Letter Recognition Train

Children learning to read must first master skills of letter recognition and discrimination. This simple program teaches that skill, with little help from adults. You won’t need to encourage your kids to learn their letters with this eye-catching locomotive.

Chugging across the screen, the train stops at a wall facing a randomly chosen letter. The train continues on its way if the child pushes the correct letter. A wrong choice keeps the train from moving.

Short practice sessions totaling one hour a month dramatically improve letter recognition. Assist the child who frustrates easily by showing which row of keys contains the correct choice. Give examples of letter sounds and usage.

One last word–expect bright children to rub the keyboard randomly instead of poking the letters. Explain this isn’t fair and show that it’s quicker to use the right key. Good luck!

  40 REM ***********************
  50 REM *        TRAIN        *
  60 REM *FOR READING READINESS*
  70 REM * BY: E.ALVAREZ, 1982 *
  80 REM ***********************
  90 RAND
 100 LET L$=CHR$ (RND*25+38)
 200 FOR N=0 TO 31
 300 PRINT AT 9,N;" ▛▜ ▖▖▐"
 310 PRINT AT 10,N;" ██████▘"
 320 PRINT AT 11,N;" ▀▀OOO▀▚"
 330 PRINT AT 8,N;"      ▒"
 335 PRINT AT 11,N;" ▀▀000▀▚"
 340 IF N=28 THEN GOSUB 1000
 350 NEXT N
 360 PRINT AT 9,5;"▒"
 370 PRINT AT 9,5;" "
 380 IF INKEY$="" THEN GOTO 340
 390 IF INKEY$<>L$ THEN GOTO 400
 391 SCROLL
 394 GOTO 100
 400 PRINT AT 11,7;" "
 410 GOSUB 1000
 420 GOTO 380
1000 PRINT AT 10,7;"█"
1010 PRINT AT 11,7;L$
1020 PRINT AT 12,7;"█"
1030 RETURN
1040 SAVE "TRAIN"
1050 RUN
SYNTACTIC SUM: 36092, 8K ROM