We’ve looked at quite a few reading apps in the past, and most of the apps that we’ve looked at provide users with an impressive suite of useful reading options from highlighting text to reading it out loud. And while those apps are incredibly useful, especially for learners who already understand how to read, they’re not usually designed to dive too far into the fundamentals of writing. The app that we are looking at today is designed for learners who are just starting to read, and don’t yet require the additional features that we’ve mentioned above.
The Sounding Out Machine is a reading app with a singular focus: sounding out words. First, the student can choose how they wish to access the content to be sounded out. Camera mode allows users to simply take a snapshot of the book page they wish to examine. This mode uses the iPad’s built-in camera and doesn’t require any additional apps. Library mode allows students to load in pages from their photo library, which means that students can take snapshots of difficult words or passages and then have them sounded out later. Typing mode is great for those who don’t have specific books or passages to work off but want to simply type out words and have them sounded out, which is a great way to quickly explore new words as they come up.
The app has some other incredibly useful features such as a built-in student tracker that emails a report of the words that the student struggles with the most. A built-in dictionary helps students learn more about the words they submit without having to go to a third-party app. There are also some built-in customization tools that are especially helpful for persons with disabilities, such as color customizations, keyboard options (QWERTY or ABC), and a variety of digital markup tools. The Sounding Out Machine is intelligently designed for young readers, and the app allows students to type words in many forms, so students don’t have to get bogged down with figuring out what the root word is.
The Sounding Out Machine is available for iOS only at a cost of $5.49 CDN. To learn more, click here (new window).
