Borrowing from Duolingo's main apps, speech recognition is used to help children practice sounding out words. Quite uniquely, Duolingo ABC does not just speak but it listens too. Usefully, upper and lower case forms of each letter are also covered. Its name, its sound, how it is formed, how it rhymes and so on are all part of the lessons.

Each subsequent bite-sized activity in that section is then based around that letter. Each letter of the alphabet is introduced with a short and simple story that emphasises its use. The activities are accessed in a defined order. If users miss anything, they can tap an on-screen button to get the app to repeat what was said and in the stories, each word is highlighted as it is spoken. Letter sounds and names are pronounced clearly and usefully without strong accents which is important for children learning to recognise and pronounce the sounds for themselves. All instructions and feedback are said aloud and the simple stories are also read out. The spoken word is used to good effect in the app. These never intrude on the learning but just make the experience that bit more fun and interesting. Little flourishes are common where animations and sounds play. The app has a lovely, consistent graphical style. Duolingo ABC takes the same approach and high standards to assist not with learning a second language but with helping young learners lay the foundations of reading and writing in their first. Its high standards of presentation and gamified approach to learning have proven popular with many students and very effective, too. This free app does takes its cues from the well-received Duolingo experience but adapts them to form a comprehensive set of activities to help young children establish their understanding of letters, words, and reading.ĭuolingo is well known for its language learning apps. No, not the popular language learning app.

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