Originally published at: https://www.ogbongeblog.com/google-read-along-app-help-kids-improve-reading-skills.html
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, Google has launched Read Along by Google mobile app.
It is an interactive Android app for children 5+ years old that helps strengthen their reading skills in the same way reading with a teacher or parent can. It simply helps kids learn to read by giving verbal and visual feedback as they read stories out loud.
Read Along app was first launched in India (where it is available as “Bolo”) but after receiving encouraging feedback from parents, Google decided to upgrade and rebrand it for more young learners around the globe. It is now available in over 180 countries and in nine languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi.
How Read Along App Works
Like Bolo, Read Along leverages Google’s speech recognition and text-to-speech to help kids learn to read and build their reading skills with the help of an in-app reading buddy named Diya.
Parents can create profiles for multiple readers, who tap on their photo to learn at their own pace and to track their individual progress. Read Along will personalize the experience by recommending the right difficulty level of stories and games based on their reading level performance.
As a kid reads a story out loud, the app will use speech recognition technology to detect if a student is struggling or successfully reading the passage. In a blog post, Google said Diya will give kids “positive and reinforcing feedback along the way, just as a parent or teacher would.” In addition, kids can tap on Diya if they ever need help pronouncing a word.
Read Along keeps kids minds engaged with a collection of diverse and interesting stories from around the world, and games sprinkled into those stories. Kids can collect stars and badges as they learn, which motivates them to keep playing and reading.
Safety and connectivity
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.
Download Read Along App By Google ( Bolo App)
Read Along mobile app is available to download for free on Android devices from the play store.