"Really like the PENpals - it was a great demonstration and to be able to use it to get the full effect."
PENpals enable reception staff to receive new prisoners more effectively and provide more accurate personal and health information. English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and education staff are able to communicate with non-English speakers in a friendly and productive way, while Library staff can explain library services. The PENpal facilitates prisoners to better access services, meet the expectations of prison staff, maintain contact with family, and improve their English.
Brilliant! Amazed by the technology."
The packs have been incredibly well received, not just as an intelligent and multifaceted resource for supporting children learning English as an additional language but also as a wider resource to support communication, language, partnership with parents and to support our phonics programme.
"Amazing technology which will aid teaching of Spanish in my class"
"This product is easy to use. It is great for teachers with ELL students to be able to communicate about basic needs. It is a great tool for communication."
Excellent software and equipment."
"The surprise and smiles on their faces, as they hear the words and sentences in their own language, have just been delighted and has really helped in their understanding."
"PENpal revolutionises EAL teaching."
"Absolute genius. Colourful interactive sound-enabled books and games that are visually appealing and captivating to use and personalise. Inclusive resources particularly useful for EAL and SEN. Ideal of EYFS requirements and really encourages listening and speaking. An innovative product full of well thought out resources. We just love this!"
"A spectacular addition to the resources available to language teachers."
"This sound enabled pack contains a vast number of ecellent resources. It can be used endlessly with different groups of children and varying learning objections."
"Outstanding product. It can be used in large or smal groups, or by a single child. It meets all areas of Early Years Foundation Stage requirements; the resources allow you to etend this learning further and further. Talking Phoics is a fantastic pack to own. "
"PENpal made a huge impact on our pupils' development."
“The educational impact of this resource is high, especially for children with speech and language delay/EAL. The PENpal is suitable for all; those of higher ability enjoy the creativity involved, while those with lower abilities are encouraged to develop their skills.”
"Very impressive resources - will be very valuable in the classroom. Extremely useful for our EAL children" Cheshire school
Talking Phonics 2 made a great impact on the children’s phonics learning I have especially noticed how the pen has encouraged quieter and less confident children to have a go in phonics.
The pack stimulated and encouraged speaking and listening, language development and thinking skills. Resources like the ‘yes no’ cards can be played as a phonics game as well as developing deeper thinking and philosophy for children. Each resource within the pack develops reading and writing skills through phonics. However, I think it also supports wider learning opportunities like creating different ideas, storytelling and music.
I love this! You have so clearly thought about what it is like to be a new parent.There is a clear sense of covering what a parent would want to know...
The Recordable Talking Stickers can be used as an informative assessment tool whereby the children can record their ideas and then these can be replayed at a later date. The children were also able to use the sticky labels as an opportunity for self assessment as they could listen back to their ideas and reflect on these.
„Wir setzen den PENpal sehr gerne in unserer Kita ein. Kinder und Eltern freuen sich, ihre Sprache zu hören und ihre eigenen sprechenden Bücher zu kreieren.“
„Das ist toll, hier in der Kita lernen unsere Kinder Deutsch und mit diesen Büchern lernen die Kinder diese ganzen Wörter auch auf Arabisch.“
This resource has the potential to greatly enhance literacy lessons, but also to support schools in developing home literacy partnerships as it is easy to use and can be lent to families to work with at home.
„Ich freue mich, in dieser Kita zu sein – es ist so schön, dass ihr Interesse an unserer Sprache habt.“
The impact on learning on children who find writing a story difficult has been fantastic as they are able to record their own stories without the fear of not being able to write their ideas on paper. The children can also make their own story books and with the stickers the children are able to create the story that goes with the pictures within the story books that they have created. It allows all children to be authors.