I was extremely excited when I was contacted by the developer, Hamaguchi Apps. Their brand new app has been released and they gave me a copy of it to review for you! Remember, the opinions are all mine! Introducing, Between the Lines!
This app was easy to use and navigate. As soon as I opened it up, it prompted me to click the correct buttons to set up. This made it easier! It has a demo video on the main page to show you how to use it.
When you click the user tab, you can input groups and students. There are prompting cues throughout the page to help you (this helped me A LOT). To try it out, I added two of my students in a group working on pragmatic skills. It is great because during the activity, it switches students after each question. Makes it easy to use with a group.
As you can see below, there are numerous settings you can alter for your needs. Keep scrolling as I show you all the choices in each tab!
Now it is time to play and learn! This app uses pictures, audio cues, and video clips to question students about the following skills:
- Listening
- Body Language & Perspective-Taking
- Expressions (Slang & Idioms)
Below you can see how I set if the responses are incorrect. I prefer to let students see it and have the opportunity to correct themselves.
There are various reward games for consecutive correct responses. I chose to use after 3-5 correct depending on how many students participating in group.
Whenever you want to end a session, you can click “end session” and you are brought to a score report. If you use the tab, you can be brought to the other students in the group. You can see across the bottom your options for the report. At any point, if you click “users” and then under their name there is a tab to access their reports. This is great for progress monitoring and planning future sessions.
If you visit their website you can access extension materials and learn more about their advanced app version. The level 1 is designed for older elementary into middle school. The advanced version is designed for middle/high school and adults. There are lite versions for $0.99 if you prefer to try before you buy. The full versions are on sale for $12.99 until December 1, 2012. After that, it will return to their regular price of $15.99.
Things I like about this app:
- Real video clips and audio used to teach/assess
- Reward games to help with motivation
- Easy to use and navigate
- Multi-user and can sort by groups
- Score reporting and progress monitoring
- Teaches real life social skills and thinking
- Can change settings for individualized sessions
Things I would like to see in updates:
- Reduction in price. It does seem a bit pricey although it is a great product
- A teaching mode for students to learn about reading different body languages and idioms/slang vocabulary.
Overall, I think this product is great and different than other ones I have seen out in app world. I definitely recommend all to look into it if you have students with pragmatic goals/needs. Visit their website to learn more!
