(OT) From my Yahoo Spam box

[Richmond]

On 15/06/12 09:07, Mark Wieder wrote:
> Richmond-
>
> Thursday, June 14, 2012, 10:57:47 PM, you wrote:
>
>> Sorry; no square brackets on my Keyneeds keyboards at school.
>> http://static.scan.co.uk/images/products/558423-a.jpg
> At least it's colorful. My keyboards aren't colorful.
> Why are the vowels different colors from the consonants?
> Is that in case you forget which ones are vowels?
> "Oh, wait a minute... let me check my keyboard..."
>

I am 50! I worked out which ones are vowels about 3 years ago.

One of the other advantages about coloured vowels is that is helps me
avoid the pitfall of writing 'coloured vowels' as 'colored vowels' . . 
.  LOL.

However, Bulgarian 6 year olds (who, by-the-way, haven't yet been taught 
the Bulgarian Cyrillic
writing system) do seem to benefit from the differently coloured vowels.

These keyboards are designed for early learners, and as such they are 
great; for the LATE
LEARNERS like Thee and Me, they are not always so convenient.

Having said that, I have seen a black-and-white variant of the keyneeds 
keyboard hooked
up to a computer in an old people's home in Scotland - it certainly 
seemed to please the
residents there. I suspect that was because of the large, clear letters 
rather than any particularly
pedagogical reason.

My Mum (who is 81) said she wanted one to connect to her laptop as it 
was about 100 times better
for her than the built-in keyboard.

certainly, a keyneeds keyboard is rather easier to use if your fingers 
are arthritic.