WordWorld is an Emmy-award-winning animated TV series that helps 3- to 5-year-olds develop early literacy skills. A new study, funded by the US Department of Education, found that watching it for just 15 minutes a day improved a child's vocabulary and readiness to read.
"WordWorld is basically a world where objects are made up of the letters that spell what they are," Don Moody is the creator of this colorful animated world where letters become words, and words come to life.
'So a dog - spelled d-o-g. When you push the letters 'd, o, g' together, they magically morph into a dog, who is a fun-loving puppy with a clever personality," he explains.
Moody says the idea for the show was born a couple of years ago, as he worked on a computer-based learn-to-read program that relied on letters and text on the screen.
"While trying to do that, I realized it doesn't work. Children want to see animated characters. They really don't want to see the text on the screen. So one day, I was working with the word 'shark' on the screen, and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if the letters 's-h-a-r-k' turn into a shark and just scare the children?' And that dramatic moment would help them remember the word 'shark' forever and how to spell it."
That's what happened in WordWorld.
The stories and jokes are all told by a group of three-dimensional animated characters, called WordFriends. They include Dog, Duck, Sheep, Frog and Pig. Each of the characters has a distinctive personality that young viewers can relate to.
"Pig is the chef in WordWorld. And he's always cooking something. So, if we're trying to teach letters, he might be cooking alphabet soup. If we're trying to teach compound words, he might be cooking meatballs and pancakes and popcorn."
Duck is the funny Prescott. He is really the star of the show.
"The children at home associate themselves with Duck. And Duck goes on adventures. He learns. So, if Duck goes out, and he's on an adventure and he needs to cross the river, he might find the letters to spell the word bridge, 'b-r-i-d-g-e,' and put them together and boink! They morph into a bridge over the river, and then he can get across the river."
WordWorld is now reaching 9 million viewers a month. It airs in 22 countries and in 3 languages: English, Cantonese and French.
Don Moody says the feedback the show has been drawing is overwhelmingly positive, and he thinks he knows why.
"You really need to entertain a child and let the byproduct of your entertainment be the literacy. I think if you can make them laugh, if you can take them on a story with you and bring the literacy in on a plot line or even on a joke line, I think that that's the way to keep a child's attention." While WordWorld exists on television, Moody says computers can be an equally important tool for teaching children to read.
"It used to be that you wouldn't think of a preschooler on a computer, but now you're seeing 3-year-olds on computers. So, I think that that's a platform that we can do a lot of teaching on. I certainly hope that other people are out there thinking that they should make reading shows, too, because I think the more shows reach the more children in the more countries in the world, the more literate our societies will be, and, eventually, I think the more peaceful our planet will be.
"So I hope, if anybody needs any help, they call me. And I'll help anybody that wants to make a reading show, because I think that's one of the best things you can do for children."
WordWorld's creator Don Moody says reading is one of the most important skills children need to develop early on. It's the foundation for learning math, science, social studies and other subjects. He encourages parents to prepare their youngsters for school by reading to them and helping them explore for themselves the magic world of words.
come to life: to become animated and vigorous（顯得逼真）
morph：to transform (an image) by computer（由計算機變形為）
three-dimensional：having, or seeming to have, the dimension of depth as well as width and height（三維的）
Cantonese：廣東話
byproduct：the result of another action, often unforeseen or unintended（副產品）
