Between the Lines Level 1 HD

This was a recommendation and I did not know what to expect really. This app was very smart, with clever situations making kids think more-looking at facial expressions as well as listening to the words to understand what people really mean. I take this for granted as an adult, but realize certain children need more help clarifying some of these everyday situations. Or phrases. My grandson needed several trys on many of the scenes but this has helped him to look AND listen to a person’s words. (real people, not cartoons in this one)

I have used this app for years with my students and clients. It addresses pragmatic skills that most other apps don’t address. (I really wish there were no bugs. The screen has gone completely blank in the middle of using it with all 3 levels. Very disappointing.)

All of the between the lines apps are great because of the way they put language and social language skills in real life mini-video contexts. Skills addressed are listening for tone of voice and identifying facial expressions; body language and perspective taking; and understanding idiomatic expressions and slang. The expressions are everyday common expressions rather than cliche “raining cats and dogs” our English teachers taught us about. My only complaints are use of a few slang terms that pop up and may be considered unacceptable material for school age students. I come from a traditional conservative area and my administration and parents would not approve. There was a switch in settings at one time to omit objectionable slang but it is no longer in settings. The other flaw I see is the instant progression new stimulus when the student selects one of the multiple choice answers. Very often I would like to discuss the choice and review the video after an answer is chosen but the next item is shown and video automatically playing. There is also no way to go back to a previous item.