Aim of the game. To be the first player to feed all of their word cookies to the monster. Instructions (PDF). Feeding the Monster shows what it takes to win a championship, both on and off the field. Seth Mnookin spent mornings in the front office, afternoons in the clubhouse, and evenings in the owners' box. He learned how the Sox persuaded Curt Schilling to sign, why Nomar Garciaparra resented his teammates, and what led to Pedro Martinez's. Feed The Monster teaches children the fundamentals of reading in French. Collect monster eggs and feed them letters so they can grow into new friends! WHAT IS FEED THE MONSTER? Feed The Monster.
Let’s give South Africa the power of reading!
South Africa’s literacy statistics reflect an indisputable crisis in education. Children cannot read at a proficiency level that affords them a basic comprehension of text and access to primary education after age 10, let alone secondary and tertiary academia. There is no curriculum to offer if the children cannot read the material. There is no Fourth Industrial Revolution to enter if the requirement is literacy, visual or linguistic. There is no global economy to play in, if written language isn’t engaged. There can be no scientists, entrepreneurs, economic shape shifters, software coders or other 21st Century careers if the fundamental ability to read is lacking.
South Africans are hard at work to resolve the crisis, piloting literacy schemes, holding academic ‘war rooms’ testing hypotheses for best pedagogy, best school curricula, best materials, trained and committed teachers. That is the good news.
Zulu: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.FeedTheMonsterZULU
Siswati: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterSiswati
Sepedi: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterSePedi
Xitonga: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterTsonga
Seketswana: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterTswana
SA English: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterSAEnglish
Sesotho: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterSesotho
isiNdebele: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterNdebele
Tshivenda: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterVenda
Isixhosa: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterisiXhosa
The bad news is that if one or more of these avenues materializes on scale, it will be 15-25years, or more, before South African society becomes influenced by literate young people entering the workplace.The research is clear. Children need repeated exposure to high quality, well-structured literacy instruction in order to learn to read. At the core of the education crisis in South Africa is poor literacy instruction and the challenge of introducing young readers to reading in their home language first, before reading in another language for teaching and learning. The language debate in South Africa is understandably complex. Sadly, many languages are marginalized despite concerted policy efforts to ensure that African languages permeate our national curriculum. There are insufficient resources available, that being teachers, schools or materials, to afford every child the opportunity to master reading in their home language, or any other.
Afrikaans: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eduapp4syria.feedthemonsterAfrikaans
Drastic times call for urgent measures. In 2017, Bellavista S.H.A.R.E., a division of Bellavista School, put its hand up to make a difference sooner than that. It is time to introduce technology, not just textbooks on tablets, to learners in the educational system, and get South Africans literate,
in more than one language – now. Being a school that intervenes for reading difficulty, the insight into effective reading intervention exists within its members and associated colleagues internationally. Bellavista set out in pursuit of a scalable, evidence based technology solution that it could develop and share with South Africans rapidly. The desired innovation needed to be accessible across socio-economic barriers, trustworthy and inclusive of all the languages in the country. All eleven languages were to be regarded as equally deserving of development,
not only to preserve their heritage, but to ensure that no one gets left behind. These objectives were realized in Feed the Monster.
Feed the Monster is a joint ventureof Apps Factory,
GET – The Centerfor Educational Technology, and IRC – The International RescueCommittee. This award winning app was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of ForeignAffairs and the software declared open source following its pilotefficacy in Syrian refugee camps.
Bellavista found support from the MTN Foundation, and a tech partner in Curious Learning, Boston USA, and localised Feed the Monster to SA English, IsiXhosa, Tshivenda, IsiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Xitsonga, SiSwati, Afrikaans, IsiNdebele and Setswana. Swahili is already developed too, to support the many Swahili speakers in the region. By deploying accessible cellular technology, a solid, research based and award winning literacy application, Feed the Monster, presented in an instructional and gamification format, can be delivered directly to the learners and get them literate. Readers aged between ages six and eight can access reading instruction via a designed curriculum that can take them to an early Grade Two level on a CAPS measurement, matching letters with sounds, and learning that sounds together make words, then words together make sentences that carry meaning. The app addresses the foundation of all reading. Feed the Monster bridges the gap between literacy skills and fluent reading.
In essence, technology helps make learning thefundamentals of reading more meaningful and fun, this reaching a widercommunity. Technology is not a pedagogyor even a teacher, it is an enhancer toget South African children literate – now.
This project will ‘scale up’ literacy impact by localizing and distributing this app so that many children can begin their journey of learning to read.
- •Covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences.
- •Designed in collaboration with leading academics.
- •Complements all synthetic phonics programmes used in schools.
- •Computer version is 100% free.
Award Winning
As Featured In
Play NowThe kids absolutely love this game - and they're learning!
The game has been funded by the Usborne Foundation, a charity set up to support initiatives to develop early literacy.
Our mission is to help as many children learn to read as possible. The computer version is 100% free and we put profits from the app back into the Usborne Foundation, to continue to create new and exciting ways for children to learn.
The charity was founded by Peter Usborne MBE and his children, Nicola and Martin, one of the world’s leading children’s book publishing companies and Children’s Publisher of the Year 2012. He was previously one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye.
The game is for children in the first stages of learning to read, or for older children who need a bit more practice. Read moredetails about the three games.
The game takes children on a magical journey, meeting colourful characters along the way and collecting fantastic rewards. When children are engaged, they’re motivated to learn.
As they progress, they rehearse a range of essential reading skills; matching letters to sounds, blending, segmenting, tricky words and reading full sentences.
Find outexactly what the game covers.
The game runs on any normal laptop or desktop computer (including Apple Macs) and the app works on iPhone, iPad, Android and Kindle tablets.
Feeding The Monster Tank
Peter Usborne is the founder and Managing Director of Usborne Publishing, one of the world’s leading children’s book publishing companies and Children’s Publisher of the Year 2012. He was previously one of the founders of the magazine Private Eye, and was recently awarded an MBE for services to publishing.
An Exciting Adventure in a Magical World
Create a monster and take it on an adventure through a magical world. Travel to exciting places, meet fun characters, play games and win prizes as your monster learns the first steps of reading.
Minigames help children to develop speed and accuracy of letter recognition.
A great way to help your children to learn to read.
Play NowI was stunned to see how much they enjoyed this. It blew me away.
Complements existing learning
For young children in the first stages of learning to read; both those who are on track and those who need extra support and motivation.
The series complements Phases 2-5 of Letters and Sounds and other major systematic synthetic phonics programmes.
Keeps children focused on rehearsing and consolidating what they learn in school.
Easy and Secure
Feeding The Monster
The series takes children on a journey through the graphemes; rehearsing recognition, blending and segmenting with each one.
Children rehearse tricky words, plus reading whole sentences and captions.
Can be played independently by children either in school or at home.
Each child has their own login so the game can track their progress over time.
This is a fun and engaging way to help your child learn to read. My son warmed to the game quickly and didn't want to stop playing it!