Between the Lines Level 1 App Review

Between the Lines Level 1 Review

Jenny Krones November 12, 2014

App Overview

Between the Lines is a fun, educational app created by a speech-language pathologist, who has been working with children for over 30 years. The app teaches listening, body language, common expressions and more! Users can practice a variety of interpersonal communication through audio clips, videos of real-life scenarios and photos. The app has many different settings that can be altered to best fit each users’ skill level. Between the Lines provides an engaging way to help children “read between the lines” in many different social situations.

App Features

The main page has 5 options to choose from: users, settings, info, more apps and credits. You have the option of adding a individual user or group. The data is tracked every session for each user and the results can be emailed, printed or viewed as a PDF. The settings options are a great way to individualize each user’s app experience. Teachers or parents can change what activities are covered and how often the child receives verbal praise. You also can track the users progress and see what their strengths and problem areas are. One of the coolest features of this app is the Info section. In a question and answer format it explains who would benefit from using this app, thoroughly covers each activity and has extension activities for further practice of the skills taught in the app.

Settings

The Setting options help tailor how effective the app is for individuals ranging in different skill levels. There are five categories that you can choose to personalize each users learning. You can choose to cover all activities or just focus on one at a time. There are even “informal/crude social slang” that can be added in if it is relevant for a specific user. Under the encouragement section, the caretaker can choose how often verbal praise is provided and if a bell sound plays when a user gets a answer correct. There is an option to have 2, 3 or 4 answer choices to choose from. Two choices may be necessary for beginners, but later on that same user can be challenged by changing the number of answer choices. The app has three different Reward Games and a choice of how often they are played. The fun carnival-type games include Dunk Tank, Bull’s Eye and Knock Em Down.

Game Play

The game teaches three different activities, including Listening, Expressions and Body Language. To teach Listening, the app plays an short audio clip and says “Who said it?”. Then real photographs pop on the screen (2, 3 or 4, depending on which setting you chose). The photographs have exaggerated facial expressions to convey what the person is feeling. Users choose an answer by tapping on the small box in the top right corner of the photograph. If correct, there will be a “ding” and a green check with appear. If the answer is wrong then a red “x” will pop in the box. The user can hear the clip again and click on a new answer. The Body Language activity shows a real-life video clip and then asks “What is she/he thinking?”. Thought bubble answers will appear below the video to click on. A great part about the videos is that they focus on the actors face and hold the expression so the user can best understand what the person is thinking. In the Expressions sections, a short video plays using a common expression or slang, like “The test was a piece of cake!”. The commentator asks “What does that mean?” and options pop up at the bottom of the screen. There is a speaker button on the left of the phrases that reads the answers aloud. This is a great feature for child who do not read but would benefit from learning about emotions and body language. After a set amount of questions the user will enter the reward game. Once the user earns 25 points, a colorful screen pops up that says “Congratulations! You won!”

What’s great about this app

Between the Lines is a great app for teaching subtle communication and receptive language skills. It is perfect for a classroom setting because it can track results for up to 75 users and groups. The ability to customize each users’ settings is a wonderful aspect to this app. This app uses a variety of common situations that can strengthen language and listening sills. Between the Lines is easy for children of many ages and developmental levels to learn to “read between the lines”!

The Hamaguchi Apps website contains more information about this app, and their other great educational apps, as well as links to video demos of the apps. At the time of writing this review Between the Lines Level 1 retails for $15.99.

Buy Between the Lines Level 1 in the iTunes App Store

A fun app for teaching body language and listening