Wordtalk 4 – a sneak preview
Wordtalk is the excellent utility from Rod MacCaulay of Aberdeen City. It is available for download from; here; http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/
I have already posted about its excellent text-to-speeech features. In particular I like the option- S: Read the current sentence, which does just that and puts the caret into the next sentence. This means that the user can reflect on that sentence before listening to the next one. It works really well with Heather, the Scottish voice, which has been licensed for all schools in Scotland. Working with youngsters using Heather and Wordtalk together is a real pleasure. This combination is available now for installation on all computers in the authority.
There’s more in store. I have been testing a new beta version (4.0) of Wordtalk. There are two new icons. One loads the previously saved settings. In this way, you’ll be able to use Heather as the voice each time just by clciking the load saved settings icon. Even more compelling is the “save as audio file” option. Mark some text, click on this icon and you’ll create a .wav or a .mp3 file of Heather (of course) reading a worksheet, short story or whatever. Youngster can use an mp3 player to keep these audio files and listen when they want.
The new Wordtalk also has a feature that allows user to listen to a single word, by clicking on it. This is very similar to the single click-to-speak-a-word feature found in Textease and Clicker. Hoping that it will not be long before Wordtalk 4.0 is released.
For a picture of Rod receiving a Microsoft Innovative Teacher Award – see here
