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iPad apps - oral skills
To assist you with your selection, particularly when there is a choice of apps that appear to be similar, I have attempted to oganise the apps according to a number of categories. Please note that that rankings such as rating and ease of use are subjective. If you do not agree with what I have written please let me know!
Voice recorders |
Cost |
Age |
Rating (1-5) |
Ease of use |
Voice Record Pro is a simple to use app. Recorded voices are in standard AAC/MP4/M4A format. They can be converted to MP3 (and then used as a podcast) and can be saved in a range of locations, depending on the apps on your device. I really like the fact that you can export to your camera roll – this means that you can import your sound file into iBooks/ePubs that you create using apps such as Book Creator. |
Free |
All levels |
5 |
Easy |
iTalk has an easy to use interface. You can select from 3 different levels of recording quality and add to existing recordings. You only have the option to email finished recordings, the premium version lets you transfer recordings via iTunes file sharing, or AirDrop. |
Free |
All levels |
4 |
Easy |
Opinion is a free, easy to use podcasting app. Podcasts are limited to 10 minutes, which would suit most people, but you can opt to pay an additional fee for unlimited podcasts. Podcasts are recorded in segments which are then listed, one after another. You can tap and hold on a segment, to drag it up or down the running order. You can tap in to any one of them to play it back. It's easy to make cuts: position yourself at the start of the bit you want to delete, and tap the scissors button. Snip. Move to the end of the part to be deleted, and snip again. You can then swipe to delete that excised segment. |
Free with upgrade option |
All levels |
5 |
Easy |
The Audio Memos app features volume boost, volume normalising, editing of recordings etc. There are no limits on the recording length but the free version comes with lots of ads. |
Free |
All levels |
3 |
Easy |
Hokusai is a multitrack audio editor for iPhone or iPad. Record or import a track, and edit it: trim the ends, full cut, copy, paste and delete, and enhance with a suite of filters and special effects. Edit multiple tracks side-by-side, mix them together, and export to wave or mp4 format — then transfer them to your computer via Dropbox or iTunes. |
Free - In app purchase for Pro features |
Teachers and secondary students |
4 |
Mediumdifficulty |
AudioBoom
QuickVoice (also online tool)
HT Recorder+
SkyRecorder
QuickVoice (also online tool)
HT Recorder+
SkyRecorder
SpeakTo Apps records your message (choose from 22 languages) and converts your speech to text. You can quickly send your message via email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, do a web or YouTube search and add an appointment to your calendar. The accuracy of this app is not brilliant but it is faster than typing the entire text
Free (version with ads)
All
3
Easy
Voice + text/image
VoiceThread enables you to create and share conversations around documents, images, diagrams and videos. You can talk, type and draw straight on the screen. Anyone can join in the conversation from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or computer.
With junior secondary students, a teacher can create multiple identities within one account, allowing students to comment without creating one for themselves. Check out the VoiceThread Digital Library, a database of articles about successful VoiceThread projects, including languages. VoiceThread's free option limits you to three projects at a time. To stay under the free account cap just delete projects when necessary.
Free
$US 79 a year/$15 a month for the option to manage up to 50 student accounts
Secondary
4
Easy
AudioNote 2
Story makers (narration)
30hands allows users to easily create stories or presentations based on photos or images in 5 Easy Steps:
1. Add images or take photos (you can add multiple photos at a time which is a useful feature)
2. Arrange them into any order by dragging them.
3. Record audio for each slide (slide from one image to the next) and when finished, add hand written text if required.
4. Preview the presentation.
5. Publish it as a video to the Camera Roll or the 30hands web site for sharing.
30hands has an inbuilt tutorial that guides users through these steps.
Free
Upper primary, secondary
4/5
Easy
Story Creator is a free iPad app that makes it easy to create narrated picture books on your iPad. To create a narrated picture book on Story Creator start by inserting a picture as your book’s cover. To create a page just tap the “+” icon and import a picture, draw a picture, type some text, or do all three. Next tap the microphone icon to record your narration. After making your recording you can quickly adjust it so that each word of text is highlighted to match the timing of your narration. At the moment you can only share finished stories on Facebook or via email through a Story Creator account. The email option requires your recipient to have Story Creator in order to play your story.
Free
Secondary
and
teachers
Pixntell enables users to quickly create simple narrated photostories. Start a new project, select some images, place them in order, and then start talking about each of your images. Images can be photos or drawings (captured with the iPad camera). Pixntell allows you to crop your pictures, add text, fun stickers or filters to them.Finished projects can be uploaded directly to YouTube, shared on Facebook, or sent via email. The free version of Pixntell limits users to five pictures per project (the premium app with unlimited images is $0.99).
Free (5 images/30 secs) 0.99 unlimited images
To use SonicPics simply add images from your photo library or snap new ones with your camera, arrange your photos in whatever order you would like and then record a voiceover (choosing from 3 sound qualities) narrating your images as you swipe through them. The finished movie (up to 60 minutes long) can be shared by email or uploaded to YouTube.
$2.99
All levels
3
Easy
PicViewenables students to create simple, one image photo stories. They could use a photo that they have taken or comment on a photo the teacher has provided to the whole class to check what understandings students have in common. Students can add a title, filter or frame to their photo.
Completed PicView stories can be shared via email, posted on the PicView site, shared on Facebook or Twitter.
Free
All levels
2
Easy
MY STORY/STORY CUBES/DRAW & TELL HD/STORY BUDDY 2/PIC VIEW/TELL ABOUT/IMAGISTORY
Animated Voice
Tellagami enables students to create customized, animated scenes in no time at all. Upon opening the create menu students will see a default character and background scene. They can make changes by selecting from a range of options, such as gender, hair and eye colour, emotion etc. The background scenes can be changed by selecting from a menu or by inserting a picture from the iPad’s camera roll. To add a voiceover to their animations students simply tap “record” and start talking. Tellagami does not require students to create accounts or have an email address. Completed animations are stored on the iPad’s camera roll and can be embedded into a web page or wiki. The maximum length of an individual Tellagami is 30 seconds, however students can create longer movies with scene and character changes by importing finished “Gamis” into a video editor such as iMovie or Loopster (free). Check out this iMovie example.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
Use Morfo with the inbuilt images or a photo of a friend, celebrity, pet etc and quickly create a life-like talking character with an animated mouth. Record a video of your character and post it to Facebook or email it to your friends.
Free$0.99 for additional costumes and dances.
Upper primary, junior secondary
3/4
Easy
With Zoobe Pets you select a character, take a background photo (using the iSight camera) or select a photo you have saved already, choose a mood, (happy, sorry, angry etc) and press continue. Click on the button to the left of record to adjust the pitch of the voice and then press record. Once you've finished recording you can preview your video and then export it in a range of formats or save it to the camera roll. The maximum length of the recording is 30 seconds. Unfortunately you are not able to edit your finished Zoobe but will have to start again from scratch.
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
3/4
Easy
iFunFace
Animated puppet shows
Toontastic provides great step by step instructions for using the supplied scenes and characters (or create your own) to make an animated puppet story with narration. This app also includes a guide for teachers and parents. Check out the official website and this demo on YouTube. Timothy Bush, Senior Manager at the Asia Education Foundation, has provided a unit plan (below) that can be readily adapted to most year levels. This unit plan provides a clear ‘step by step’ guide for students to convert an existing or their own story into digital form.
Free
Primary
PuppetPals offers an easy way for kids to create and record their own animated short stories. The app comes with one set of eight Wild West characters (two of which are a horse and a tumbleweed). There are 12 other character sets available for purchase at $.99 each. It is possible also to cut people out of real-life photos and use them as puppets but this will be an additional cost.
Free - $0.99 additional character sets & $2.99 to use own photos
Primary- Junior Secondary
Sock Puppets lets users work on their own or with friends to create lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Select from a range of puppets, props and scenery and move the puppets to animate them while recording.
Look at this German example produced for year 9 students about arranging a visit to the cinema.
Free for up to 30 secs of recording, $0.99 for more time
Primary- Junior Secondary
Movie makers
The free version of Storyboards allows users to create up to 2 storyboards of 10 drawings. Thanks to the hundreds of characters and props included in the app, users will be able to quickly compose the shots of their next movie, through an intuitive interface. The characters and props are located inside the Library. Tap anywhere in a drawing to open it, or tap the Library button on the right of the toolbar. Asian characters are coming soon.
Free
Primary - junior secondary
Blurb Mobile uses existing libraries or creates media in real time. Sequence your media, edit, (rotate, crop, scale etc) attach audio and then share via social media sites or email.
Free
All levels
With ToonCamera you can apply real-time cartoon and art effects to your camera feed, record video, snap photos, and convert existing video and photos from your albums to create instant works of art. Save your creations and share them with friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and YouTube, all from within ToonCamera.
$0.99
All levels
ReelDirector allows you to create, edit and share movie clips on your iPad. Smooth or blend transition between scene changes are its biggest feature but it also does Ken Burns, text overlays, music imports and has voice over capabilities. Check out this comparisonbetween ReelDirector and iMovie.
$1.99
All levels
3
Easy
Splice is intended for use with an iPhone or iPod touch. This app lets you splice together HD photos and videos. Next add music tracks from your iPod library, sound effects, transitions, borders and effects (like Ken Burns, slow motion and fast forward). You can trim video and audio, narrate with your own voice, and much more.
$2.99
Upper primary and secondary
TouchCast is a free app that provides teachers with an opportunity to create interactive virtual lessons and provides students with an opportunity to present their work in an entirely new way. TouchCast is different to other iPad app video recorders because it has interactive features you can build into your video. You can record yourself with the front facing camera, record someone or something else with the rear camera, or use the whiteboard to record. You then get to the real interactivity by adding video apps (vApps). vApps are like little widgets that you can add over the top of your recording. You can add things like a web browser, other videos, images, polls, and Google Maps etc. When you publish the video, viewers can interact with the vApps by moving them around and using them.
Free
Upper primary and secondary
SFX
SOUND EFFECTS
Turn taking/rehearsal
Foldify is a great app to use to create a physical dice-like cube. The original intent is for you to select, print and fold paper figures that you can then use in a role play. Karen Whitehead has come up with a brilliant idea to use foldify to create prompts for sentences. Since foldify does not offer text boxes Karen puts the words individually into quipio, a free app, saves the resultant images to the camera roll and then imports them into foldify. You can resize and change the direction of the text image to fit each side of your cube. Click here for some templates that you can use with French or Spanish.
$4.49
Primary, junior secondary
Use Tap Roulette to randomly select whose turn is next among small groups of students. They simply launch the app, place their finger on the screen and click on Pick Finger.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
Easy
Decide Now is a great prompt tool for students to use during role plays as it add the element of spontaneity. The app comes with a range of categories included. Click on the cog to edit this list. You can modify/delete existing lists or click on + to generate your own list - e.g. hobbies, food/drink items, activities to do on the weekend, film genres etc. Once you have selected the wheel to use, click on the circle to spin it and make a random selection. Karen Whitehead has some fantastic suggestions for using this app. Check them out here.
$0.99
Primary, junior secondary
Guess the Character is an iPad version of the beloved Guess Who board game. The game starts with each player with a random character (out of 24) from the board. Players alternate asking various yes or no questions in the target language to eliminate candidates, such as Does this person wear glasses?
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
LineLearner enables you to record scenes from plays and to learn your lines quickly and easily.
Free for the "Lite" version (10 lines max), or $3.99 for the full app
Secondary
Free (version with ads)
All
3
Easy
Voice + text/image
VoiceThread enables you to create and share conversations around documents, images, diagrams and videos. You can talk, type and draw straight on the screen. Anyone can join in the conversation from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or computer.
With junior secondary students, a teacher can create multiple identities within one account, allowing students to comment without creating one for themselves. Check out the VoiceThread Digital Library, a database of articles about successful VoiceThread projects, including languages. VoiceThread's free option limits you to three projects at a time. To stay under the free account cap just delete projects when necessary.
Free
$US 79 a year/$15 a month for the option to manage up to 50 student accounts
Secondary
4
Easy
AudioNote 2
Story makers (narration)
30hands allows users to easily create stories or presentations based on photos or images in 5 Easy Steps:
1. Add images or take photos (you can add multiple photos at a time which is a useful feature)
2. Arrange them into any order by dragging them.
3. Record audio for each slide (slide from one image to the next) and when finished, add hand written text if required.
4. Preview the presentation.
5. Publish it as a video to the Camera Roll or the 30hands web site for sharing.
30hands has an inbuilt tutorial that guides users through these steps.
Free
Upper primary, secondary
4/5
Easy
Story Creator is a free iPad app that makes it easy to create narrated picture books on your iPad. To create a narrated picture book on Story Creator start by inserting a picture as your book’s cover. To create a page just tap the “+” icon and import a picture, draw a picture, type some text, or do all three. Next tap the microphone icon to record your narration. After making your recording you can quickly adjust it so that each word of text is highlighted to match the timing of your narration. At the moment you can only share finished stories on Facebook or via email through a Story Creator account. The email option requires your recipient to have Story Creator in order to play your story.
Free
Secondary
and
teachers
Pixntell enables users to quickly create simple narrated photostories. Start a new project, select some images, place them in order, and then start talking about each of your images. Images can be photos or drawings (captured with the iPad camera). Pixntell allows you to crop your pictures, add text, fun stickers or filters to them.Finished projects can be uploaded directly to YouTube, shared on Facebook, or sent via email. The free version of Pixntell limits users to five pictures per project (the premium app with unlimited images is $0.99).
Free (5 images/30 secs) 0.99 unlimited images
To use SonicPics simply add images from your photo library or snap new ones with your camera, arrange your photos in whatever order you would like and then record a voiceover (choosing from 3 sound qualities) narrating your images as you swipe through them. The finished movie (up to 60 minutes long) can be shared by email or uploaded to YouTube.
$2.99
All levels
3
Easy
PicViewenables students to create simple, one image photo stories. They could use a photo that they have taken or comment on a photo the teacher has provided to the whole class to check what understandings students have in common. Students can add a title, filter or frame to their photo.
Completed PicView stories can be shared via email, posted on the PicView site, shared on Facebook or Twitter.
Free
All levels
2
Easy
MY STORY/STORY CUBES/DRAW & TELL HD/STORY BUDDY 2/PIC VIEW/TELL ABOUT/IMAGISTORY
Animated Voice
Tellagami enables students to create customized, animated scenes in no time at all. Upon opening the create menu students will see a default character and background scene. They can make changes by selecting from a range of options, such as gender, hair and eye colour, emotion etc. The background scenes can be changed by selecting from a menu or by inserting a picture from the iPad’s camera roll. To add a voiceover to their animations students simply tap “record” and start talking. Tellagami does not require students to create accounts or have an email address. Completed animations are stored on the iPad’s camera roll and can be embedded into a web page or wiki. The maximum length of an individual Tellagami is 30 seconds, however students can create longer movies with scene and character changes by importing finished “Gamis” into a video editor such as iMovie or Loopster (free). Check out this iMovie example.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
Use Morfo with the inbuilt images or a photo of a friend, celebrity, pet etc and quickly create a life-like talking character with an animated mouth. Record a video of your character and post it to Facebook or email it to your friends.
Free$0.99 for additional costumes and dances.
Upper primary, junior secondary
3/4
Easy
With Zoobe Pets you select a character, take a background photo (using the iSight camera) or select a photo you have saved already, choose a mood, (happy, sorry, angry etc) and press continue. Click on the button to the left of record to adjust the pitch of the voice and then press record. Once you've finished recording you can preview your video and then export it in a range of formats or save it to the camera roll. The maximum length of the recording is 30 seconds. Unfortunately you are not able to edit your finished Zoobe but will have to start again from scratch.
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
3/4
Easy
iFunFace
Animated puppet shows
Toontastic provides great step by step instructions for using the supplied scenes and characters (or create your own) to make an animated puppet story with narration. This app also includes a guide for teachers and parents. Check out the official website and this demo on YouTube. Timothy Bush, Senior Manager at the Asia Education Foundation, has provided a unit plan (below) that can be readily adapted to most year levels. This unit plan provides a clear ‘step by step’ guide for students to convert an existing or their own story into digital form.
Free
Primary
PuppetPals offers an easy way for kids to create and record their own animated short stories. The app comes with one set of eight Wild West characters (two of which are a horse and a tumbleweed). There are 12 other character sets available for purchase at $.99 each. It is possible also to cut people out of real-life photos and use them as puppets but this will be an additional cost.
Free - $0.99 additional character sets & $2.99 to use own photos
Primary- Junior Secondary
Sock Puppets lets users work on their own or with friends to create lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Select from a range of puppets, props and scenery and move the puppets to animate them while recording.
Look at this German example produced for year 9 students about arranging a visit to the cinema.
Free for up to 30 secs of recording, $0.99 for more time
Primary- Junior Secondary
Movie makers
The free version of Storyboards allows users to create up to 2 storyboards of 10 drawings. Thanks to the hundreds of characters and props included in the app, users will be able to quickly compose the shots of their next movie, through an intuitive interface. The characters and props are located inside the Library. Tap anywhere in a drawing to open it, or tap the Library button on the right of the toolbar. Asian characters are coming soon.
Free
Primary - junior secondary
Blurb Mobile uses existing libraries or creates media in real time. Sequence your media, edit, (rotate, crop, scale etc) attach audio and then share via social media sites or email.
Free
All levels
With ToonCamera you can apply real-time cartoon and art effects to your camera feed, record video, snap photos, and convert existing video and photos from your albums to create instant works of art. Save your creations and share them with friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and YouTube, all from within ToonCamera.
$0.99
All levels
ReelDirector allows you to create, edit and share movie clips on your iPad. Smooth or blend transition between scene changes are its biggest feature but it also does Ken Burns, text overlays, music imports and has voice over capabilities. Check out this comparisonbetween ReelDirector and iMovie.
$1.99
All levels
3
Easy
Splice is intended for use with an iPhone or iPod touch. This app lets you splice together HD photos and videos. Next add music tracks from your iPod library, sound effects, transitions, borders and effects (like Ken Burns, slow motion and fast forward). You can trim video and audio, narrate with your own voice, and much more.
$2.99
Upper primary and secondary
TouchCast is a free app that provides teachers with an opportunity to create interactive virtual lessons and provides students with an opportunity to present their work in an entirely new way. TouchCast is different to other iPad app video recorders because it has interactive features you can build into your video. You can record yourself with the front facing camera, record someone or something else with the rear camera, or use the whiteboard to record. You then get to the real interactivity by adding video apps (vApps). vApps are like little widgets that you can add over the top of your recording. You can add things like a web browser, other videos, images, polls, and Google Maps etc. When you publish the video, viewers can interact with the vApps by moving them around and using them.
Free
Upper primary and secondary
SFX
SOUND EFFECTS
Turn taking/rehearsal
Foldify is a great app to use to create a physical dice-like cube. The original intent is for you to select, print and fold paper figures that you can then use in a role play. Karen Whitehead has come up with a brilliant idea to use foldify to create prompts for sentences. Since foldify does not offer text boxes Karen puts the words individually into quipio, a free app, saves the resultant images to the camera roll and then imports them into foldify. You can resize and change the direction of the text image to fit each side of your cube. Click here for some templates that you can use with French or Spanish.
$4.49
Primary, junior secondary
Use Tap Roulette to randomly select whose turn is next among small groups of students. They simply launch the app, place their finger on the screen and click on Pick Finger.
Free
Primary, junior secondary
Easy
Decide Now is a great prompt tool for students to use during role plays as it add the element of spontaneity. The app comes with a range of categories included. Click on the cog to edit this list. You can modify/delete existing lists or click on + to generate your own list - e.g. hobbies, food/drink items, activities to do on the weekend, film genres etc. Once you have selected the wheel to use, click on the circle to spin it and make a random selection. Karen Whitehead has some fantastic suggestions for using this app. Check them out here.
$0.99
Primary, junior secondary
Guess the Character is an iPad version of the beloved Guess Who board game. The game starts with each player with a random character (out of 24) from the board. Players alternate asking various yes or no questions in the target language to eliminate candidates, such as Does this person wear glasses?
Free
Upper primary, junior secondary
5
Easy
LineLearner enables you to record scenes from plays and to learn your lines quickly and easily.
Free for the "Lite" version (10 lines max), or $3.99 for the full app
Secondary
