learning and explains why learners keep falling back to old ways under conventional, i.e., currently available, methods of coaching, teaching, home tutoring, home education and self teaching.

Personal Best Spelling is an affordable, self-paced spelling tutor software program designed by teachers and educational psychologists for all teachers and students of spelling.

 

Spelling program features

Personal Best Spelling is three great programs in one: learn new words, test your spelling and correct problem words that you keep getting wrong or are unsure about.

Improving 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 help you learn new words faster and remember them.

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 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.

Spelling Tester

You can test your spelling of previously learned words. A special feature is that the program remembers any 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.

Spelling Errors - 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 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.

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 on this web site.

You can read some typical case studies showing how Old Way New Way^® has helped people of all ages become competent and confident spellers.

A full list of program versions and their features is shown here.

 

Adult and children's versions

Personal Best Spelling is the only spelling program licensed to use the Old Way New Way^® learning method. Extensive research and trials in schools and workplaces shows that Old Way New Way^® works equally well with adult learners and children. Personal Best Spelling therefore comes in two versions - one for adults and one for children.

Not just another educational computer game, the adult version of Personal Best Spelling employs research-based learning methods yet it is very user friendly and, unlike most so-called adult spelling programs, it does not insult your intelligence.

The children's version contains some animated characters but this is kept to a minimum so as not to distract the child from the learning task.

Read more about the adult spelling version of Personal Best Spelling.

Read more about the children's version of Personal Best Spelling.

 

Spelling program learning methods

Not just another educational computer game, Personal Best Spelling employs research-based learning methods yet it is very user friendly and engages the learner in a very effective learning process, unlike many so-called spelling programs that are little more than games.

Personal Best Spelling is the only spelling program licensed to use the Old Way New Way^® learning method. Extensive spelling method research and trials in schools and workplaces shows that Old Way New Way^® works very well with learners of all ages.

Personal Best Spelling also uses an improved version of an old standby learning method called Look Say Cover Write Check. This improved version exercises recall which enhances learning.

 

Spelling program - who's using it?

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, government departments, schools and early learning centres where Old Way New Way^® is improving learning and performance in spelling.

 

Spelling program preview, free trial

Before you buy, please check out the many spelling program features. You can preview this spelling program, download and try the demo adult or child version for free, and then purchase either the download or the CD version using our secure spelling program order form.

 

Spelling program word lists: U.S. | U.K. | Oz

Personal Best Spelling comes complete with hundreds of word lists once 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 reading, here.

Download lists of the most common nouns in reading, here.

Download lists of a core of words that people should be able to spell on sight, without sounding, here.

Download lists of the most common words that cover about three-quarters of adult and children's reading, here.

Download all the above word lists in one file here: U.S. English and U.K./Oz English.

(In-depth explanation)

A brief explanation:

Spelling teachers and students try to get it right the first time but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct bad spelling habits that somehow develop.

Because these errors were not corrected early, and were repeated over and over (i.e., practiced), many spelling errors quickly develop into bad habits and are then much harder to eradicate. For example, some people always write "recieve" instead of "receive".

We all know that old habits die hard and many spelling errors therefore defy correction by conventional methods.

The usual advice to practice the correct spelling over and over is not very effective. The next day learners seem to have forgotten what they've learned and the same old spelling errors resurface. It seems we just keep falling back to old ways and, consequently, transfer of learning (memory for correct spelling) is poor.

Fortunately, a cognitive science discovery called Old Way New Way^® Learning, endorsed and gazetted by the South Australian Department of Education and built into Personal Best Spelling, offers all learners of all ages:

1. A new perspective on the transfer of learning problem in the learning of spelling

2. A fast and practical way to learn to spell new and unfamiliar words

3. A user-friendly method for quickly and permanently eradicating bad spelling habits.

This home page describes everything about the Personal Best Spelling program, adult and children's version, including:

1. How it corrects established spelling errors and bad spelling habits.

2. How it improves transfer of learning, i.e, why people still remember words they've learned, from one day to the next.

3. Why it's better than other spelling methods.

4. How habit pattern errors interfere with the learning of spelling.

5. The basic theory underpinning the method.

6. Version features.

7. How to purchase the program.