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Orthoglot is spelling practice for children. A parent, guardian or teacher (the coach) sets up word lists, and each learner practices them with spoken tests.
Getting started
- Create an account with your email, or press Continue with Google (or Apple, or Microsoft). Accounts are for adults only; children never need one. If you use Google, Apple or Microsoft, you also choose a password for Orthoglot Coach the first time.
- Open Orthoglot Coach and enter your password. This keeps children out of the settings.
- Under Learners, add each child by first name or nickname, and their age.
- Under Word Lists, open a list and paste in your words, or type them into the table. Later, press Add words to put more words on the end of the list, or Edit words to change the ones already there.
- Go back to the start screen. Each learner taps their name, then Study, then Start.
How tests work
The app says each word aloud. The learner types it and presses Enter. Each word is asked once; a missed word shows the right spelling and comes back in the next test. A word counts as learned after it's spelled right on the first try in two separate tests. Tap the sample sentence to hear it read aloud.
The 🔊 Word button says the word. 🔊 Syllables says the word slowly, one syllable at a time in “spelling voice” (Wed-nes-day rather than WENZ-day), then the whole word. The coach can write or fix the syllables in the Syllables column of the word table, where each syllable has its own 🔊 button to hear how it sounds; on the paid plan, AI writes them. A word without syllables is just said slowly.
When a word is right the first time, a quiet sound plays. The wind chime plays unless the learner picks another: applause, bird chirping, a boxing bell, a cat purring, a dropped tea tin or a service bell. Pick one, or Off, from the menu in the learner's Settings, or from the menu beside Change Voice during any test. Nothing plays for a wrong answer. A soft page turn plays when the learner moves to the next word; choosing Off silences it too.
Little rewards. Three or more words right the first time in a row shows “⚡ 3 in a row!”. A perfect score ends the test with confetti, and beating the last score on the same test shows “New best!”. Each list shows a bar of how many of its words are learned. The practice streak (“🔥 3 days in a row”) counts the days in a row the learner answered at least one test question. It can be turned off in the learner's Settings, or by the coach under Learner Settings.
Studio voices (paid plan): in a learner's Settings, under Voice, pick a studio voice (a woman's or a man's American voice). They sound the same on every phone, tablet and computer, and need the internet. Orthoglot Coach records each word and sample sentence in the background; a word added a moment ago uses the device's own voice until its recording is ready. Hear the Syllables always uses the device's voice.
During a test, Change Voice (next to End test) opens the learner's voice settings in a pop-up, in every kind of test. Close it with the × to carry on where they were. In spelling questions, the Autoplay switch beside it decides whether each new word plays by itself; with it off, the learner presses Word.
After each answer, the word's details (sentence, definition, spelling tips, and etymology, prefix and suffix) are there to review, as long as the coach has them switched on for that list. If the coach turns on Skip Word in tests in General Settings, learners can skip a word; they see its spelling, it counts as missed, and it comes back next time.
On their menu, learners open Word Lists to see every word (tap Word List to open it) and My Words, where they add their own. The Add Word to My List button at the top of the menu does the same in a pop-up.
Choose Spelling, Spelling with Hints, Definitions or Mixed, and In order or Random order, under Test Setting on Study. Definitions tests go three ways: Word to Definition shows the word and the learner taps Possible Answers to pick its meaning from five definitions: the right one and four others from the list, picked at random each time; Definition to Word shows the definition and the learner types the word, or taps Possible Answers to pick it from every word on the list; Fill in the Sentence shows the word's sample sentence with a blank where the word goes, and the learner types it or picks it from Possible Answers. Only words whose sentence contains the word are asked.
Spelling with Hints is a spelling test where, as the learner types, each wrong letter turns orange (and an orange mark shows where a letter is missing), as a quiet prompt to fix it. A word spelled right after the orange showed counts as Right* (right with a hint): it isn't counted as right or wrong, and it stays in the next test.
Mixed tests every word once, each with one kind of question picked at random: spelling, or one of the three Definitions tests (only kinds the word has details for).
Under Tests, pick a test from the menu, choose its Test Setting underneath, then press Start at the bottom.
Giving lists to learners
New learners and new lists start unconnected: a learner only sees the lists you give them. (The first learner in a new account gets the starter list, My words. A learner with no lists sees a note to ask you for one.) Tick lists under each learner's Learner Settings, or give lists to a classroom. Under Learner Word Lists, Remove Word List from Learner takes one away again.
Learners signing in on their own device
A learner can also use their own phone, tablet or computer. In Orthoglot Coach, open the learner's Learner Settings and press Set up sign-in. Choose a username and a 4-digit PIN, and write the PIN down: it can't be shown again. Your coach code is in General Settings; you can change it to a name of your own, such as MrsSmith. On their device, the learner opens orthoglot.com, taps Learner sign in, and types the coach code, their username and their PIN. They see only their own pages, never Orthoglot Coach, and their progress is saved to your account.
After 5 wrong PINs the sign-in pauses for 15 minutes; after 20 it locks until you set a new PIN. Changing the PIN or pressing Remove sign-in signs the learner out on every device.
Classrooms and Groups
Turn on Enable Classrooms and Groups in General Settings. Then, under Classrooms and Groups, pick Classroom or Group, type a name and press Enter. Tick the learners in it and the lists it should study; everyone in it gets those lists and their tests. A classroom can also hold groups: tick them under Groups in the classroom (or pick the classroom in the group), and learners in those groups get the classroom's lists too. A learner is in one classroom or group at a time. On the start screen, learners are shown under their classroom or group.
Free and paid plans
The free plan has one word list of up to 25 words and up to three learners. The paid plan adds more lists, tags, stars, combined tests, Combine Lists on Study and AI-written word details (sentences, definitions, spelling tips and word origins), and scanning a word list: press 📷 Scan In Word List when making a new list, or Scan Additional Words on a list, take or choose a photo of a printed or handwritten list, or choose a PDF (up to 3.5 MB), and AI adds its words to the table. AI can make mistakes, so please check what it writes, and check every scanned spelling and capital letter before you save.
Using it on a phone or tablet
Orthoglot works in any up-to-date browser. To put it on the home screen, open the browser's menu and choose Add to Home Screen or Install app. During tests on phones and tablets, the app shows its own keyboard so the device can't suggest the answer.
Privacy
We keep only what the app needs: your email, and each learner's name, age and spelling results. We never sell it or show ads. Read the Privacy Policy for details.