WordAloud software "free" to English schools

WordAloud^® - teaching English and literacy worldwide

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Benjamin Franklin

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How to use WordAloud

What is WordAloud? WordAloud has been developed for selected reading and spelling practice with mainstream and special needs education. It is a unique program that will read and display text word-by-word or sentence-by-sentence. It can help pupils speed up their recognition of words. They can practise sentence/story reading, focusing on one word at a time; and practise spelling letter-by-letter. They can review a whole sentence they have been reading. Pupils can watch and listen or watch and read, with the speech on or off. If you are reading a sentence with the speech off, you can click on a word to hear it spoken, and WordAloud can add the word to a word list.

The screen displays words in large letters; you can choose between a variety of colours for text and background; and the words are displayed one after the other, either under the control of the program (at a speed which you can vary) or controlled using keyboard arrows. WordAloud can read any text file in the computer. The teacher or parent can type in a story; or scan it in, saving it as a ".txt" file; or they can download reading material from the web as an ".htm" or ".html" file.

Installation: Just insert the WordAloud into the CD drive and follow the directions. At completion, the WordAloud icon will be on your Desktop. Click or double click on the icon to start WordAloud. The initial text is "Welcome" (from the file intro.htm). Maximise your WordAloud display (click on the square next to the x in top right corner).

Getting started: WordAloud has some basic files for you to use. Click on "Files". There are two stories: Goldilocks and a chapter from Alice in Wonderland. These are to enable you to familiarise yourself with the various uses of WordAloud. For those requiring simpler reading material, there are collections of poems and stories, based on Top Marks phonics. Now click on "Options". Choose a font size (e.g. 150 point), and a suitable colour for text and background. Dyslexic pupils often find it easier to read using a particular combination of colours. Initially choose a speech speed of 120 wpm. By changing the word gap, you can now vary the speed of display and speech. Using word gap 9, the text is read at about 60 wpm. Settings are saved when WordAloud is closed down.

Tip: To read a text from "Word" or "Acrobat" you need to have saved the document as a .txt file. Alternatively, you can copy the text to the Clipboard by highlighting the text and pressing "Control C" and then click on WordAloud "Clip".

Controlling text: There are four basic commands seen at the bottom of the screen: Up-Down-Left-Right. These have the same use as the four arrows on the keyboard. WordAloud can be used at: Document level, Sentence level, Word level, and Spelling level. The level can be changed by using the up/down commands (keyboard or screen). If you have selected "Document or Sentence" level, click on Up arrow to start the reading at the selected speed. To pause, just click the Down arrow; and to continue, click the Up arrow. At Word level, you use the Right/Left arrow to step forward/back word-by-word. Similarly at Spelling level, you step letter-by-letter. The Left/Right arrows have no effect at Document level. At Sentence level, a Left click will repeat the sentence, and further clicks will repeat previous sentences (unless you are at the first sentence of the document). A Right click will play the next sentence (unless you are at the last sentence of the document). This useful feature enables you to "navigate" backwards and forwards to find a particular sentence. The keyboard "Home" key will take you to the start of the document. "Page Up" and "Page Down" will take you back/forward a paragraph. Capital 'H' and lower case 'h' take you to previous/next heading.

Whole sentence: You can toggle between a word display and a whole sentence display using the hash key (#).

Modes: There are a number of modes to chose from, see top left of the Options dialogue box. Initially you are in speech mode. For the pupil to try reading without the speech, select either text or collect mode, and go down to the Word level. Then the pupil can step through the text at their own speed, and try reading each word as it is displayed. You can click on any word to hear it spoken - and, in collect mode, the word is added to a wordlist file which you will find in the "\cloudw" directory. The wordlist is useful for revision of difficult words at the end of a session. Empty or delete the wordlist file before the next pupil begins!

Educational value: WordAloud helps to focus the pupils' concentration when various reading skills are taught, either to individuals or to small groups. It can be used with pupils of all abilities but is particularly valuable for pupils with visual, or visual processing, problems such as dyslexia. The teacher or parent should spend a short time to familiarise themselves with WordAloud controls and options. There are many reading skills that can be practised depending on the text files prepared. These may include short stories, fables, poems, and word lists. Text files can also be made for number bonds and multiplication tables, and number sequencing.

Synthetic phonics: For synthetic phonics, you need to be able to use the WordAloud "edit mode" to allow pupils to type words themselves. First you go into a mode for extra controls (by typing '&'), and then you go into edit mode (by typing 'control-e' or clicking on the 'Edit' button which has appeared at the bottom of the window). The pupil can now type in words and hear them spoken. There are four speech options: 'speak every character', 'speak every word', 'speak characters and words', and 'silent'. You can cycle between these options using 'control-e'. You can paste text into the edit field using control-x, and copy text from the edit field using control-c, just as you can in a word processor. When you have finished editing, you can exit by pressing the 'Esc' key or clicking on the 'Escape' button.

Other features

Short cuts: Everything you can access with the mouse you can also access from the keyboard. This feature is essential for visually impaired users, but can also save time for sighted users. In general capital letters are used for going up or increasing a value, and conversely lower case letters used for going down or decreasing a value. For example 'M' increases font size and 'm' decreases it. The letters are chosen for mnemonic value: 'm' is for magnification, 'v' is for volume, 's' is for speech speed, etc.

Editing text: You can type using a text editor such as Notepad. When you want WordAloud to read the text you have typed, you save the text in a .txt file, then open the file in WordAloud. If you change the text in this file, you need to "refresh" the text in WordAloud, using the "Ref" button.

Links: WordAloud can read simple web pages. You can follow a link using the "Link" button, and return using the "Back" button. There are examples of links in the introduction text, "intro.htm".

Web browsing: You can access WordAloud's additional browsing facilities by typing '&'. There is a mini-editor so you can type in a URL (Universal Resource Locator) allowing you to go straight to a location in the computer or on the web. There is a bookmark list in which you can store the URLs of your favourite sites. There is a log of sites you have visited during the session. And there is a feature so you can quickly find all the links on the page you are reading.

WordAloud with Top Marks: WordAloud has always included a few example stories to try reading. In the BETT 2003 edition, WordAloud provides access to highly-acclaimed Top Marks phonics material, which includes wordlists for spellings, vocabulary lists for different key stages, and a number of graded poems to reinforce the mapping between vowel sounds and their spellings. The combination of WordAloud with Top Marks provides you with a uniquely powerful tool for the teaching of reading to pupils of all abilities.