Best spelling games


Spelling Shed Review - EducationalAppStore

What is Spelling Shed?

Spelling Shed is a game that makes spelling fun and compelling for learners and is also great for practising spellings at home. Their spelling curriculum also has been designed to give 100% coverage of the Common Core and state ELA spelling standards. Spelling Shed has been designed by a team of Primary school teachers with primary school students, teachers and parents in mind and aims to make spelling fun for students as well as simple for teachers to manage. 

How does it work?

Upon opening the Spelling Shed, the user is greeted with the app’s ‘Home’ screen which has a number of options. The top left menu system enables the user to access ‘settings’ such as music and sound effects. There is also an option to ‘Create an account’, ‘Login’ and ‘Login with a QR code’ where the user can access custom spelling lists from the dedicated Spelling Shed website. Spelling Shed app allows full offline play and can be used without an account. This app has been developed to be ‘dyslexia friendly’ using the ‘Open Dyslexic’ font. 

The top right menu enables the user to access ‘Leader boards’. This option is only available when signing in as a teacher or school. The bottom of the screen displays your highest score. The ‘Home’ screen is bright colourful, child friendly and easy to navigate.

The ‘Home’ screen offers four main options. Spelling for ‘Stage 1 and 2’, ‘Stage 3 and 4’, ‘Stage 5 and 6’ and ‘More Lists’. Each stage chosen has four levels of difficulty: easy, medium, hard and extreme. This is a great feature as not only does it allow for parental and classroom differentiation but also provides numerous spelling level combinations.

The ‘More Lists’ option provides a further insight into words that are included in the stages such as ‘Stage 1 and 2’ which provides a comprehensive list of Year 1 and Year 2 spellings as suggested by the National Curriculum. We did feel that the headings of the spelling sections were slightly confusing. Is ‘Stage 1 and 2’ a game play stage, key stages or Years 1 and 2?

However, we loved the feature where your own lists can be added or a list that is suggested by the developer. Parents will find this an excellent feature if students have been set spellings in particular subjects or themes that can then be added to the game play for the user to practise.

Once the level has been chosen the game play experience is welcoming and colourful.

The ‘Easy’ level sounds the word out and displays it before asking the user to spell it by inserting the letters (the word can be repeated using the ‘play’ button in the top right). These spellings are scored out of ten and points are awarded for accuracy. If an incorrect answer is given the user is shown the correct answer. We felt here that the user should either be given a hint or a second attempt that maybe scores half marks so to build the user’s confidence.

The ‘Medium’ level does not provide the user with the word before the spelling. As you can imagine some of these words are much harder, however, the user is provided only with the letters that are in the word.

Once again the ‘Hard’ level does not provide the user with the word before the spelling. The user is provided not only with the letters that are in the word but also other random letters. The points system progresses with levels of difficulty.

Spelling Shed publishers should be congratulated on the vast selection of words that are offered and the unique fun way in which the spellings are delivered.

Spelling Shed is a subscription-based service. This subscription service offers 3 different levels for parents and schools. The benefits of the subscriptions include numerous student accounts, access to a whole school spelling scheme, the ability to monitor students' usage and scheduling homework and deadlines. These services provide an ideal insight into pupil scores, data and activities. Spelling Shed is a wonderful service especially for schools who wish to employ a whole school literacy scheme.

Spelling Shed can be played on both mobile, tablet and computer devices, however, we did notice that the mobile version did sometimes allow restrictions for the user when selecting letters as they were behind other graphics especially in the harder levels.

How much does Spelling Shed cost?

A spelling shed app is available on iOS and Android devices at a cost of £2.99. 

To access Spelling Shed, it has a wide range of subscription packages. Before you opt for a premium membership, you can try their 14 days free trial. If you are satisfied with what you see here, you can choose to opt for their paid packages.

Pricing for a parent subscription starts at just £4.99/month or £29.99/year. You will also have full access to the Spelling Shed web game and hive games. Data tracking is also enabled in this package.

Standard school subscription is £0.83 per student per year. This package gives you unlimited pupil accounts, and access to unlimited spelling sheets. You will also get all the other facilities from the Personal subscription package, along with detailed stats and leaderboards. Teacher subscription costs £36/year. 

Overall Spelling Shed is great fun and provides endless opportunities for parents, teachers and schools. We really love how the words are linked to the national curriculum framework and the unique subscription service that supports literacy programmes. This app comes highly recommended by the Educational App Store.

Sir Linkalot Spelling Review - EducationalAppStore

What is Sir Linkalot Spelling app

Sir Linkalot Spelling is an entertaining and effective app for helping children build their spelling skills. It is already packed full of animations that help children learn about words and their spellings and it is still growing. Keep reading to find out why this app is so good. 

This Sir Linkalot Spelling app review is based on the full version obtained by taking out a subscription.    

What we love about Sir Linkalot Spelling

Unlike many spelling apps, Sir Linkalot Spelling doesn't rely on kids just practising over and over. It does let them practise, but, first, it helps them learn words. It does this with a huge amount of animation-based content that teaches children methods to spell words. 

Each animation is concise and entertaining. They're great to watch and have a 'just one more' quality that keeps kids playing them. 

Sir Linkalot (that may not be his real name) hits just the right level of silliness. In the app, he is present in cartoon form while he teaches children how to create memory cues that will help them with spelling. 

He supports the app in real-life guise on a brilliant YouTube channel. This channel has been a popular and helpful resource for parents homeschooling and will continue to be a great resource as kids return to school.

What skills does it improve?

Improving kids' spelling skills is the app's aim, and it achieves it. It covers words from the simple to the really tricky and groups them together into types. 

What age is it appropriate for?

The style of the graphics in Sir Linkalot Spelling is very well-judged. It is colourful and fun enough for younger children, but its style will not turn off older children. Whether your child is young but showing a talent for word knowledge or further through their school time and catching up on spelling skills, they'll find the app accessible and neither too babyish nor serious. 

Is Sir Linkalot Spelling easy to use?

It is easy to access the content of Sir Linkalot Spelling. As well as being accessible through a web app, it is also available as a downloadable app on the main platforms. 

Navigating through the content, accessing the tests, and playing the videos is straightforward on all platforms. 

How will students benefit?

Students have used linking techniques, such as mnemonics, to remember tricky facts for a long time. Sir Linkalot Spelling's strength is in the number of links it makes, the fun it injects in them, and the importance it places on the kids themselves. 

Kids can use Sir Linkalot's links, but they are encouraged to make their own. In his own words, "If it works for you; it works". In his supporting streams and videos, kids present links they have sent in and they're really good. 

How will teachers benefit?

Apart from anything else, teachers might well learn some interesting things. The origin of words stories presented by British TV's Susie Dent are fascinating, and far more were watched during this review than was strictly necessary.  

Teachers can keep an eye on how well kids are doing by looking at their test scores. These show average scores over the last five tests and how many links in a row they've correctly answered. 

As Sir Linkalot Spelling is available as a web-app, it is easy for teachers to use it with a class display.  

How will parents benefit?

The effusive praise for the app and its youTube channel shows that many parents have already benefitted from the ease of immersing children in the app's learning experience. This is not a 'gamified' app, but it merges entertainment and learning in a way that most game-like apps would envy. 

Engaging children in learning about words and their spellings is a great way for them to broaden their vocabulary, improve their general knowledge and, of course, become a better speller of words.   

What Sir Linkalot Spelling can improve on?

It is almost inevitable in an app that deals with language that there will be the occasional clash. There are so many words in the English language, old ones and little-used ones, that when the app asks for the user to identify the correctly spelt word, there's a chance that a 'wrong' spelling is also correct. 

For example, in a list of words that includes 'heart' and 'hart', clearly, the app is expecting 'heart' and, for most kids, that will be the end of it. However, there will be those who have encountered the word 'hart' as another word for a deer. They will choose 'hart' and feel aggrieved ever after. 

This criticism, though, is a tiny one in the scheme of things. It should certainly not put you off the app at all. 

How much does Sir Linkalot Spelling cost?

Sir Linkalot Spelling is free to download, and you can start with a free trial subscription. 

What is included with the free version vs. paid? 

The free trial gives you full access to the app. When it comes to an end, your kids can still enjoy the YouTube videos, but you will need to subscribe for the app's content. 

Parents

You secure long-term use of Sir Linkalot Spelling through a subscription. You can do this monthly, but the annual subscription offers a good saving. The one-week free trial is enough to get a good feel for the app and, as learning spelling is an ongoing process, if you and your kids like the app, the annual subscription seems like the sensible way to go.  

Schools

A one-month trial is available for schools, and they can take out a per-pupil license on a yearly basis. 

Is Sir Linkalot Spelling safe to use?

All of the content in Sir Linkalot Spelling is child-friendly. There are no advertisements or social media links. 

Overall rating of the app

Sir Linkalot Spelling is an award-winning app, and it is easy to see why. It is superbly produced and built around a genuinely entertaining and informative approach to learning how to spell words. Do take a look at the app's YouTube channel and try out the free trial of Sir Linkalot Spelling - it thoroughly deserves the five stars awarded in this review.

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Best Spelling Apps

Top 5 Spelling Learning Apps and Games for Android

We recently compiled a list of the top 5 math games for Android, including games for all ages, especially for the little ones and those taking basic courses , such as initial and average, as well as for anyone who needs reinforcement in simple arithmetic. We now offer a selection of the best spelling apps and games to improve your writing.

Therefore, below we are listing the top 5 spell checking apps and games you can find for Android. All of them are free and available in the Google Play store and are among the most downloaded and have the best ratings.

Here you will find a series of top 5 spell checking apps and games for Android smartphones. Remarkably, as always, everything you find in this collection is free. So you don't have to shell out to get one or all of them.

However, one or more can have an internal micropayment system, which will allow access to more content in them, as well as more game features in levels, many objects, prizes and rewards, among other things. Similarly, no payments need to be made, worth repeating. Now yes, let's get down to business.

Index

  • 1 Perfect Word - Spanish Grammar
  • 2 Learn Spelling
  • 3 Spanish spelling and grammar
  • 4 Palabra Correcta
  • 5 How well do you know spelling?

Perfect Word - Spanish grammar

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To get you off to a good start, we have Perfect Word, a very addicting game that makes it easy to improve your spelling. , given how didactic it is, both for children and teenagers, as well as for adults and the elderly, who, in addition to wanting to practice spelling, seek to entertain themselves with a simple game to pass the time.

This game will test everything you know about spelling and, most importantly, help you improve it thanks to the many lessons it teaches. Learn to underline words well and improve accuracy when spelled with "b" and "c", or if the word comes with or without "h". There are many rules that you can discover and put into practice with Perfect Word.

In addition to spelling, you can improve your grammar and learn a lot about antonyms and synonyms of words. On the other hand, Perfect Word has word definitions so you know what they mean, so it also helps you improve and expand your vocabulary when speaking.

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Learn spelling

Already by the name of this application, you can imagine what its main purpose is. With it, you can learn many grammar and spelling rules to become proficient in writing and speaking. Learn about the differences between the many letters that may confuse many. Avoid mistakes as you use it and spend time for a few minutes a day. Learn Spelling is one of the best apps of its kind, both for how simple it is and how comprehensive it is at the lesson level.

In this application you will find more than 10 thousand spelling questions on your android mobile phone. There are also over 500 quizzes All with unique questions and answers to help you improve your vocabulary and the way you write. It is enough to write messages in the wrong way and make a bad impression on the person you want to connect.

This application contains all grammar and spelling rules. What's more, has tons of topics, statistics, quizzes to test what you've learned, and dictations. Best of all, it's completely free, so it doesn't include in-app purchases or anything like that. It is also worth noting that it weighs just over 6 MB, so it is very light and simple, but, of course, quite useful.

Learn Spelling

Developer: Application city

Price: It's free

Spanish Spelling and Grammar

Moving on to the third spelling and grammar learning app/game from this list, we find this, another one that also claims to be of the most complete because, in addition to teaching punctuation rules and similar topics, it also helps to know when a sentence is an exclamation point and why, among other things.

Also find out when a word is a verb and at what moment it is: in the present, past or future. This application also contains various recommendations and tips to help you better manage words and sentences when speaking and writing. At the same time, has many definitions to help build 's vocabulary with both simple and compound words. Don't you know the difference between "Además" and "A otros" and what both expressions mean? Don't worry, with Spanish spelling and grammar you will learn it easily and quickly.

Spanish Spelling and Grammar

Developer: Hobby App Game

Price: It's free

Palabra Correct

This game helps improve your grammar thanks to a very extensive list of words that it shows and you have to place them correctly in different sentences. BUT NEVER, is more focused on improving grammar, which of course has a lot to do with spelling. That's why it deserves its place in this post, as it's also perfect for players of all ages and all learning levels, whether it's elementary, high school, or university.

Also comes with a lot of interesting questions and trivia that contribute to the assimilation of knowledge. In turn, it has a dictionary of word meanings and teaches synonyms and antonyms.

Palabra Correct

Developer: Croak

Price: It's free

How well do you know spelling?

To complete this compilation, we have a question game in which you have to spell words correctly based on the letters below. This way you go to the next level and learn how to write them correctly.

Based on multiple choice, pictures and questions, you must do it correctly at every level. What's more, has rewards and points to help you know how much you spelled correctly to measure the progress you've made by playing it for just a few minutes a day, or as much as you like.

How well do you know spelling?

Developer: Niro Game Studio

Price: It's free


what to play at the initial stage?

Games at RFL lessons: what to play at the initial stage?

Elena Filatova

43546 0 12/17/2019

As you know, game tasks are the decoration of any lesson. Not even like that. Ideally, they are one of the key stages of the lesson, since it is in the form of a game that it is most effective to consolidate existing knowledge. Of course, the higher the level of the students, the more interesting games can be used: authentic board games, role-playing games, debates, puzzles, associations... there are many options. However, at the initial level, when the vocabulary of students is very limited, it is quite difficult to come up with a game (especially a communicative one).

Based on the experience of fellow Russian as a foreign language teachers, we tried to compile a list of successful, in our opinion, games that can be used to work with the A1 level.

Phonetic games

  • Favorite sound . The goal of the game is to work out one or another difficult sound. Option 1: the teacher reads a text or a poem, students clap their hands when they hear this sound. Option 2: students count how many times the studied sound occurs in the text or poem.
  • For example, to practice the sound [p], you can use the following poem by A. Barto :

Left, r R avoy!

Left, r r avoy!

On pa р hell comes from р poison.

On pa р hell comes from р poison.

Ba R Carrier very R hell.

Ba r abanit, ba r abanit

Polto r a hours under r poison.

  • Correct Reading . The teacher together with the students analyzes a short text. Then the students are divided into two teams and read the text according to the sentence. If someone makes a mistake, the team skips a turn and loses one point. The team that finishes reading first wins.
  • Alphabet . The teacher shows cards with letters. The team that can correctly name the most words for each letter wins.
  • Football . The teacher pronounces the word, the task of the students is to name another word that begins with the same sound as the first.
  • "Is that a question?" . Students listen to statements that are different in terms of intonation. When they hear a question, they raise their hand or card up.

Lexico-grammar games

  • “Letters are lost” . Students are divided into two teams, each team receives a list of words in which letters are missing. The task is to insert the missing letters.
  • "The word is lost" . Students look for words in the letter box. For example, we have compiled a field on the topic “Clothes”, in which the words hat, dress, jacket, skirt, trousers, jeans, t-shirt, shirt are encrypted.

  • Snowball . Students name words on the topic being studied, each next participant must repeat all the words spoken before him
  • Dictation marathon . Students are divided into two teams, both receive the same passage of text. Each team selects a student who will write the dictation. The task of the other participants is to run up to the text, memorize an excerpt from it, run up to the writer and dictate a passage to him. The team that finishes writing faster and makes fewer mistakes wins. Snowball. Students name words on the topic being studied, each next participant must repeat all the words spoken before him.
  • Catch the ball . There are many options for ball games. For example, students can throw a ball to each other, naming antonyms, synonyms, words on the same topic, etc. The teacher and student can also throw the ball to each other: the teacher asks a question, the student answers. Another option is to use a ball bouncing off the surfaces: the student hits the ball on the floor and each time the ball touches the floor, he says one of the words being studied (a certain topic is selected). For example: "I know 5 words: mom, dad, brother, sister, grandmother. " The function of the ball is to work at a faster pace, to help students focus on the task. In addition, such games enliven the lesson.
  • Artist . One of the students receives a card with a word. Without showing the card to the others, he draws what the word means on the board. The other students have to guess what it is. To add excitement, you can divide students into teams.

  • Describe yourself in three words . Students write three adjectives on the slips of paper that they think describe them. The teacher collects the papers and reads the adjectives aloud. The group must guess who it is. NB! It is important for this game that everyone in the group is well acquainted.
  • Own game . The teacher writes on the board topics that the students have already studied, for example, “Free time”, “Family”, “Clothes”, “Holidays”, etc. The teacher asks one of the students what he wants to know from a friend. He says what he wants to ask, and asks a question on the chosen topic. Each topic can only be selected once.
  • "Lotto" . Students receive sets of cards with nouns in different cases. The teacher writes the verb on the board. If students have a card with a word that can follow this verb, they raise their hand and form a phrase. Then the teacher writes the next verb. Students receive one point for each match. The one who scores the most points wins.

  • Chest . The game is designed for two players (but if there are more students in the group, you can make several sets of cards). The teacher chooses four topics, for example: "Furniture", "Clothes", "Products", "Utensils". For each topic, he prepares four cards (sofa, bed, table, chair; potatoes, carrots, apple, milk, etc.). The cards are shuffled, each student receives four cards from different topics, the rest are in the deck. The student asks the partner: “Do you have furniture?” If so, he gets a card. The first person to collect the most kits wins.
  • "Verbal portrait" . One of the students describes the appearance/clothes of the other without naming him. The rest must guess who it is.
  • "Housewarming" . Students are presented with a picture of an empty room. They must tell where and what kind of furniture they want to put.
  • "Help the cook" . The task of the students is to help the cook to prepare this or that dish. Students say what ingredients should be put in a pot (in a frying pan). You can ask students to explain how to cook one of their national dishes or their favorite dish.
  • Dating site . Students receive "profiles" of people from a dating site and look for a pair for each profile, arguing their decision. For example:

  • “Is something missing?” . For this game you will need cards with the image of the studied words. Such cards can be made independently, bought at a children's store or printed from pinterest.ru. Recently, the Russkiy Yazyk publishing house published a manual by T. B. Klementyeva “Play and memorize Russian words!”, In which there are sets of cards on the topics “Family”, “Clothes”, “Products”, etc. The cards are laid out on the table students try to remember them. Then the students turn away, and the teacher removes one or more cards. Students should say what is missing.
  • "Alphabetical" . Students are divided into teams, each team must write one word for each letter of the alphabet and arrange them in alphabetical order. Points are deducted for spelling mistakes.
  • "Find Anton" . According to the plot of the game, a young man Anton disappeared. Each of the students reads their mini-text, which says where the student saw Anton, for example: “You saw Anton near the store. You greeted him." The goal of the game is to restore Anton's route on the map given to the students.

  • "Guess my plans" . One of the students guesses what he will do tomorrow / did yesterday, etc., while others try to guess his plans by asking questions that require a positive or negative answer, for example: “Will you walk in the park tomorrow?”, “Tomorrow you will you do your homework?"
  • Impromptu . According to the author of the task Asonova G.A. [5], the game can be bought in the Igroved chain of stores. Included in the game - cards with different pictures. One student asks another a question. He draws a card from the deck. The student's answer should be related to what is shown on the card. "Why are you late for class?" (it's raining on the card). “Because it was raining.”
  • Diary . Not a game, but rather a form of extracurricular work. The teacher asks students to keep a diary in Russian, describing everyday events in it. It is necessary to check the diary from time to time so that students do not forget about it.
  • Yulang game sets are a great tool for a teacher. Now there are already 3 sets on the site, and we do not plan to stop!

✅ Verbs of motion and transport (A1)

✅ Verbs of motion and transport (A2)

✅ Free time and sports (A1)

You can find the full list of RFL lessons from the YLang team in the corresponding section . 250+ learning materials for different levels (from A1 to C2) can be a great addition to traditional textbooks.

Where else can I find games for Russian as a foreign language?

Here is a list of our favorite manuals, articles and Internet resources describing game methods in Russian as a foreign language:

  1. Akishina AA Russian language in games. M., 2011.
  2. Arutyunov A. R., Chebotarev P. G., Muzrukov N. B. Game tasks in Russian language lessons: a book for a teacher. M., 1987.
  3. Bezkorovainaya L. S., Shtylenko V. E., Shtylenko E. L. Maps, cards, pictures: textbook. allowance for the Russian language. SPb., 2011.
  4. Bitekhtina N. B., Vaishnore E. V. Game tasks in the classroom in Russian as a foreign language // Live Methods. M., 2009.
  5. Zakorchevnaya L.R. Game guide for beginners. M., 2019.
  6. Kaznyshkina IV Communicative games in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language. M., 1983.
  7. Klementieva T. B. Play and memorize Russian words! Manual-game in the Russian language. M., 2019.
  8. Kolesova DV, Kharitonov AA Wordplay: what and how to play at the Russian language lesson. SPb., 2011.
  9. Konysheva AV Game method in teaching a foreign language. SPb., 2008.
  10. Chubarova OE Verbs of movement with prefixes: a guide-game in the Russian language. M., 2015.
  11. Shtelter O. In this little basket. Games in the Russian language lesson. Issue 1. St. Petersburg, 2011.
  12. Stelter O. In this little basket. Games in the Russian language lesson. Issue 2. St. Petersburg, 2012.
  13. Shtelter O. Poems, rhymes, rhymes. 100 poems for students of the Russian language. St. Petersburg, 2014.
  14. RFL games
  15. RCT materials. Boring Russian
  16. Tochka.ru

To write this article, we used the works from the list below:

  1. Azarina L. E. Games in Russian as a foreign language // Vestn. CMO MSU. M., 2009, No. 3.
  2. Asonova GA Grammar and communication exercises with elements of the game as a way to enhance the knowledge of Russian as a foreign language // Bulletin of the Southern Federal University. Philological Sciences. M., 2013. No. 3.
  3. Asonova G.A. Game and some other educational tasks as methods of intensifying teaching Russian as a foreign language at the initial stage within the framework of the program of the preparatory faculty of the Peoples' Friendship University // Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. 2016. Issue No. 1 (20).
  4. Vasilyeva T. V. Games and creative tasks as a way to form professional competencies. From 3–36.
  5. Gubanova T. V., Nivina E. A. Russian language in games: teaching aid. Tambov, 2007.
  6. Zheleznyakova SN Role-playing games in the lessons of Russian as a foreign language // Actual problems of the humanities and natural sciences. M., 2017. No. 2–5.
  7. Minkina I. I know ten Russian words // Teacher's newspaper, 2010.
  8. Fedorova MA, Churilova IN Game methods as a means of optimizing the educational process in teaching Russian as a foreign language in an adult audience // Uchenye zapiski ZabGU. Chita, 2017. V.12, No. 6.
  9. Fedotova N. A. Phonetic games in teaching Russian pronunciation to foreigners // OTO, 2016. No. 2.
  10. Shkalikova AS Educational and speech games in Russian as a foreign language class as a means of activating the speech activity of students at the initial stage of education (Chinese audience) // Polylinguality and transcultural practices.

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