Retro Desert Run
A racing game to learn the sounds of English
Behind the wheel of a car speeding through the desert, the child listens to a sound and catches the balloon with the matching spelling (ai/ay, ee/ea, sh, ch, tion, bl, tr…). The sound is spoken, and the teacher can add their own sounds with their voice. In French, the game works on the sounds of French (ou, oi, on, an…).
Audience : Primary school students, and their teachersLevel : Ages 6–9 (phonics)
Sign in to use Retro Desert Run
Sign in with your e-mail address or with Google. The app then opens in your browser.
What the app does
- An arcade race seen from behind, played with a finger or a mouse.
- One mode per family of sounds: vowel sounds (ai/ay, ee/ea, oa/ow…), consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, ph…), word endings (tion, ture, ful…) and blends (bl, br, cl, tr…), plus an expert mode.
- The sound being practised is spoken before and during the game.
- Phoneme editor: add a sound, its example words, and even record it with your own voice or generate it automatically in the chosen language.
- Pause at any time; full screen on tablets and phones.
How it works
- 1ChooseThe sound to work on.
- 2ListenHear the sound and the example words.
- 3DriveSlide to steer the car towards the right words.
- 4ProgressChange sound when you are comfortable.
Why it is useful
- Practice linking sounds and spellings that feels like a video game.
- Sounds adapted to your progress, added by you.
- Works on a tablet, phone and computer.
- No student account, no personal data sent.
Good to know
- The game itself uses no artificial intelligence: it uses no credit and remains usable even with limited access. Only the automatic generation of a sound in the phoneme editor uses the high-quality voice: 1 credit per sound (free with an institution account).
- The sounds you add, with your recordings, are kept only in the browser of the device used.
- The app opens in the browser, with nothing to install. To record your voice in the editor, allow the microphone.