Based on the Oxford Reading Tree books, Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip and Kipper Vol. 3 is a piece of educational software available at retail in Europe. The goal of the title is teaching children to improve their English by reading and listening exercises. This simple concept has been wide spread in the United Kingdom and adapted to almost 80% of schools in the country. The books are somewhat known in Europe, but never made as much impact outside the U.K. Is this new interactive version going to make a bigger buzz?

Volume 3 is a more serious outing than the first two, as children’s knowledge will be put to the test. They will learn additional ways for how certain words can be written and use the sounds in the software to reinforce their understanding. For the non-native speaker, this will be a bit more of a challenge, and there is a smaller range of kids who can enjoy it. Youngsters will learn practical pronunciation rules, read fiction and non-fiction stories, and even sing at times.

Every lesson in the software has various steps along the way, and this encourages learning by constant repetition. My younger cousin, who I played this with, did not like the many reminders. After the third time, he seemed to fully grasp what he needed to remember. He did enjoy being questioned about the stories he was reading, as it was a real challenge for him. I gave him a little push once in a while, but he mostly did it all by himself. Sadly, these activities were only found in the fiction stories. The non-fiction ones were solely read in his own pace, with no questions to test comprehension, and that is a slight disappointment.

Interestingly enough, the game also supports SpotPass and StreetPass. With SpotPass, the kids will get letters from the main character, Kipper, and it gives them a little more text to read. These letters are currently sent out on a weekly basis, and my cousin checks them out all by himself now. If you connect with others through StreetPass, the study data will be exchanged. You will be able to see the progress of local friends and how they are doing with their English endeavors.

Phonics Fun with Biff, Chip and Kipper Vol. 3 is a colorful learning tool for children, and it is certainly put together well. The text is exactly right for the recommended age groups, and the game challenges them enough to be entertaining. However, there is some repetition, and there are no questions at all to test the non-fiction stories. If you want to teach English as a secondary language to a kid, be sure to start early, and perhaps keep this software on your radar.