Once every sound in English has a name and a symbol, children can be taught the basic concept of blending two sounds and their sound symbols together to form simple words.  So, for example, if the Acorn says /ay/, then the blend of the letter D and the Acorn symbol would sound like /d/ /ay/ and create the word "day."

Because you can already read and because you have mastered the basic principle of blending, you can learn Kindercode in about 10-15 minutes.  But amazingly, our experience with thousands of children and tens of thousands of hours of tutoring over the past 10 years has shown us that children who are completely illiterate can consistently learn how to read English Kindercode in about 4 hours!

If you want to try something really fun, see if you can solve this simple puzzle. It may completely change your understanding of the English written code.

The American Youth Literacy Foundation recruits and trains high school and college students AND adults all over the country to become reading tutors.  The very first thing these prospective tutors must do is learn how to read Kindercode.  On average it takes a high school student about 10-15 minutes to solve the puzzle on the right. Give it a try. Read the instructions and follow them carefully.

Many of our tutors tell us that this puzzle, this "exercise" in phonetic decoding, gives them a renewed understanding of what it must feel like to learn how to read for the very first time.  When you complete the puzzle, you might have a sense of satisfaction for having mastered a new "secret code," but you will also have a new and unique insight into how the English language is truly comprised of only 44 sounds.

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Click on the puzzle above to enlarge.