Customer Reviews

Jumpstart Reading With Karaoke

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was amazed first at the sound quality of the songs on this software package - there were two dozen songs, in addition to the general background music and sound effects, and they were all very catchy and fun songs. I'm still humming the Reading with Karaoke version of the A-B-C song, which has an innovative second verse that introduces the sounds (rather than just the letter names) that many of the letters make.

The graphics are very sophisticated and well done - this is like watching a television-quality animation programme, which is what is often needed to catch the attention of the target audience for this software (4 - 7 year old children). However, this can be presented to the children as television with a difference - a child will enter his or her name into the computer, and Val, the host cat, will interact directly with the child.

Thanks to the use of the microphone and more sophisticated analysis software, the interactivity becomes very personal, as the child speaks words into the microphone, and the computer then gives feedback. This feedback even incorporates the child's own voice repeated back. The Karaoke portion is done in a café, where the child can sing along with the music and follow along on the screen, just like a regular Karaoke machine.

This is a very good system for teaching basic sight words, pronunciation with letters, letter combinations, words that rhyme, word families, beginning spelling for simple words, and basic vocabulary for younger learners. Adults working with children will also find the animations and the songs entertaining.

The truly wonderful part of the technology here has to be the interactivity provided by the microphone and the graphics that respond to the sounds using the child's own voice. I can imagine that this will be something that can capture and hold the attention of children for hours, and they won't feel like they are being forced to learn anything (which is never a good way to teach). Their success in learning the words will help them with their singing career on the Karaoke machine.

Knowledge Adventure follows this with software for later ages, too, so as the child grows, so can their involvement with similar types of software. I have seen the Knowledge Adventure 'Math Blaster' software, too, and that is also an excellent tool for use with kids to learn another difficult subject.

The software was incredibly easy to install (no fuss at all), and runs smoothly both on a Dell and HP pc using Windows.

Five stars (more if permitted)!

JumpStart Reading with Karaoke starts with the basics - letters and sounds - and moves in a logical progression through phonograms and word families (e.g. cat, bat, mat, rat), letter blends and digraphs (e.g. tr and ck), sight words, and simple sentences. The program uses repetition, feedback, rhyming and rewards to reinforce the subject material through a series of 7-8 exercises and games repeated for each of 24 songs. All along the way, users are actively challenged to read, listen, speak and repeat new sounds and words.

Kids Appeal:
Our young testers generally liked JumpStart Reading with Karaoke. They liked it's interactivity, short exercises and variety, and they loved listening to recordings of their own voices. However, some of them exhibited difficulty with the karaoke portion of the program, because the songs were previously unknown to them, and as beginning readers they could not easily follow along with the lyrics on the screen.

I have a 5 yr old and a 7 yr old who enjoy playing the game. The microphone is a big hit, and works well. Both my boys sang along at least five times when they got their first song on the jukebox. Listening to their voices made both of them really speak up, loud and clear. I was personally amazed that my 5 yr old spoke so clearly into the microphone. I feel the software was nicely made. By the fifth time they ask to complete the activity, I'm feeling like they are going to lose interest but they didnt, and my kids continued on.

First class software. Innovative use of voice recognition that really helps children learn.

My 6 year old got stuck on the first screen, I dont know if it was broken or not, the microphone is very flimsy, didn't seem to work she kept screaming her name into it, but she couldnt continue. If the microphone doesn't work you can't continue.

this software is pretty good except for the karaoke part. my daughter is three and half and finds it difficult to click on the mic (only while it flashes) and quickly say her part (before the fast moving blue stripe reaches the end).
this could be a better software for bit older kids who can coordinate it faster. or a parent has to sit with the kid and help with the karaoke part. i feel, they should allow a bit more time for the kids to react and act especially when we are talking about younger kids.
my daughter loves this software but gets frustrated with the coordination of the mic in short span of time.

Simply amazed for the quality of the product.
My kids love it! Everybody at home love it!
Is very well done, easy to use and very very instructive.