FreeSpeech
If a picture paints a thousand words…
$19.99 Developer Avaz Inc, freespeechapp.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 9 or later
What if there were a way to use visual imagery to assist with the development of language? That’s the aim of FreeSpeech, a progressive new app designed to help students learn about the structure of the English language.
Starting from a range of typical pronouns, you then choose from a range of common verbs. At any time, you can hit More Words to find an extensive list of categories, such as Most Used, Actions, People, Food and Drink, Places – the list goes on. The app then creates a kind of “mind map” of a sentence, placing words and images you choose in the correct position and suggesting what other elements are required to make a complete sentence, such as asking “when,” “how,” or “who,” and also flagging up tense changes.
One 10-year-old tester quickly came across a bit of a flaw – the ability to really sense check. We managed to create this sentence: “The dirty dog and the true and good team cat eat the spicy and worn and messy hot dog in the messy state during the kid’s different game vacation.” Strictly speaking, this sentence is grammatically correct, but in a real-world classroom stituation, a child would be encouraged to both break up the sentence and also think about how much sense they were making.
That said, this is an easy app for any age or ability to understand and use, and it’s also well-suited to learning English as a second language.
the bottom line. The visual representation of words makes this a very accessible language-learning app for a range of ages and abilities. JOMEMBERY