Read Along

A cute little work of art by Michelle Hong on Dribble.

So, apparently last week was Teacher Appreciation week in the US and I think it is a good time to give a shoutout to all the teachers internationally for stepping up to the challenge of ensuring education still goes on beyond schools. Google shared how Teacher Appreciation Week was commemorated and a gif of Google Doodles were created from the contributions of State Teachers of the Year.

Concepts from our 54 2020 State Teachers of the Year

Another matter worth mentioning is that during the COVID-19 disruption to schools, accessibility to learning resources varied and students with higher needs may not necessarily be able to get the same level of support that they used to get when they were attending schools. Thus, it is noteworthy that many different organisations have done their part to lower the barriers and provide useful resources that can be used by learners with minimal support or teacher guidance.

bolo's logo

One particular example that I'd like to share about is called 'Read Along'. It is a mobile app which first launched as an app called Bolo in India in March 2019. 

According to Google's blog post, 

"With many students currently at home due to school closures, families around the globe are looking for ways to help children grow their reading skills. To support families, today we're sharing early access to Read Along by Google. It’s an Android app for children 5+ years old that helps them learn to read by giving verbal and visual feedback as they read stories out loud. 

Read Along uses Google's speech recognition technology to help develop literacy skills, and first launched in India (where it is available as “Bolo”). After receiving encouraging feedback from parents, we’re excited to share this app with more young learners around the globe.

Read Along is now available in over 180 countries and in nine languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi. Read Along will continue to improve as we receive feedback from families, expanding the selection of books and adding more features."

Read Along's logo as in the Google Play Store

As part of the Google for Ed Innovators' Community, I was given access (should still be downloadable by other Android users too) to the Beta version (early access) so I tried it out for myself. I must say that it could genuinely inspire a love of reading in young learners. This is especially so with the gamification elements as well as cute and colourful graphics. It encourages the learner to clock a 10 minutes of reading a day and it also supports independent/self-directed learning. The in-app reading buddy named Diya would be ready to assist in the pronunciation of words as well as by offering simple motivational words and gestures. 

What is also great is that the app works perfectly fine offline too after being downloaded onto a phone. Internet connectivity is only needed to download additional stories for reading so in a way, this helps families who may not have consistently strong access to the internet. Also, according to the same blog post mentioned earlier,

"Read Along was built with childrens' safety and privacy in mind, and has no ads or in-app purchases. And after the initial download of the app and stories, Read Along works offline without Wi-Fi or data—helping with worries about unsupervised access to the Internet. Parents can simply connect to Wi-Fi periodically to download additional stories. 

Read Along is also easy to start and doesn’t require sign in. Even the voice data is analyzed in real time on the device—so that it works offline—and is not sent to any Google servers."

This is definitely good news for those mindful of their data privacy. I hope the app which already is accessible in 180 countries continue to grow and accommodate more countries and languages too. I believe it will truly be of use for children's learning of reading skills at the young and critical age.

Just before I end, I would also just like to share this site http://www.badgedtech.com (done by a fellow Google for Ed Innovator) which gives you an overview of some of the badges and certifications that educators may want to take up as a form of accreditation on the tech skills they have mastered from the use of different online tools and applications. Keep on learning!