Starfall, a learning tool.

STARFALL, A LEARNING TOOL

Starfall is a free website where children can learn how to read and write in English by means of phonics games which help with the learning process. Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children. This website was founded in 2003 by Stephen Schutz, his wife Susan Polis and their son Jared Schutz Polis. Starfall took its name from “The blue mountain art” a publishing house in Colorado.The website has this name because the creators believed that it evoked “wonder and delight”. Something that motivated the founders to create this website was the difficulties that Stephen Schutz had with reading books when he was a child.

This website is designed for preschool and kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education and home-school English learners. The Starfall has four reading levels. The first one is ABCs, let’s get ready to read where children can learn each letter of the alphabet and also get vocabulary related to each of them. The second level is Learn to read, Zac the rat and other tales. In this level, the main thing children can learn is reading through videos, short movies and funny songs about the sound of the vowels, letters of the alphabet and some words. In the third level: It’s fun to read, About me, Art gallery, Magic + more!, we find categories such as : all about me, art gallery, magic, music, poetry, tongue twisters and birds riddles. Each of these categories are focused on increasing comprehension reading and learning of new vocabulary; in this level, children can get a different way to learn. They can listen to the readings and repeat them over and over again so they really get the main idea of the text. The last level is I’m Reading, Plays, Nonfiction, Comics + more! In this one, children learn the sound of the words and complete phrases by means of riddles, short and funny stories, with puppets, cartoons, animals and  Greek figures.

Some limitations of this website are that it is only focused on beginners; therefore it is not so much useful for people with an advanced level or who want to improve the language. Starfall has basic level and people do not find instruction from other person or teacher, but there is a section where the users can ask for feedback just by typing their e-mail and the topic that they want to know about.   

Starfall has some other advantages. It  has free access for any type of person, it is easy to use and its levels are basic. Besides of the previous advantages, this website is useful for beginners because its teaching method is didactic, easy and fun. English teachers also find it very practical because Starfall develops the English learning abilities of the students; it supports the teachers in the learning and pronunciation process of the students. Starfall’s funny contents can increase student’s motivation to learn another language. After all, student’s motivation is one of the major problems for teachers.

http://www.starfall.com/

Written by

YESSICA BETANCUR

ESTEBAN LONDONO