Reading, the Invisible Dragon, and the Six O’s

There is an invisible dragon affecting all English readers, inflicting harm, yet nothing has been done about it.  It can’t be seen or heard, yet we are all afflicted.  This affliction is ignored, and we carry on as though nothing is wrong.  It’s been going on since buggy whip days.  Why change it now?  Because now we finally have a way to prove it exists and a way to slay the invisible dragon.

If the dragon can’t be seen or heard, how do we know it exists?  There is a test.  I will give it to you now.  If you fail the test you have been afflicted.  I will ask you to answer a question.  It’s so simple every English reader should get it right, yet few will, and even those who do still suffer.  Here is the question:  Please write the phonetic symbol for each letter “o” in these six words: go, on, to, off, of, pilot in standard US accent.  There are six different sounds for these O’s (as can be heard on thefreedictonary.com). 

Did you pass the test?  Probably not.  I didn’t.  But you may say “Who cares?” and that’s why the dragon is invisible.  It’s invisible if you’re not aware or don’t care.  We’ve not been aware.  We’ve walked past the dragon though it hurts us as we pass.  Kids are not being helping by phonetics as they should when learning to read.  English learners are not being helped as they should.  Phonetic notation is instead cryptic, made of special symbols and not as keyboard friendly as it should be.  But things are changing.

We’ve identified the dragon.  We see where fiery breath is coming from.  We now know that reading is sound linked and that good phonemic awareness is a key to successful readers.  We’ve tracked the dragon and found poor phonetic notation is blocking phonemic awareness and blocking everyone’s ability to spell the six O’s.  The dragon is apparent.  But how do we slay it?

Before now we had no adequate tool.  But now there is a phonetic notation based on English that will enable anyone to phonetically spell the six O’s easily and quickly.  It’s called truespel.  With truespel all children can learn how to spell the 40 sounds of English after they learn their letters.  Kids can type phonetically as they learn to read, learning reading and writing in weeks rather than years in first grade.  This was done with IBM’s Writing-to-Read method of the 1980’s as tested by ETS for thousands of k-1 kids.  And transition to traditional spelling is no problem.  First graders can spell phonetically spell the six O’s, and this notation can last their entire lives.

The lack of a standard English-based notation is the invisible dragon.  Truespel is the answer.  Importantly, it not only is English-based but computer friendly as well, allowing spreadsheet, filename, cut and paste with no problem because it consists of nothing more than letters of the alphabet.  Simplicity is key.  Teachers can learn it in minutes and be fairly proficient in less than an hour.  They can use the free converter at truespel.com for lessons.  Truespel is everywhere.  The entire internet is converted to truespel using the URL converter at truespel.com.  And truespel does more, linking translation guides, dictionaries, and textbooks, for the first time integrating these areas.

Truespel books are available analyzing how English is spelled phonetically.  The Voice of American (VOA) beginner’s English dictionary has a phonetic guide for the first time in the form of truespel notation.  It is the most accurate rendering of USA English accent available, in that it spells out all schwas and glottal stops typical of USA accent.  See authorhouse.com.  Let me know how I can assist you with truespel.