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Dictation: what it is and how to make one
We are committed to continuously improving your experience; some elements of the video interface may not match the current one.
What it is
Dictation is a game where players have to correctly write down what they hear. It's ideal for working on spelling, listening comprehension and writing.
You can record your own audio, upload it or generate it automatically from the text.
Examples of use
- Languages: listening comprehension and writing in another language.
- Language and literature: spelling, punctuation and grammar rules.
- Primary education: simple sentences adapted to the level.
- Music: song lyrics or musical terms by pronunciation.
- Vocational training: correct spelling of technical terminology.
How to create a Dictation with Ray
- Click Create game and select Dictation.
- Enter a topic, add instructions and/or attach a file with the content.
- Ray automatically generates a game ready to publish (with a title and description). You can review and change anything you like before publishing it.
Ray's advanced options
The gear icon gives you options to configure how Ray generates the game. Some are common to all game types:
- Output content: choose text only, or text plus automatically generated speech. Speech is capped at 1,000 characters in total per account on the Basic and Advanced plans; on the Academic plan and Commercial plan it is unlimited.
- Output language: the language of the game content. If you don't specify it, Ray detects it from the prompt or the file.
- Difficulty: easy, medium (default), hard, or a custom level (for example, “for primary school students”).
Dictation also has specific options:
- Sentences: how many to create (6 by default), or as many as the content you attach contains.
- Length of each sentence: short (5-8 words), medium (10-15), long (20-30) or Other (manual).
Source library
With the Sources button you can upload files to Ray (PDF, Word, images…) or select your own games for it to use as content for the new one. For example, turn the PDF of a short story into a Dictation, or reuse the text from a Fill in the Blanks.
How to create a Dictation without Ray
- Click Create game and select Dictation.
- Close the Ray window.
- Enter the text that will be the correct answer.
- Record, upload or automatically generate the audio. In the voice generator you can adjust the reading speed.
We recommend splitting the sentences across several screens (with the Add text button), one per sentence, to make the dictation comfortable to do.
Game options
- Penalize mistakes: by default each mistake deducts 5 points. You can change the value or turn it off.
- Time: the time limit to finish the game (unlimited by default).
- Prevent pauses and repeats: stops players from pausing or replaying the audio.
- Lock audio speed: stops players from changing the playback speed.
- Sensitive to capitalization, accents and punctuation: counts these mistakes as errors (on by default).
- Sensitive to line breaks: takes line-break mistakes into account.
With an Advanced plan you can remove the ads, add a background image, change the visibility (Public or Hidden), configure player identification (Optional, Required or no method), hide elements of the interface (Ranking, Restart, Social media or Correct answers) and add a custom final message.
With an Academic plan you can restrict the visibility to your guests or to the integrations you create (Google Classroom, Moodle, Canvas…), and remove the player identification link.
With a Commercial plan you can also customize the game with your logo and corporate footer, choose the colors and hide the Educaplay brand.
Information and publishing
On the Information tab you set up what your player will see before and during the game. Ray automatically generates the Title and Description; if you created the game without Ray, you add them yourself. Here you also choose the Language of the game interface (you can present the game to your players in any of the 27 available languages, regardless of the language of the content), set the Education level and add Tags so your game is easier to find in the search engine. Before publishing, use Preview to check that everything looks the way you want.
Frequently asked questions
Can I generate the audio automatically?
Yes. With Ray, by default. Without Ray, once you've entered the text, click the audio button to generate it: you'll be able to choose the voice and the speed.
Is it worth splitting the game across several screens?
Yes. We recommend one screen per sentence, but you can put everything on a single one if you prefer.
Can players listen to the audio several times?
By default yes, and they can even change the speed. To prevent that, turn on Prevent pauses and repeats and/or Lock audio speed.
Can I import a dictation I've already written?
Yes. Paste or attach your text in the Ray box or with the Sources button.
Can I change the language of the game interface?
Yes. On the Information tab you can choose from the 27 available languages: Afrikaans, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Ukrainian. The interface language is independent from the content language: you can have a game written in English and show the interface in Japanese for your Japanese students, for example.
Which features require a paid plan?
With the Advanced plan you remove the ads, add a background image, manage visibility and player identification, hide interface elements and add a final message. With the Academic plan you can also restrict access to your guests or to your integrations (Google Classroom, Moodle, Canvas…). With the Commercial plan you customize the game with your logo, corporate colors and hide the Educaplay brand.
