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Overview
Word Wizard offers an array of activities that center on the reading and spelling subjects for children ages four to 10. There are two main activities:
Talking Movable Alphabet
This is a learn to read activity. The talking movable alphabet lets kids learn the sound of letters (phonics). It also lets them experiment letter combinations - to build words - so they understand that words are made up of letter sounds. Featuring advanced text-to-speech capabilities, the app can pronounce any words and sentences.
Spelling Activities
3 spelling activities that increase in difficulty are provided to adapt to the child’s spelling activity level. You can use the built-in word lists or create your own.
1 - "Word Practice" displays the word to spell and asks the child to spell it using the talking movable alphabet
2 - "Scrambled Letters" only displays the letters needed to build the word or sentence, and asks the child to reorder the letters.
3 - ”Spelling Quizzes” is a standard spelling test. However, the app won’t go to the next word until the child has spelled the word correctly, which is better to remember the correct spelling.
Important: Customize the App for Your Child
It's very important to alter activities to the child’s level. Therefore, a variety of settings can be changed so you can set the app’s behavior to fit the child’s needs (see Settings section below).
Talking Movable Alphabet
Talking Movable Alphabet is an open-ended playground where the child can explore phonics and word building. Numerous activities can be found in this playground like building words the child likes.
It may be helpful to limit the number of letters initially available to your child (this option can be found in the advanced settings). For example, you can just enable the letter C,A and T, and let the child try different letter combinations. As the child advances, you can introduce more letters to him/her.
Just drag letters to the board and let the word building fun begin !
How to Listen to a Word
If you touch a word or a letter on the board, the app will pronounce it. To listen to all words on the board as a sentence, touch the top-left bubble icon.
How to Move a Single Word
To move a word, touch the word with two fingers and drag it to the desired position.
Spell Checker
Word Wizard uses the built-in spell checker of the used device. Correctly spelled words are highlighted in white, whereas unrecognized words are highlighted in red.
Delete a Word or a Letter
To delete a letter, just move it back to the alphabet. To delete a word, touch the word with two fingers and move it to the alphabet.
FAQ
(see also "More FAQ" section below)
Creating Your Own Word Lists
When you pick a spelling activity, a dialog to choose a word list is displayed. To create a word list, touch the top-right button "My Lists", and then the "+" button.
Pronunciation of a word is incorrect / I want to change pronunciation of a specific letters combination
Even if the app uses one of the most advanced text-to-speech engines, there can be pronunciation issues, especially for family names. The English language is tricky (some letters have different sounds according to the word), and, sometimes, some words can't be pronounced right until they are entirely built.
To fix pronunciation issues, try:
Exceptions make it possible to change the pronunciation of any letter combination. You can replace a word’s pronunciation by another word or by recording audio. You can access the Exceptions section through settings (top-left cog icon then "Exceptions" button).
I want to change some phonics/letter sounds
Letter sounds have been recorded for better accuracy. However, you can change some of them because the accent is not right for your child or because you prefer long sounds over short sounds for vowels.
The Exception section makes this possible. Just create an exception for the letter you want to change the sound of and record an audio to use. You can access the Exception section through settings (top-left "gear" icon then "Exceptions" button).
I want to Share or Backup my Words Lists, or import Word Lists
When you choose a list in the "My List" section, there is an "Export" button on the row of each list that allows you to email or save in the cloud the list so you can share it or make a backup.
It is also possible to share word lists with nearby devices (using bluetooth or wi-fi) and import/export several lists simultaneously using the "Import/Export" button in the "My Lists" section.
Note:
Settings
Settings are important to customize the child experience. Settings dialog is available using the top-left "gear" button in any activities.
Capital
Instead of the default lowercase font, this option allows you to use uppercase/capital letters. Note that when the Qwerty layout is turned on (see below), a capslock key becomes available in the keyboard so that you don't need to open the Settings panel to change letter case.
Qwerty
This option rearranges letters as on a Qwerty keyboard. If this option is turned on, a capslock key is also available to change letter case.
Note that all letters previously placed on the board are removed when you change this setting.
Phonics
For younger writers, it is important to listen to phonics instead of letter names. When this option is turned on, phonics are pronounced instead of letter names. Note that when this option is turned on, individual letters on the board are also pronounced as phonics - but you can turn this behavior of in the Advanced Settings (see below).
Voice
You can change the voice by touching the voice button. There are 3 US voices available, one British voice, and one Australian voice.
Exceptions
Exceptions make it possible to change the pronunciation of words. You can replace the pronunciation of a word by another word, or by recording audio.
Advanced Settings
These settings are available by touching the "More Settings" button in the Settings dialog.
Speak when Moving Letter
By default, when you move a letter, the app pronounces all the words that are being built as you move the letter. You can deactivate this behavior so that the app only pronounces the final word built once you remove your finger.
Speak only when touching a word
If this option is turned on, the app speaks only when you touch a word without moving it, or when you touch the top-left bubble icon. It is a useful option if you don't want to hear the word when it is being built.
Letter Size
This option allows you to change the size of letters on the board. Decreasing letter size makes it possible to place more letters on the board.
Note that all letters previously placed on the board are removed when you change this setting.
Letters and numbers displayed
This settings allows to enable only a set of letters in the talking movable alphabet. This is useful when the child begins to learn phonics and build words.
Keyboard Emulation
If this option is turned on and you touch a letter from the alphabet without moving it, the letter is automatically placed next to the last letter on the board, as if you were typing on a keyboard. In addition, a space button becomes available next to the alphabet. Touch the board before choosing a letter to force this letter into any desired vacant space on the grid.
Note that if this option is turned on, letter names or phonics are not spoken when you touch a letter in the alphabet.
Spelling Quizzes Settings
Animation Between Completed Words
This option allows you to control the behavior of the app between two completed words in spelling Quizzes. You can reduce the animation time or disable it.
End of Quiz Interactive Animation
This option allows you to control the behavior of the app at the end of a Quiz. You can reduce the time kids can play with the reward animation or disable it.
Show Next Word Button
This option allows you to show or hide the "Next Word" button in quizzes.
Show Hint Button
This option allows you to show or hide the "Hint" button.
Check Capitalization
This option force the child to use the same capitalization as entered in the word list.
Reset Quizzes Scores
This option reset the scores/statistics displayed below quizzes when you choose a quiz. Note that these scores are not the same as the ones displayed in the "Users & Reports".
Miscellaneous
Enable abbreviations
If you select this option, the app will detect abbreviations (e.g. "st" for street).
Profanity remover
This option is turned on by default and replaces any detected profanities by "oops". Note that you can define your own list of profanity in addition to the built-in ones, see below in Frequently Answered Questions how to add your own list.
More FAQ
The row is not wide enough to hold a word
You can:
-put additional letters at the beginning of the next line, Word Wizard will recognize that letters belong to the same word
-or, reduce letter size (in "More settings" section)
-or, turn off the grid so that letters can be placed closer to each other, even overlapping each other slightly, so that you can place more of them on a single row.
I want to add my own profanity list
You can add your own list of profanities. Once you've added your list, the app replaces any detected profanities by "oops".
First you have to create a file named "profanities.txt" on your Mac or PC. It must be a plain text file (no formatting). On Mac, just use TextEdit and be sure to select "Make Plain text" in the Format menu.
Enter each word you want to be replaced on one line (one word per line). For example, if you want to replace the word "lion", "leopard" and "monkey", the file must look like this:
lion
leopard
monkey
Note: only words consisting of 4 letters or more are recognized.
To add your profanity list to Word Wizard:
The last step is to restart Word Wizard so that it takes the list into account:
There are some white rectangles over the board
Under some circumstances, some white rectangles may appear over the board and are visible even if there is no letter on the board. In this case, please change the letter size (in "More settings" ) to reset the board. You can safely change the letter size back to your preferred size afterwards.