 |
| The Consonants |
It was put together with all free software: OfficeLibre for design, Audacity for audio, Aquamacs for coding and Mozilla for testing/debugging.
 |
| The Vowels |
It was tested with Firefox, Chrome and Safari. It probably doesn't work with Internet Explorer because it uses Wave files for the sounds, which are originally a Microsoft standard, so it makes perfect sense that it works with every browser except Microsoft's.
5 comments:
"Get yourself a real web browser". Absolutely!
Finally ordered the Unspeller book. I should have done it right away. I teach second grade in a public school and it's painful to watch more than half of each class struggle with reading year after year. Kids love "secret codes," so I think they will take to this readily. While I wait for the book they can use the app to listen to the sounds during our hour with the iPads. From previous comments, it sounds like this is working for kids! If I can show results maybe out "reading specialist" will use it for the whole school and help even more kids with our crazy English language.
sstillwell -
Yes, it's working! Here's another thing for the kids to play with, to prime them for when Unspeller arrives:
http://masstrails.com/NamesOfAnimals/
If you decide to use Unspeller in class, let me know directly. If the school PayPals me the money, I can drop ship a bunch of copies direct to the school, with a hefty educational discount.
Proper English spelling is a shibboleth in a way, just as a proper accent and vocabulary are, giving others a clue of how well educated you are and what class you belong to. Unspell is in a sense a revolutionary effort since if adopted, it would make English orthography available to all classes.
I find myself guilty of looking down on others for not knowing the difference between hue and hew or their and they're or rein and reign. I already wear declasse clothes most of the time, which make it obvious that I don't have a job, something that puts me in the class of untouchables along with people who wear their pants around their knees or push shopping carts down the sidewalk.
But I am still holding on to my ability to spell properly and make an effort to do so. It just occurred to me, that I could save myself a good deal of anxiety if I abandoned my obsession with proper spelling and typed whatever was most convenient, ocurred or occurred, or recomend or reccommend or recommend. The spell checker in a way is a petty tyrant, kind of like the wife at a restaurant reminding you to put your napkin in your lap, to not slurp your soup or lick your plate. Wouldn't life bee ezier if we wer free to spel any wei we wanted to, kind of like Clark of Lewis and Clark.
more on the spelling of Clark here:
and a brief quote from that source, "Even when we remember that English was not as standardized in the early 1800s as it is now, their writings are notable for irregularities of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Clark's spelling is especially wild. In his entries, the Sioux, for instance, might appear as the "Sieoux," the "Seaux," the "Souixx," the "Seauex," the "Scioux," or the "Soues." He comes up with twenty-seven variations of this one-syllable word. In a single paragraph, Indians might come onto the scene as Siaux and depart as Seauex."
And why not as long as we all know what he is talking about. Clark could spell as he pleezed becaus his class status was secur.
in my earlier post, I promised a link to more info on Sgt Clark, I believe that was his rank, so here's the link
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/lewis_clark/journey.html
While searching for that info, I also discovered that there is a Lewis and Clark spelling bee in Helena Montana. I thought it might be a joke, a kind of spelling bee where you have to invent your own spellings and you lose points if you provide the standard one. But no, it is a regular spelling bee. Unintentional irony is rampant.
Post a Comment