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Our Firefox toolbar has been updated to work with the latest Firefox versions.

clock February 22, 2010 15:22 by author amit

We have upgraded our FireFox toolbar to work with Firefox versions 3.5.x which is the latest series running currently. For all those who are unable to install the toolbars in the new Firefox. please download it from the website or click here directly to download the latest toolbar version.

 

For instructions regarding the usage of the toolbars, please check this page.

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Reading To Kids A Crucial Tool In English Language Development

clock February 19, 2010 11:46 by author amit
Poring over the works of Dr. Seuss, the adventures of the Bernstain Bears or exploring the worlds of Hans Christian Andersen with a child has always been a great parent-child bonding exercise.

But, according to George Georgiou, a University of Alberta professor in educational psychology, it is instrumental for English-speaking children if they are to acquire the language skills, particularly comprehension, essential to their future reading ability.

Georgiou and his colleagues recently published a study in Learning and Instruction examining the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may predict future reading ability in English and Greek. Since the study was published, Georgiou has expanded his research to Finland and China, with the same outcomes.

He says the home literacy environment-what parents do at home in terms of literacy-and motivation predict children’s various initial literacy skills, such as letter knowledge and vocabulary, differently across languages. These skills, in turn, ultimately predict future reading ability.

Studying language for success

Orthography is the part of the study of language dealing with letters and spelling. Georgiou points out that English is an orthographically inconsistent language; in other words, letters can have more than one sound each. Because of this, he says, children learning English “need someone to show them the letters, teach them the letter sounds, play with letter magnets on the fridge.

“We have found that in English, you need a rich home literacy environment. It’s absolutely necessary,” he says.

But that’s not the case in other languages. Georgiou notes that students are able to learn to read faster in languages such as Greek and Finnish, because there is one-to-one correspondence between a letter and its sounds. This difference with English, he says, implies that Greek or Finnish parents do not need to read as frequently to their children to give them an edge on learning the language. Simply put, Greek or Finnish children will eventually able to learn regardless of how rich the home literacy environment may be.

“In Greece, parents intuitively know that as soon as a child goes to school, within three months, unless there are some severe situations that may interfere with learning, that child will be able to learn to read,” said Georgiou. “Alternatively, in English, having someone read to you frequently as a child-explaining what the meaning of words are and playing around with the letters-makes a big difference as to whether you will become a good reader.”

English-languages challenges for students

Without that learning support and because of the inconsistencies of English orthography, English-speaking children run the risk of falling behind at least two years in terms of their reading skill when compared to children learning to read in languages with a direct relationship between letters and sounds, he said. But, if mom and dad don’t have the time to invest in reading to their children and still want them to succeed with language development, then educational programs, such as Sesame Street, and multimedia tools, such as spelling programs or games, may be an alternative.

Georgiou also lauds the efforts of communities in getting behind literacy programs and encouraging the development of literacy skills through initiatives such as “raise a reader” and “read-in week.” He says that these types of programs pay dividends because they are a key component in motivating children to appreciate and embrace reading as a worthwhile activity.

There are key elements Canadian parents should focus on to promote the success of their children as active readers, he says. Foremost, reading to your children is vital, as is specific exercises and games to teach them letter names and sounds. Finally, having role models as a motivation to read, whether it be an NHL player reading to a classroom full of kids or a parent at bedtime, is also highly important, says Georgiou.

“Build their motivation. If your child sees you reading at home, that sends a message to that child that you value reading.”

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ReadTheWords founder is interviewed by Entrepreneur.com

clock December 15, 2009 10:55 by author amit

From Problems to Profits

For these entrepreneurs, pressing personal needs were the inspiration for thriving startups.
By Amy Reinink   |   December 02, 2009

 

Click here to read the full article on entrepreneur.com

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More powerful Firefox toolbar version avalable (version 3.2)

clock February 23, 2009 00:35 by author amit

We have done major enhancements to our toolbars. For all those who have installed the older version, you have to uninstall the old version and install this version as the old version does not have the new advanced features.

Download the Firefox toolbar v.3.2 here 

 

Installation

  • Download the xpi file from the link above.
  • Open Firefox and go to File menu.
  • Click on Open. Select this xpi file and run it.
  • Once firefox restarts,right click on the top menubar and check the entries:RTW Toolbar and RTW Status Toolbar

 

Features 

  • Login and access your My Recordings page directly from the toolbar
  • Create recordings with a maximum limit of 6000 characters
  • Generate recordings as MP3 files that can be downloaded to your computer or stream the audio using an avatar
  • You can save a recording directly into your My Recordings account, directly from the toolbar
  • You can control the reading speed by making it slower or faster using the new speed slider control

 


 

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More powerful toolbar for Internet Explorer is ready (ver 3.1)

clock February 5, 2009 12:21 by author amit

We have done a major enhancement to our toolbars and added more features.  Please uninstall any older version if you have already been using it as the old toolbar will not work with the new features.

Using this , you can convert text in a web page to speech without having to go to ReadTheWords.com.

The toolbar has been tested with IE 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0



Features :

  • Login and access your My Recordings page directly from the toolbar
  • Create recordings with a maximum limit of 6000 characters
  • Generate recordings as MP3 files that can be downloaded to your computer or stream the audio using an avatar
  • You can save a recording directly into your My Recordings account, directly from the toolbar
  • You can control the reading speed by making it slower or faster using the new speed slider control

The steps for installing are as follows:

  • Download the toolbar zip file from the download link given below
  • Create a folder called Toolbar in your disk
  • Unzip the files in the folder
  • Close all open windows of IE
  • Double click on Installer.exe
  • Open IE. If the RTW toolbar does not show then right click on the space above the address bar to get the list of installed toolbars. Check the item called RTW Toolbar. There should be a tick mark next to it.
  • Close IE and open it again. The toolbar should be installed now.

To remove or uninstall the toolbar:

  • Go to the toolbar folder
  • Close all open IE windows
  • Dbl click on Uninstaller.exe

Please contact us for any problems or issues faced while using the toolbar.

The IE toolbar can be downloaded from here 

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Site upgrade from Nov.1st - Nov.4th, 2008

clock October 30, 2008 22:10 by author amit
We are currently upgrading the website and also cleaning our servers to free up disk space.  As a result, we will be deleting most of the recordings created so far.

For those of you who want to preserve some recordings in your My Recordings page, you have the option of marking them to be preserved. This option is available by going into the Save Recordings link from My Recordings page.
 

Ideally we would suggest that you download all your mp3 files so that you have a copy of the files even if they get deleted from the server

We will be putting the site offline at about 10 AM Saturday, Nov.1 Central Daylight Time (CDT) -0500 UTC and the site will be back  online at around 10 AM Tuesday, Nov.4th Central Daylight Time (CDT) -0500 UTC .



 

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Create your own custom avatars

clock July 31, 2008 12:12 by author amit

Apart from the 4 standard static avatars to read out your recordings,  there is now a facility to customize your avatar's appearance . You can create customized avatars and  use them instead of the static avatars.

The Avatar creation page is accessible from the My Recordings page. Before creating any new avatar, you need to specify a name for it. Once a custom avatar is created, you can go to the Select Avatars page and set the male and female avatars.

 

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4 new Avatars

clock July 1, 2008 00:20 by author amit

We have introduced 2 male and 2 female avatars which members can select to read out their recordings.

 

You can select your avatar settings once you log into your My Recordings screen.  When you click on Play Avatar icon below each recording, depending on the voice used  the male or female avatar will popup and read the recording.

Please note that recordings older than May20th,2008 will not work with avatars as that functionality was built in later.

 

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Avatar playback

clock June 26, 2008 17:50 by author amit

There is a new image link called Play Avatar in the My Recordings page. Clicking on this link will open a popup window with an avatar which reads the recording with synchronized lip movements. We are still working on the avatar module for now. The current avatar is a female one. The male avatar should be up soon.

 

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Firefox toolbar version 1.1

clock June 25, 2008 22:04 by author amit

We have made some changes to the firefox toolbar. Please use the newer version now since the old one will not work properly anymore.

Download the 1.1 version of the toolbar here 

 Be sure  to clear your Firefox cache before starting the download as Firefox sometimes caches files and you may get the old file again. To clear cache, open Firefox and go to Tools->Clear Private Data . In the window, check Cache and click ok.

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