urVoice: Personalized audio visual phrase list (Mobile App)

Details

Activity Description

Have students use this text to speech app with augmentative and alternative communication with type and talk capabilities to create personalized phrase lists with audio and optional images.

Preparation

Before using this activity in class:

1. Download the app on your device(s). Enable your school’s wi-fi on each device. Note: This may require a password. No internet connection is required to use the app, however.
2. Practice using the app to familiarize yourself with it.
3. Set the volume of the devise(s) at a reasonable volume.
4. Prepare a list of phrases you want students to use fluently, for example expressions for the classroom or everyday communication starters and finishers (download the General Expressions file, above), greeting and leave-taking, meaning clarification, negotiation, group work.
   

How-To

1. Have students open the app and model for them how to use it.
2. Select Settings. Select a voice – there are four female voices that speak with different English accents (e.g., American, British, Australian) and one male voice. Select Test Voice to hear. Change speed and pitch as desired by moving the sliders then select “Test Voice” again to hear the new voice. Select Done.
3. Type a sentence in the text box. Select Talk to listen to the sentence.
4. Select Save. The sentence will be saved in Phrases.
5. Select the "i" next to a sentence in Phrases to edit.
6. To add a photo, select Tap Photo to Edit. Students can take a photo of realia (either in the classroom, at home, or in the community), take a photo of images you have brought to class, or select photos already saved on their devices. To take a photo with the device’s camera, select Take Photo. Allow the app to access the device’s camera, take a photo, and choose Use. Then Save. To use photos already on the devices, allow the device to access photos, select the photo, and choose Use then Save.
7. To listen to the sentences, students simply select a sentence in Phrases, and the audio will play.
8. To delete sentences, select Phrases, Edit, the red circle, and Delete.
9. Students can practice listening to, reading, and seeing images for the sentences in the app by selecting Phrases after opening the app.

Teacher Tips

• No Internet connection required after the initial downloading of the app. If someone as a very restrictive data plan, have them sign-in to the school's wifi to do the download. Premium upgrade $4.99 to remove ads.
• According to the developer's site, the free version limits the number of saved Quick Phrases to 3.
• Teach your students about ads and how to avoid accidental "in-app" purchases.
• If you do not have a document camera, you can also use a device adapter to connect your mobile device directly to the projector.

More Ways

• Students can use the app to create personalized picture dictionaries of concrete nouns, action verbs, and adjectives.
• You could also prepare a list of tongue-twisters (see American Folklore for examples), or sentences for students to practice specific pronunciation difficulties (e.g., word final –s endings as /s/, /z/, and /Iz/, word final –ed endings as /t/, /d/, and /Id/).

Program Areas

• ESL: English as a Second Language

Levels

• Beginning Low
• Beginning High
• Intermediate Low
• Intermediate High
• Advanced

Documents

• General Expressions.pdf - General Expressions

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