English learning device

Abstract

The aim is to provide a system that utilizes phonemic awareness to help users acquire the pronunciation of phonemes and sentences. [Solution] A picture book device 1 in one aspect of the present invention includes: a game selection operation unit 34 that accepts the user's selection of a game with pronunciations corresponding to phonemes; a phoneme selection operation unit 35 that accepts the selection of one phoneme from a plurality of phonemes; a control unit that determines the game selected by the user and instructs the output of the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme selected by the user as sound; and a sound output unit that outputs the pronunciation as sound.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention mainly relates to an apparatus for English learning.

Background Art

[0002] Recently, picture books for English learning for young children have become popular, especially picture books that allow children to learn English pronunciation through both vision and hearing by using picture books or cards with pictures and characters.

[0003] As a picture book for learning English words and pronunciation through vision and hearing, for example, in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a picture book that enables acquisition of words and pronunciation by arranging alphabetic characters on cards with pictures and words.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, although the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 relates to a picture book that utilizes phonics, which enables acquisition of pronunciation by associating the spelling and pronunciation of English words, for example, the main focus is on acquiring English by linking the name of an object such as "CAT" with the voice of the spelling of the corresponding English word. A mechanism for acquiring English that utilizes phonemic awareness, which focuses on the phonemes such as vowels and consonants that are elements of spelling and the pronunciation of each phoneme while relying more on hearing, has not yet been disclosed.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for acquiring the pronunciation of phonemes and the pronunciation of sentences in a sentence by utilizing phonemic awareness.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] A picture book device 1 in one aspect of the present invention includes: a game selection operation unit that accepts a user's selection of a game with pronunciations corresponding to phonemes; a phoneme selection operation unit that accepts the selection of one phoneme from a plurality of phonemes in the mode; a control unit that determines the game selected by the user and instructs the output of the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme selected by the user as sound; and a sound output unit that outputs the pronunciation as sound. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for acquiring the pronunciation of phonemes and sentences by utilizing phonemic awareness. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This figure shows an external view of a picture book device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of the picture book device. [Figure 3] This diagram illustrates the structure of the audio data stored in the picture book device shown in Figure 1. [Figure 4] This flowchart shows an example of the sound processing performed by the picture book device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below are not intended to unduly limit the scope of the present invention as described in the claims. Furthermore, not all components shown in the embodiments are necessarily essential components of the present invention.

[0011] <Structure> Figure 1 is a diagram showing the external view of a picture book device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the device 1 is configured in the shape of a picture book and may include a base section 10 forming the front and back covers of the picture book, a content display section 20 that displays content (including illustrations and text) for multiple pages as a picture book, and an operation section 30 that accepts operations from the user. The operation section 30 may further include a button key section 31, which may include a power operation section 32 for switching the power of the operation section 30 on and off, a game 1 selection operation section 33 for enabling a mode (game 1) that outputs sounds of phonemes such as alphabet vowels and consonants, and a game 2 selection operation section 34 for enabling a mode (game 2) that outputs sounds of pronouncing sentences. The operation section 30 may also include a phoneme operation section 35 for outputting sounds of reading aloud phonemes or sentences containing phonemes specified by the user after selecting either game 1 or game 2. In this example, multiple button keys 35 corresponding to phonemes are provided, and each phoneme is associated with each button key 35. In this example, each of the phonemes "a" through "j" is associated with a corresponding button key, but in subsequent picture book devices, the device may be configured to include button keys 35 corresponding to the remaining phonemes.

[0012] For example, the content display unit 20 displays content consisting of an illustration and text corresponding to the phoneme "a". When the user selects the "Game 1" mode by pressing the Game 1 selection operation unit 33 and presses the button key corresponding to the phoneme "a", the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme is output. Alternatively, when the user selects the "Game 2" mode by pressing the Game 1 selection operation unit 34 and presses the button key corresponding to the phoneme "a", the audio output is a reading of a sentence (in this example, "Andy the apple had a chat with an ant") or an English word (in this example, "astronaut", "alligator", etc.) corresponding to the phoneme.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a functional block configuration diagram of the picture book device 1 in FIG. 1. The picture book device 1 includes a sound output unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

[0014] The sound output unit 110 is, for example, a speaker, and outputs a voice for reading aloud a voice or sentence corresponding to a phoneme specified by the user.

[0015] The storage unit 120 stores programs for executing various control processes and each function in the control unit 130, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. Further, the storage unit 120 stores voice data of pronunciations corresponding to each phoneme such as "a", "b", etc. and pronunciations of sentences or English words by native speakers.

[0016] The operation unit 130 is a user interface used for the provider to input instructions and output voices according to the input data from the control unit 140, and in the picture book device 1, it is configured in cooperation with the above operation unit 30.

[0017] The storage unit 230 stores programs for executing various control processes and each function in the control unit 240, input data, etc., and is composed of a RAM, a ROM, etc. Further, the storage unit 230 temporarily stores the communication content with the server terminal 100.

[0018] The control unit 240 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 200 by executing the programs stored in the storage unit 230, and is composed of a CPU, a GPU, etc.

[0019] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of voice data stored in the picture book device 1.

[0020] The voice data shown in FIG. 3 stores, as voice data, the corresponding pronunciation, the corresponding sentence, and the corresponding word for each phoneme of the alphabet. For example, for the phoneme "a", voice data of the sound "a" pronounced by a native speaker, voice data of the pronunciation of the sentence "Andy the apple had a chat with an ant", and voice data of the pronunciation of words such as "Astronaut" and "Alligator" are stored. As a result, the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme "a" by the user has a structure that can be acquired aurally based on various examples.

[0021] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of pronunciation processing executed by the picture book device.

[0022] First, as a process before step S101, when the user touching the picture book device 1 opens a desired page of the content (for example, a page related to the phoneme "a") displayed on the content display unit 20 of the picture book device 1 and wants to learn the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme, the user turns on the power by operating the power operation unit 32 among the button key units 31 of the operation unit 30 to switch the on / off of the power of the picture book device 1.

[0023] First, as the process of step S101, the user can select the "Game 1" mode by pressing the game 1 selection operation unit 33 or select the "Game 2" mode by pressing the game selection operation unit 34 according to whether the user wants to listen to the pronunciation of the phoneme alone (Game 1) or the pronunciation of a sentence or word (Game 2) for the phoneme (in this example, "a") displayed as content on the opened page. The control unit 140 of the picture book device 1 receives the control signal from the game selection operation unit 33 or the game selection operation unit 34 pressed according to the mode selection by the user via the operation unit 130, and determines whether the mode selected by the user is Game 1 or Game 2.

[0024] If the mode selected by the user is Game 1, the user presses one of the multiple button keys that make up the phoneme operation unit 35 to hear the pronunciation corresponding to a single phoneme (in this example, the user selects the phoneme "a"). As part of the process in step S102, the control unit 140 of the picture book device 1 receives the control signal from the phoneme selection operation unit 35, which was pressed by the user to select a phoneme, via the operation unit 130, and determines which phoneme the user selected.

[0025] Next, as part of step S103, the control unit 140 of the picture book device 1 refers to the audio data stored in the memory unit 120 mode based on the phoneme selected by the user (in this example, "a"), and performs the process of outputting the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme as audio. When it instructs the sound output unit 110 to output audio, the sound output unit 111 (in this example, the speaker) outputs the audio corresponding to the phoneme (in this example, "a").

[0026] If the mode selected by the user is Game 2, the user presses one of the multiple button keys that make up the phoneme operation unit 35 to hear the pronunciation of the sentence or word corresponding to the phoneme (in this example, the user selects the phoneme "a"). As part of the processing in step S104, the control unit 140 of the picture book device 1 receives the control signal from the phoneme selection operation unit 35, which was pressed by the user to select a phoneme, via the operation unit 130, and determines which phoneme the user selected.

[0027] Next, as part of step S105, the control unit 140 of the picture book device 1 refers to the audio data stored in the memory unit 120 mode based on the phoneme selected by the user (in this example, "a"), and outputs the pronunciation of the sentence or word corresponding to the phoneme as audio. When it instructs the sound output unit 110 to output audio, the sound output unit 111 (in this example, the speaker) outputs the audio corresponding to the sentence or word (in this example, "Andy the apple had a chat with an ant", "Astronaut", or "Alligator", which corresponds to "a").

[0028] In this way, users can enjoy the content as a picture book while listening to the pronunciations corresponding to the phonemes embodied in the content through various approaches, and acquire pronunciation thoroughly through auditory means. In particular, by repeatedly listening to the pronunciations of individual phonemes, sentences, and words, switching between different modes, users can acquire and solidify their pronunciation through auditory means.

[0029] Although embodiments of the invention have been described above, these can be implemented in various other forms, and can be carried out by various omissions, substitutions, and modifications. These embodiments and variations, as well as those with omissions, substitutions, and modifications, are included within the technical scope of the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0030] 1 Picture book device

Claims

1. It is a picture book device, A phoneme selection operation unit that accepts the user's selection of one phoneme from among several phonemes, A control unit that instructs the system to output the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme selected by the user as sound, A picture book device having a sound output unit that outputs the aforementioned pronunciation as sound.

2. It is a picture book device, A game selection control unit that accepts the user's selection of a game with a pronunciation corresponding to a phoneme, In the aforementioned mode, a phoneme selection operation unit accepts the selection of one phoneme from among multiple phonemes, A control unit that determines the game selected by the user and instructs the system to output the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme selected by the user as sound, A picture book device having a sound output unit that outputs the aforementioned pronunciation as sound.

3. A picture book device according to claim 2, The aforementioned game is a picture book device that includes a first game in which the player listens to the pronunciation corresponding to the phoneme, and a second game in which the player listens to the pronunciation of a sentence or word corresponding to the phoneme.

4. The method according to claim 2, The picture book device further comprises a content display unit for displaying content.

Images