Bristol English Pictures app for iPhone and iPad

This app helps you to learn English from the beginning.

You will hear the sound of easy English words and learn to read the words.

Each word is matched with a picture so that you understand the meaning of the word.

You will also learn how to spell and write the words.



The app is free and there are no ads.

You can use the app offline; you will not need an internet connection after the app is installed.

The app is small and does not use a lot of memory space on your phone.



Using the app is fun, you learn by playing games and the points you win are displayed.

There are two types of games.



First matching games; matching pictures to the English words.

This game helps you with both listening, reading and understanding English.

An animation shows you how to write the new words, for each new word that contains a new letter of the alphabet.

This helps with handwriting, showing you how to form the letters correctly and also the correct position of each letter on the line.

The vocabulary has been chosen so that all the letters of the alphabet are gradually introduced.



Secondly there are spelling games;

In the spelling games, you will have a choice of six letters to spell the word. To listen again to the word you need to spell, you can click on the picture and hear the word spoken.



There are thirty games to play.

You can play a game as many times as you need to make sure you can read, understand each word and know how to write and spell the new words. It is good to repeat each word out loud, to practice speaking English.

Regular practice is best; ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes in the afternoon is the perfect way to benefit from the app.

You can also use the menu to go back to earlier games to revise.



Additional information about the design of the app;

The app helps you to learn UK English (not USA English).

To use this app there is no need to sign in, or set up an account. No data is collected.



Many apps that teach English from the beginning are designed for children, but this app is designed for use by adults. The pictures are not drawings, they are photographs. The vocabulary is chosen to be relevant to adults.



This app is very useful for self-study of the English language and also good for students in education.

The words chosen are designed to make learning English as easy as possible. To begin, the words are three letter phonetic words; CVCs (Consonant Vowel Consonant). Next, four and five letter phonetic words are introduced, to help learners become familiar with the regular sounds of the English alphabet. Lastly, the words are commonly used nouns in the English language.

This app systematically revises the words learnt in earlier games and the revision words are randomly chosen from the earlier games so that each time the game is played the revision words will be different.



Learners of English may find the sounds of English short vowels difficult to distinguish from each other. For example, this is often true for Arabic speakers.

To make spelling easier for beginners the spelling games offer a choice of consonants but only provide the relevant vowels in the early games.



Given that the app uses pictures, rather than translations, the app can be used in lessons when the members of the class speak a range of different languages.

The app is especially useful for those who did not have the opportunity to attend a school and are not literate in their own language.

There is a summary page of the alphabet, accessed from the menu, showing the order of the alphabet, how to form each letter and speaks the names of each letter.

The early focus on spelling helps learners distinguish each individual letters in a word, so that they can distinguish similarly spelled words and be able read phonetic names.

The app will also be useful for those who are good readers of English but are unable to spell accurately.

A very useful asset for the beginner learner in English language.