Tense Builder {Review}

Identifying and conjugating verbs is a skill that many of my middle schoolers need improvement on. Tense Builder contains engaging animated video lessons to assist users in gaining a deeper understanding of tenses.

Home-screen view

For $14.99 users get:

• 42 verbs with accompanying animated lesson (will expand to 58 by December)
• Audio instructions (can be turned on/off)
• Verbal reinforcement (can be turned on/off)
• Sentence recorder - users are able to record their sentence and play it back to check for accuracy
• 2 levels of play. 
• Level 1 plays a video clip and gives you 3 pictured option. Users select the image that goes best with the sentence.
• Level 2 plays the same clip as Level 1 and asked to fill in the blank ("The man ____ the painting")

• Choose between 2-7 choices when playing at Level 2 (see below)

Example of 7 options when selecting a response

• Select the type of tense(s) you would like to target (future, past, present, or all)
• Choose verb type to be targeted (regular, irregular, or all)
• Select specific verbs you would like targeted  (42)
• Choose from the "long" or "short" lesson style. This lets you decide what happens when a student selects the incorrect response.
• Access to the video tutorial.
• Users are able view lessons regarding the respective verb prior to making selecting a response
• The ability to track and email user results (see below)

Users are able to have their performance tracked and shared

Things I liked:

• The graphics are very engaging and will grab anyone's attention 
• There are a great variety of verbs to choose from
• Users are able to obtain and share data regarding performance  
• Great way to elicit receptive and expressive language use

Some things I'd like changed:

• The video tutorial is a great way to acclimate users to TenseBuilder. I would have liked to pause the video and come back to where I left off, but was unable to do so as the tutorial does not have this capability. 
• Price: Although Mobile Education Tools have churned out quality apps,  $14.99 is costly for the average SLP/educator. 
• This is a great app to use 1:1, however it isn't able to be utilized in groups (how I mainly service students)
• The wording can make selecting a correct response difficult (even for me!)

This was one of the more confusing sentences

App Compatibility:

Tense Builder is Compatible with the iPad and requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Take a look at this video to see Tense Builder in Action:


Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions.