New Delhi: Search engine giant Google has said that it is rolling out ‘Read Along’ Android app for children above 5 years.
The app helps children learn to read by giving verbal and visual feedback as they read stories out loud. The app was first launched in India where it is available as “Bolo”.
Read Along uses Google’s speech recognition technology to help develop literacy skills. It is now available in over 180 countries and in nine languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese and Hindi.
“Read Along helps kids independently learn and build their reading skills with the help of an in-app reading buddy named Diya. As kids read out loud, Diya uses Google’s text-to-speech and speech recognition technology to detect if a student is struggling or successfully reading the passage. She gives them positive and reinforcing feedback along the way, just as a parent or teacher would. Children can also tap Diya at any time for help pronouncing a word or a sentence,” Zohair Hyder,
“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,” Hyder wrote.
After the initial download of the app and stories, Read Along works offline without Wi-Fi or data. The android app 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, Hyder wrote.
