vozMe

Name: vozMe
Item: vozMe
Rating: 3
Author: Erin Brereton

Website review by

Erin Brereton, Common Sense Media

Common Sense says

age 6+

(i)

Bare-bones text-to-audio conversion tool offers no extras.

http://vozme.com/

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A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this website.

Educational Value

Kids can learn how to pronounce words they enter in Spanish, Italian, Hindi, Portuguese, Catalan, and English, which can help new readers and students learning another language. Kids also can copy and paste things they've written and make edits based on how a piece sounds when read aloud, and they can watch the playing time to estimate the length of a speech. Students with different learning and linguistic backgrounds may benefit from hearing text instead of only seeing it. However, without much feedback or other learning-based content, vozMe has limited educational value.

Positive Messages

Kids can learn how to say words in other languages, if they can type them. The site also can help them listen to text to perceive it in a different way.

Violence & Scariness

Sexy Stuff

Language

The site will read swear words like "s--t" and "f--k" if kids enter them. However, users can't store files on the site, so kids won't find any recordings with bad words.

Consumerism

Google ad links appear on MP3 download pages.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that vozMe is a simple, free website that allows users to convert text to speech. There aren't any distractions, but there's not much content, either. There's no way for kids to come into contact with other users; they simply type in words or chunks of text, choose a language, and hear the words spoken by a male or female voice. Kids also don't need to register or enter any personal information to use the site. There are more complex and visually pleasing text-to-speech sites, but vozMe works well enough.

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What's it about?

VozMe is a no-frills site that converts user-entered text into MP3s. You can choose a male or a female voice and listen to it or save the file to your computer. A browser bookmarklet lets you highlight text you'd like to hear on a Web page. VozMe has very little content, and the narration sounds fairly computerized, so it may not help kids understand elements such as intonation or cadence. However, ESL learners and other kids who'd benefit from simply being able to hear phrases may find the site useful.

Is it any good?

The site's text-to-speech function is its main selling point; vozMe doesn't provide any other information or activities. Users can key in and listen to words, phrases, and longer passages in Spanish, Italian, Hindi, Portuguese, Catalan, and English. Kids learning one of those languages may find vozMe beneficial. However, they'll need to be able to type (and spell) any words they'd like to hear; there’s no translation option. Struggling readers and other kids who would benefit from entering text or highlighting Web page content and hearing it read aloud also could potentially use the site to strengthen their reading and pronunciation skills.

Talk to your kids about ...

What skills does it take to learn a new language? Ask your kids how it feels to hear words as opposed to simply seeing them on the page.
How could vozMe help your child edit reports, papers, and other items? Why is it a good idea to read over what you've written?

Website details

Subjects: Language & Reading: phonics, speaking, vocabulary
Skills: Communication: listening, speaking
Self-Direction: personal growth
Genre: Educational
Pricing structure: Free

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