Can understand the accent
La k of practice
Response from developer
Hi. Thanks for the feedback. We offer both spelling test and word search options, as well as a "word of the day" feature and the ability for you to create custom tests with your own audio and own words if you want to. But this is a "spelling test" app and the features within it are very clearly laid out in the app description. The app allows practice and testing, but it doesn't teach children *how* to spell - it lets them practice a given set of words and is intented as a tool to use alongside teaching / school. Nevertheless, if you have any specific requests for features you'd like to see us add in a future update, then we'd love to hear from you. Please e-mail info@keystagefun.co.uk with any specific requests.
Not user friendly
Response from developer
Hi there. Thanks for your comments. Our app does have a good number of features and is aimed at being usable by quite a wide age range (anywhere from 5 to 12 years old or so), which means a little bit of time setting things up so it works for your children is going to be necessary. However, that process has been designed to be intuituve, so obviously I'm sorry to hear that you've found it otherwise. If you have time, it would really help if you'd e-mail us on info@keystagefun.co.uk and lay out exactly what you struggled with. This isn't feedback we've had in general and we've worked hard to make the process of setting up child accounts, assigning spelling lists and viewing children's spelling scores as easy as possible, but if it was so difficult for you as to warrant a 1 star review (which basically means it's as bad as it gets - and I don't believe that's the case obviously) then we'd like to know why you felt that way and try to make improvements if we feel the things you've laid out can be improved. If you don't have time to get in touch, or have moved on to a different product, then I understand. But our approach to any negative feedback is to try and learn from it and improve our apps for other people too, so if you do have the time to let us know more, it would be hugely appreciated. Many thanks. Ian, KeyStageFun. info@keystagefun.co.uk
Accents
Response from developer
Thanks for your review and feedback. We've had a few US customers mention this. We're a UK company and 90% of our customers are based in the UK, so it's very deliberate that the primary accent we provide within the app is a UK accent. Even here though, we have huge variations in accent between regions. However, the app gives parents the option to record their own voice saying each spelling word - and this was the main way we always intended the app to be used. If you have time to do so, recording your own audio for each word can make it a lot more fun for your child. It means you can give them the exact context for a word (making it part of a funny sentence, or specifically related to them and their interests) and personalised to what you know about how they best learn. This is quick and easy to do via the app. Obviously we're not suggesting a parent record all 10,000 or so of the words we already include within the app in one go! But most children learn in blocks of words - certainly here in the UK the standard approach is to introduce 15-20 new words at a time each week. Recording that number of words once a week isn't going to take long at all, but it's not for everyone, and if that isn't something you have time to do, then I'd recommend looking for an alternative solution that provides words in a US accent that your child is comfortable with. There are plenty of options out there that are more US-centric. At some stage we may add a generic US accent, but I suspect this will only resolve the issue for customers in certain regions, due to the enormous difference in regional accents throughout the USA. Thanks for reaching out, and I hope you find something that works for your child.
Not for American English
Response from developer
Hi there. The app does feature a UK accent, which given we're based in the UK and 90% or so of our customers are based in the UK, is understandable (and deliberate). However - the app gives parents the option to record their own voice saying each spelling word - and this was the main way we always intended the app to be used. If you have time to do so, recording your own audio for each word can make it a lot more fun for your child. It means you can give them the exact context for a word (making it part of a funny sentence, or specifically related to them and their interests) and personalised to what you know about how they best learn. This is quick and easy to do via the app. If that's something you don't want to do, then I'd recommend looking for an alternative solution that provides words in a US accent that your child is comfortable with. There are plenty of options out there that are more US-centric. At some stage we may add a generic US accent, but I suspect this will only resolve the issue for customers in certain regions, due to the enormous difference in regional accents throughout the USA. Thanks for reaching out, and I hope you find something that works for your child. Thanks. Ian, KeyStageFun.
