Bamboo Learning Helps Children Improve Listening Comprehension With Free 'Bamboo Books' Skill For Amazon Alexa

SEATTLE, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, Bamboo Learning announced Bamboo® Books, its third voice-first, free, education-focused Alexa skill to help children (from pre-readers to advanced readers), learn and practice listening comprehension skills featuring classic children's stories and books, including: Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, Little Red Riding Hood, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and many more, using Alexa-enabled devices such as Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Dot Kids Edition.

Bamboo Books can be enabled for free by saying "Alexa, enable Bamboo Books" to any Alexa-enabled device. Bamboo Books can also be enabled using the Alexa app or via Bamboo Learning at: http://www.bamboolearning.com. A video demo of Bamboo Books can be found here: https://www.bamboolearning.com/booksdemo.

Additionally, Bamboo Learning introduced Bamboo Grove, a web and mobile tool for parents to follow their children's progress in Bamboo Books, including time spent using Bamboo Books, questions answered, correct and incorrect answers, as well as Bamboo Badges awarded. To learn more about Bamboo Grove and how to set up an account and link it to the Bamboo Books skill for Amazon Alexa, parents can go to http://www.bamboolearning.com/grove.

"In Bamboo Books, we have created a richer book experience using a mashup of Alexa interactivity with professionally narrated audiobooks and eBooks to empower children to learn more through listening, following along, and participating in exercises using their own voice," said Ian Freed, CEO of Bamboo Learning. "Bamboo Books is another step in our journey to develop the best voice-powered education applications for customers. Based on early feedback from kids and adults, Bamboo Books may be our best Alexa skill yet, and we hope you enjoy it as much as our early students have."

Using Bamboo Books, children may select from a range of classic literature targeted at three different reading levels and participate in exercises to help them learn about characters, plot, setting, and other story details. Some books by level include:

    --  Level 1: The Little Red Hen by Florence White Williams; Little Red
        Riding Hood by Unknown Author; The Story of The Three Bears by Robert
        Southey
    --  Level 2: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie;
        The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
    --  Level 3: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; Alice's
        Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by
        L. Frank Baum

"Bamboo Books' instructional tools are based on decades of experience developing children's reading and literacy materials for schools and teacher training programs," said Irina Fine, COO and Senior Vice President of Content for Bamboo Learning. "Combining these time-tested curriculum concepts with classic literature and new voice technology like Alexa provides children and families with a completely new and fascinating learning experience."

"The Bamboo Books skill offers interactive reading and listening lessons through Alexa based on classic children's literature," said Joe Balzarini, General Manager, Alexa Skills. "It's great to see a developer like Bamboo Learning continue to find new and innovative ways for parents and their kids to learn through voice."

HOW 'BAMBOO BOOKS' WORKS
Bamboo Books enables children to select a listening comprehension level using their voice, and listen to a human narrator read selections from stories and books. At the easier levels, children are provided with guidance on what to listen for before the narrated selection begins; Alexa then asks questions about that particular selection. The human narrator then continues with additional passages and questions, so children learn to listen carefully to different parts of the story and identify characters, plot, setting, and details. As levels progress, Bamboo Books offers more complex questions and fewer hints so that students from pre-readers to advanced readers can benefit from working with this exciting new Alexa skill.

Children with access to Alexa-enabled devices with a screen, including Echo Show, Fire tablets, and Fire TV, can take advantage of the engaging visuals to improve their reading comprehension using Bamboo Books to follow along the text of the stories, and receive visual hints to help answer Bamboo Books' questions.

"It's chaotic around our house. The kids need attention and my husband and I are both busy all the time, so reading 3 to 4 times a week to our 5 and 8 year old kids is an important anchor for our family," said Stacy Fojas-Tauthong, mother of two from Secaucus, NJ. "We introduced the kids to Bamboo Books, and now they can listen and follow along to classic stories like Peter Pan on our Amazon Fire tablet, and participate in exercises to help with their listening and reading comprehension. Bamboo Books actually enhances our story time with them, which we still do regularly; the kids also do Bamboo Books on their own, and we know they are getting a high-quality experience that's educational and fun for them."

HOW 'BAMBOO GROVE' WORKS
Bamboo Grove offers parents the option to review their children's progress in Bamboo Books, including dates and times used, session length, number of questions attempted, correct and incorrect answers, as well as badges awarded.

To access Bamboo Grove, parents need to sign up for a Bamboo Learning account at http://www.bamboolearning.com/grove. Once they have signed up for a Bamboo Learning account, parents then need to link that account with the Bamboo Books skill within the Alexa App (by searching for Bamboo Books within the skills section of the Alexa App). After a parent has linked their Bamboo Books skill to their Bamboo Learning account, they can then view results and follow their children's progress using a PC or mobile browser at: http://www.bamboolearning.com/grove.

"My wife and I have read to our 5 year old daughter almost daily for a couple of years, but we have never been sure if she was truly understanding the stories beyond the basic characters and plot," said Henrik Hallum, a father from Brooklyn, NY. "Once we tried Bamboo Books as a family, we were thrilled with how attentive our daughter was. Because we linked Alexa to our Bamboo Learning account, we can now use Bamboo Grove to see how she is progressing, and the badges she has earned."

ABOUT BAMBOO LEARNING
Based in Seattle, Bamboo Learning is an education-focused software and services company with a mission to become the leader in voice-first education applications and content. Bamboo Learning develops skills for Alexa that enable children and adults to have fun learning and practicing different subjects while listening, viewing pictures, and using their voice. Bamboo Skills, including Bamboo Books, Bamboo Math, and Bamboo Music, automatically get more challenging as children and adults master different levels. Parents can sign up for a Bamboo Grove account to follow their children's progress in Bamboo Learning Alexa skills.

Bamboo's co-founders are Ian Freed, CEO, and Irina Fine, COO and SVP of Content. Ian Freed is a thirty-year veteran of the technology industry, including twelve years at Amazon.com, having served as vice president of Amazon devices, where he led both the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Kindle businesses, and served as technical advisor to Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. Irina Fine is a thirty-year veteran of curriculum development and teaching, having worked in public and private sectors of education in New York, Washington DC, London, and Moscow, after receiving her M.Ed. in Curriculum Development and an undergraduate degree in Piano Performance and Music Education. Learn more at: http://www.bamboolearning.com.

SOURCE Bamboo Learning