A World Language Teacher's Dream (Taking Authentic Text to the Next level)

SpeakIt! for Language Learners

As a language teacher, I'm always trying to make learning as authentic and real as possible.  What if every student was given their own personal tutor to read the target language text out loud?  Students would be able to hear authentic language at the press of a button, and improve pronunciation effortlessly.

Now you can.  There is an extension in Chrome called SpeakIt.  SpeakIt allows you to copy text from any site, and converts text to speech.  I know what you are thinking, "It's too fast for me to understand."  You are right!  In order for a language learner to really benefit from Authentic speech, it must be comprehensible.  This is where SpeakIt ROCKS!!!  If you go into the option settings, not only are you able to change the language, but the speaking rate can be adjusted.  This allows you to take any authentic text, and listen to it while you read along at a comfortable pace.  The ability to slow down the rate of speaking makes SpeakIt a language learner's dream.  I love this app!!!

SpeakIt! Extension for the Chrome Browser