Familiar Video Game-Like Device Ideal for Independent Instruction and Learning Centers
Posted by Denielle on 9th Mar 2014
A Literacy in the Labor Force report indicates that only a little more than half of all U.S. elementary students learn to read and write well enough to be considered functionally literate. To help educators provide their students enhanced instruction and remediation, Califone International, Inc., introduces the AV Tutor with accompanying Digital Cartridge Programs.
The AV Tutor is a handheld player/recorder that allows students to compare their pronunciation of words with prerecorded “model” examples. It offers enhanced sound quality and, being a digital device, requires little maintenance. Ideal for supplementing classroom curriculum, speech-language therapies, and ESL applications, the device gives students an opportunity to build reading skills independently without needing access to a desktop computer. The AV Tutor plays the chosen word and then uses that word within a simple sentence. Easily adaptable for use in learning centers found in most elementary classrooms, the AV Tutor is designed for smaller hands, and its built-in 8 second memory enables students to compare and contrast their responses to the modeled sounds before moving on to the next lesson.
“The problem of this many students not learning to read during their critical early years is a national issue, affecting every school and community,” said Tim Ridgway, VP of Marketing for Califone. “Since the form factor of the AV Tutor resembles already familiar consumer devices, its familiarity will encourage its acceptance and use by students to engage them while helping to develop phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension.”
There are a total of seven digital cartridges designed for the AV Tutor, incorporating the most popular card reader programs to help students connect what they see with what they hear. Six of the new programs are digital upgrades from the existing CardMaster™ programs, which include Picture Words, Phonics, Readiness, Everyday Words #1, Survival Signs, and Basic Vocabulary #1. In addition, Califone has a seventh program titled “Play Ball”, which presents interactive narrative readings, phonemic awareness and comprehension activities.
Speech pathologists, reading coaches and educators can feel confident about students using the new program independently as it offers an interactive tutorial that has a self-checking mode that allows the student to progress to the next level only after answering the current question correctly (within Play Ball only).
The AV Tutor was developed in response to educator demand for devices that will engage students as many consumer electronic devices do, such as handheld gaming systems. Califone will continue selling its classroom-tested 2010 and 2020 CardMaster, as well as the recently launched Reader models.
Designed to meet strict standards of strength and durability, the AV Tutor comes with the unique one-year Califone warranty, covering for school, library and government use, a guarantee typically not available for products purchased from consumer electronics stores.
