Was my daughters favorite
This was my daughters favourite ASL story until it stopped functioning on her iPad iOS 11. We were told it would be fixed by Feb 2018. It’s now June .
Please update the app to be compatible with iOS 11
I really enjoy this app and can’t use it on iOS 11.
iOS 11
The Baobab hasn’t been updated to run with iOS 11 :(. Hopefully This gets fixed soon!
Excellent!
This is an excellent app! It's great for every level of ASL user. I'm enjoying it and my 6 year old loves it and has learned many new vocabulary words from this charming book. Please make more.
Review by teacher and illustrator
Things that could be improved: the facial expressions of the girl are difficult to read and do not match the facial expressions of the signer telling the story. The mask on the face of the girl is ridiculous. The signer blocks the view of the girl or other characters quite often. The coloring while nicely done is too pastel. The signing, while well done, is much higher than your typical young deaf child with hearing parents who barely sign.
Suggestions: it would be helpful to have a simplified signing option for young children who are deaf and have hearing parents. This way the child could start with the simplified signing. I know from experience young children with limited signing skills will not engage as readily with this type of a signer and book. It's better for them to see it acted out by signers.
I do applaud the use of the app medium to creat signing books in ASL and English. Your price is much too high for an app. I, too, develop apps for children and I have learned the price needs to stay below $3 if you really want parents and teachers to buy the app. Good luck with these apps. It is a good idea.
Suggestions: it would be helpful to have a simplified signing option for young children who are deaf and have hearing parents. This way the child could start with the simplified signing. I know from experience young children with limited signing skills will not engage as readily with this type of a signer and book. It's better for them to see it acted out by signers.
I do applaud the use of the app medium to creat signing books in ASL and English. Your price is much too high for an app. I, too, develop apps for children and I have learned the price needs to stay below $3 if you really want parents and teachers to buy the app. Good luck with these apps. It is a good idea.
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Great app but would like see more....
I'm a Deaf mother of a deaf child and I was told about this app at a family event at a deaf institute so I thought I would check it out since there are not that many app that have ASL along with a book. Te only thing I am disappointed with was that I paid over $6 for one story... I would like to see 5 or 10 stories in ASL to get the bang for my bucks. Overall, my child and I enjoyed the story and would like to see more.
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More stories??
I really love this video! My 9 year old daughter also loves it! It is really helping her with her signs, now she is more excited about learning signs and being able to communicate more with her Deaf grandparents, which makes me very happy!!! I wish there were more stories! Especially to keep her interest, are there plans for updates with more stories? The signing is so beautiful and the woman signing has such a friendly and inviting face. Very happy to see a deaf woman of color being the language model for so many!! Keep up the good work!!!! (I got another ASL stories app as well, and I must say, the baobab one is much more easy on the eyes, my daughter is more engaged with this one!)
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The Baobab
This is a wonderful ASL story by a gifted story-teller! I like the "Learn" signed vocabulary option; it shows the signs used in the story. Folks newer to sign will want to remember that these signs are contextual and may not work in all scenarios. I can't wait for more from Gallaudet!
Wow! Colorful story!!!
Finally! A book that my kids can enjoy watching signing and reading English. The signing is very wonderful to watch. I love the design of the book. It makes it easier for my kids to follow the story in sign and English.
I also love how many vocabulary words in the dictionary. Forget adding a separate sign dictionary app, this app does the trick and makes it more easier to find the words and it applies to the story.
I like this better than "signed stories" which has old fat creepy guys signing it. The woman in this story is fantastic! Please add more stories!!
***I strongly suggest that there should be music in the background like Dr. Seuss books or Disney books. There should also be an option for auto play when reading the book. It's hard for my kids to turn the pages. They enjoy the auto reading being 3 and 1 years old. ***
I also love how many vocabulary words in the dictionary. Forget adding a separate sign dictionary app, this app does the trick and makes it more easier to find the words and it applies to the story.
I like this better than "signed stories" which has old fat creepy guys signing it. The woman in this story is fantastic! Please add more stories!!
***I strongly suggest that there should be music in the background like Dr. Seuss books or Disney books. There should also be an option for auto play when reading the book. It's hard for my kids to turn the pages. They enjoy the auto reading being 3 and 1 years old. ***
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Fantastic!
Wonderful and enriching story! My students were engaged and wanted to watch it over and over again. This app had three features, watch video of story teller, read on own (click on words to see the signer again), and sign glossary at end. Very well done VL2!!!! Looking forward to the next series.
Awesome
This is such a great app! My son loves it! Please get more books soon!
Worth the money
As an educator who has to buy my own apps, $6.99 is usually out of my budget for a book. However, I'm happy I spent the money on this one.
I work with Deaf and hard of hearing students, and there are precious few books in English and American Sign Language. This one is beautiful.
The ASL is great (no Signed English here!). The video is sharp and plays well on my iPad 3. The artwork behind the storyteller are beautiful and support comprehension of the narrative without being visually distracting.
Students can read the text independently, watch the story signed, or explore the included English-ASL translation video glossary. One of my favorite features is that students can access the glossary from the text by tapping on an unfamiliar word. Nice!
I would like to have an option of an English voiceover reading the text. This would widen the age of young hearing children and hard of hearing children who could enjoy the story on their own, especially children who are still learning ASL.
I do hope there will be more ASL books coming from this publisher!
Edit: my students and I just discovered a hidden artistic secret in this app! When in the "read" mode, shake your ipad for a cool surprise!
I work with Deaf and hard of hearing students, and there are precious few books in English and American Sign Language. This one is beautiful.
The ASL is great (no Signed English here!). The video is sharp and plays well on my iPad 3. The artwork behind the storyteller are beautiful and support comprehension of the narrative without being visually distracting.
Students can read the text independently, watch the story signed, or explore the included English-ASL translation video glossary. One of my favorite features is that students can access the glossary from the text by tapping on an unfamiliar word. Nice!
I would like to have an option of an English voiceover reading the text. This would widen the age of young hearing children and hard of hearing children who could enjoy the story on their own, especially children who are still learning ASL.
I do hope there will be more ASL books coming from this publisher!
Edit: my students and I just discovered a hidden artistic secret in this app! When in the "read" mode, shake your ipad for a cool surprise!
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Fascinating
I'm probably not a part of their targeted audience but I've already memorized every sign in the book! This is an excellent introduction to learning ASL.
Great app!
This app is amazing! This is a wonderful project and I hope it keeps going! I realize some people may hesitate over price but please don't! Well worth it and kids will love it. Kudos to everyone who put it together!
An eye-candy!
What a top-notch app designed for ASL/English bilinguals and ASL-curious children! The VL2 team have raised the bar for what a quality ASL/English ebook should look like. I especially loved the beautiful loud-popping illustrations. Also, one feature I really appreciated was the uninterrupted ASL story with animated effects in the background. Oh, by the way, the hummingbirds were so cute!
The app does a wonderful job of creating a bridge between American Sign Language and English, giving children the flexibility to learn and use both languages interchangeably. We need MORE of that, so I'm really excited to see what they will come up next! What a great addition to a small yet growing collection of ASL/English eBooks!
The app does a wonderful job of creating a bridge between American Sign Language and English, giving children the flexibility to learn and use both languages interchangeably. We need MORE of that, so I'm really excited to see what they will come up next! What a great addition to a small yet growing collection of ASL/English eBooks!
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Superb!
I am a bilingual Deaf person, and this one of the best ASL (American Sign Language)/English books I've seen. It is very easy to use and a great way to learn ASL and English. I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants to be bilingual in the two languages.
Very Disappointing
Big disappointment.
Harnessing Technology for Good!
This is a fantastic product that seamlessly integrates American Sign Language into the digital story format. The different pathways through the story meets many different goals: enjoying an ASL story without interruption, reading the English version with ASL supports along the way, a glossary look-up for ASL translations of unfamiliar English words. This is a model for future products that will integrate ASL into the iPad format. I believe it will enhance ASL literacy as well as English literacy! We need more materials like this for ASL/English bilingual education!
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A Quantum Leap!
This storybook app is simply outstanding. The illustrations, the video quality, the story itself - WOW. And it even teaches you ASL!
The design and innovation of this app goes light years beyond what is currently out there now for children and families who use ASL or want to learn ASL. I showed the app to my 7-week-old nephew and his eyes latched right on the narrator's exquisite storytelling (and when I moved the iPad around a little, his eyes followed!). I then showed it to my mom who picked up a few new signs using the vocabulary feature. All this in just 15 minutes.
I can't wait to try it out with more children. Kudos!
The design and innovation of this app goes light years beyond what is currently out there now for children and families who use ASL or want to learn ASL. I showed the app to my 7-week-old nephew and his eyes latched right on the narrator's exquisite storytelling (and when I moved the iPad around a little, his eyes followed!). I then showed it to my mom who picked up a few new signs using the vocabulary feature. All this in just 15 minutes.
I can't wait to try it out with more children. Kudos!
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