The project began with the desire to teach phonetics (and specifically the International Phonetic Alphabaet, or IPA) to kids to help them with language learning later in life. As with most languages, the IPA is something that could be picked up more easily as a child with a developing brain than an adult later in life; in turn, learning the IPA would necessarily lead to a better understanding of the constructs of language and articulation of foreign sounds and phrases in general.
In undertaking this project, my initial desire was to create a 'talking' IPA chart to initially teach kids about the symbols and the sounds they represent. This is a crucial step, as without an understanding of the basic speech units, the rest of the game wouldn't function as effectively. For example, while words in English are spelled with one of 5 vowels, in actuality these same vowels can be articulated in 14 different productions. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the nuances of each sound is an integral stepping stone for the overall program.
The two links below provide downloads for the consonant and vowel symbol charts. Again, these two separate charts were intended to be combined together into one useable feature of the program, but unfortunately I was unable to really achieve success with that in mind (check out prototype 2 for a rough example of how it's supposed to function). In any case, I am satisfied to some degree with these finished products, and I can definitely see myself using a similar formula/ display system in future projects regardless of field!
IPA Vowel Chart (Mac zip file)»
IPA Consonant Chart (Mac zip file)»
Prototypes
Prototype 1: This prototype is pretty basic- it's the first iteration of a talking IPA vowel chart that will be a precursor to all of the following games. Still a work in progress- obviously not all vowels show further details, and I'm having trouble with multiple pages loading in as of right now. Also, where the image of a mouthing diagram is should be a playable video like the ones here: ArticulationDiagrams. The prototype is designed to be a version of the first in a series of three program, a type of foundation on which the rest of the program will function. Without knowing the specific IPA symbols and their meaning, kids will not be able to play the rest of the games, thus in my mind it is crucial that a clear introduction to their form and examples with words that use the sounds is presented as the first step. From here, I will refine the drawings/ diagrams, finish coding and recording samples for the example pages, and finally begin work on the first game.
Prototype 2: This is actually a (buggy) combination of the consonant and vowel charts (see prototypes 2 and 3 below). I must say that I haven't really figured out a lot of what Processing has to offer, but this is by far the most advanced programming assignment I have ever put together. The idea was to be able to go from a default screen into consonants or vowels (whichever needed to be reviewed) and from there be able to return to the home screen by clicking 'home.' Like I said, it's still kind of buggy, but honestly, after hours of debugging I feel like I need to step back and take pride in the few successes that I have been able to produce. That's it!
Prototype 3: This is a mock-up of the different default screens for each part of the application- opens with the welcome screen, from which you can either select to go the Make Some Noise game or the IPA chart gallery.
Prototype 4: This last prototype is just a click-through of all of the different screens I had designed (but was not able to implement) for the Make Some Noise game. The rules screens provide a basic description of the way that the game functions, so refer there for instructions on how to (theoretically) play!
Prototype 1 - Rough IPA Vowels (online) » Prototype 2 - IPA Symbol Charts (Mac zip file)» Prototype 3 - Mock-up of Game Screen Progression (online) » Prototype 4 - Mock-up of Make Some Noise Game (online) »