Literacy and ESL Programs for Macintosh.

Changes to this page:
For our American search engines and searchers, the programs can also be called "Practice Your Sentences", "Practice Your Math", "Practice Your English", "Practice Your Spelling", "Practice Your Reading", "Practice Your Cloze", "Practice Your Jumble", "Practice Your Matching", "Practice Your Stress", "Practice Your Typing" and "Practice Your Verbs".
August 2001: Added new program "Spelling Click!".
16 February 2001: Added a link for HyperCard Player.
24 November 2000: New programs "Practise Your Sentences" and "Practise Your Maths".
14 Feb 2000: St Valentine's Day. Let the (improved) programs loose as freeware!
8 Nov 1998: Replaced all programs with a slightly updated version (more user friendly).
 
 

Read a paper on these programs

Here are just about all the programs from my 'Practise Your Skills' group, written by a teacher of Adult Literacy of too many years' standing (me, Bruce Laidlaw), with much advice and encouragement from Julia McCall, teacher extraordinaire of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

THESE ARE ALL HERE NOW AND FREE!!!

These programs are freeware. They are the full version, and have no time limits or other hindrances.
If you like them, send me an email telling how you use them.
 

All the programs below need HyperCard Player to run. If you don't have a copy, then download the latest version (2.4.1) from Apple.
 

If the programs reply "You need to check the instructions." then hold down the Alt/Option key when clicking the "Edit" or "Print" button.

Download all the Programs below in one hit! (923K). Save all that fiddling about (Please also download the PYS Sounds below). Well, fiddle a little then!

Vocabulary Sort 1 The Latest Program. Students sort words into their categories. Practise Mode and Testing Mode. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Boxes of Text. 3.0 Students' text appears as a series of boxes imitating the shape of the letters. Students work to 'translate' into a normal text. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Choose The Best 3.2 (64K). An easy to use Multiple Choice program that runs as a drill or as a test. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own material. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Chimp Movie (64K). This is just a test to see if I can get an mpg movie running on the page.

Affirmation Movie (64K). This is just a test to see if I can get an swf movie running on the page.

Practise Your Cloze 3.8 (54K). Lets the student become thoroughly familiar with a text by working through it. Words are plucked randomly from the text for the student to find. You can also specify the words, and add alternative answers, right and wrong. Easy to add your own text! You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your English 4.1 (88K). Written initially for adults, this versatile program lets students practise common English patterns. Easy to add to, hard to turn off! You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Jumble 3.0 (59K). Lets students become very familiar with their own text, by rearranging the words of sentences in order. Good for beginning readers as well as for advanced students of ESL. Easy to add your own texts. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Matching 3.0 (64K). A 'Join the Sentence Halves' program that's as versatile as the number of teachers who use it. Match words with definitions, proverbs, tag question endings, foreign language vocabulary, etc. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own lists. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Maths 1.1 (40K). A little problem generator. "Mary buys two snakes for $15. The black snake is $3 cheaper then the green snake. How much is the black snake?" Gives hints leading to the answer. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own lists of names, places etc. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Reading 3.0 (58K). Uses the talking ability of the Mac to read students' texts. 'John, click on the word 'address''. Lots of reinforcement makes it suitable for adults or children. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own reading material. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Sentences (58K). Students click on words to get the sentences into the right order. A bit like Practise Your Jumble except that it can hold pages and pages of exercises. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own text. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Spelling 3.1 (250K). Works through the student's own texts asking for the missing letter, or the missing word in each sentence. Or click the words in the text you want to practise. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own text. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Spelling Click! (44K). Basic lists of words. Student clicks on the correct version. Various Choices. Records students' scores. Easy to add your own lists. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Stress 2.5 (57K). ESL students practise finding the stressed vowel in a word. Now where's the stress in 'advertisement'? Records students' scores. Easy to add your own lists. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Typing 6.0 (69K). (Improved!) A no-frills typing program that won't get you confused. Yet fifteen minutes a day for two weeks and you'll be a touch typist! You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Predict Your Text 3.8 Students click on the right words to rebuild their text. Easy to add your texts. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Practise Your Verbs 2.6 (66K). ESL students work through irregular verb drills. This program is as fascinating as I could make it :). Records students' scores. Add to or change the context provided. You must also download the PYS Sounds stack.

Word Weaver 3.8 (72K). The program that turns that text into worksheets in seconds. Throw away your scissors, glue and those little bottles of white paint! (Worksheets produced: Capitals and Punctuation, Sentence Halves, Spelling Match, Jumbled Paragraph, Jumbled Sentences and Cloze) (No sounds needed for this one.)

PYS Sounds (214K). This contains sounds and other goodies used by the various Practise Your ... programs. Essential!

Note: We are using DropStuff version 5.xx, so please download Stuffit Expander 5.xx.
All the programs are binhexed (.hqx) so you can download them on a wintel then bring them to your Mac.

Nota: Estamos usando DropStuff versÏo 5.xx, por favor use a Ùltima versÏo do StuffitExpander.
Os arquivos daqui sÏo binhexados para voc’ poder baixar em windows e posteriormente levar para seu Mac.

Nota: Estamos usando el DropStuff versi§n 5.xx, por favor use el StuffitExpander versi§n 5.xx.
Los archivos de acä son binhexados para que se pueda bajarlos en windows e despues levarlos a un Mac.

Having TROUBLE expanding these files? Have you the latest (freeware) version of Stuffit Expander? Most Macintosh files, like these are compressed in BinHex format. You can extract them with Stuffit Expander, (from Aladdinsys.com), which can translate most file formats.

Thanks to Steven Byrne from Ganggang for his advice.
(Ganggang is THE Guide to Australian Shareware at http://www.ganggang.com.au)

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