How Outloud works
Most English learning happens on a page. Children read words, write them, fill in blanks, take tests. They build a private vocabulary that lives quietly inside their heads. The one thing they do least is the thing language is actually for — saying it out loud, to someone, in real time.
Outloud is built for that. Fifteen minutes a day, every day, the learner speaks English with characters and worlds they return to, until speaking stops feeling like a test and starts feeling like a habit.
The CEFR scale
We follow the CEFR — the Common European Framework of Reference. It is the international standard for describing how well someone speaks a language, used by universities, examiners, and governments around the world. It runs from A1, where a learner is finding their first words, through A2, B1, B2, and C1, to C2, where speech is effortless and precise.
CEFR describes what a learner can do, not how old they are. A five-year-old in Manchester and a twenty-year-old in Hanoi can both sit at A2 speaking, and the path forward for each of them is the same shape — only the content changes. Outloud places the learner on this scale, and adapts the worlds, the characters, the conversations to match where they are and what they are ready for next.
Where your child fits
Outloud places every child on a single continuous scale — the same CEFR scale we just described. The table below shows roughly how points on that scale line up with other frameworks parents and teachers may already know: Cambridge Young Learners English, and Oxford's curriculum products.
The ages are starting points, not boundaries. Once a learner begins, the app's placement and ongoing assessment move them freely along the scale — children who race ahead don't wait for their age band, and children who need more time aren't pushed past it.
- FoundationAge 3–6
- CEFR
- Pre-A1
- Cambridge
- (below Starters)
- Oxford
- Phonics World 1–2 / Reading Tree Stage 1–2
- StarterAge 7–9
- CEFR
- A1
- Cambridge
- Starters
- Oxford
- Oxford Discover 1 / Reading Tree Stage 5–6
- MoverAge 8–11
- CEFR
- A2
- Cambridge
- Movers
- Oxford
- Oxford Discover 2–3 / Reading Tree Stage 7–9
- FlyerAge 10–13
- CEFR
- B1
- Cambridge
- Flyers
- Oxford
- Oxford Discover 4–6 / Reading Tree Stage 10–12
- AchieverAge 13–16
- CEFR
- B1 → B2
- Cambridge
- (above YLE range)
- Oxford
- Solutions Pre-Intermediate to Intermediate
- AdvancedAge 16–18
- CEFR
- B2 → C1
- Cambridge
- (above YLE range)
- Oxford
- Solutions Upper-Intermediate / Headway Upper-Int.
These correspondences are approximate, offered for orientation rather than equivalence. Cambridge Young Learners English and Oxford's curriculum products are referenced here as widely recognised assessment and curriculum frameworks; the mapping is comparative.
Cambridge Young Learners English (Starters, Movers, Flyers) is a trademark of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Oxford Reading Tree, Oxford Discover, Solutions, and Headway are trademarks of Oxford University Press. Outloud English is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Cambridge Assessment or Oxford University Press; these products are referenced for orientation only.
Twelve kinds of speaking activity
Inside that adaptation, the work itself is made of twelve kinds of speaking activity. They repeat, in different shapes, across the years.
- 01Story. A short tale featuring the world's characters, listened to and retold.
- 02Talk. A conversation with a character. The learner speaks back.
- 03Listen and answer. Hearing something and responding aloud — a question, an instruction, a small puzzle.
- 04Play. A game-like activity where language is the toy.
- 05Sing. Songs, rhymes, and chants that put English into rhythm.
- 06Read aloud. A short passage the learner reads out loud, getting the feel of the words.
- 07Describe. Looking at something and saying what's there.
- 08Retell. Hearing a story and saying it back in your own words.
- 09Roleplay. Being a character in a scenario — at the market, on the phone, meeting a friend.
- 10Reflect. Talking about your own experience, your own day, your own opinion.
- 11Interview. Practising real-world interview scenarios — for school, for university, for work.
- 12Debate. Taking a position and arguing it, out loud, with care.
How activities meet the learner
The same twelve appear at every level, but the content grows up alongside the learner. A five-year-old's Story is about finding a hidden cat in the garden. A seventeen-year-old's Story is about navigating a difficult conversation with a friend. The activity is the same — listen, hold the thread, say it back in your own words. The world it sits inside is entirely different.
This is how Outloud stays a daily habit for years. The shape is familiar. The content is always exactly where the learner is, and exactly where they are ready to go next.
Find where you are
Outloud places every learner on the CEFR scale through a short spoken conversation — a few minutes of real talking, listened to across pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, accuracy, and content. The placement is free, and lives in the iOS and Android app. Once placed, the learner lands in their world with content tuned to where they are and where they are going next.
Coming to iOS and Android
From a learner's first English words at four to the careful, confident speech of an adult — the same twelve activities, the same daily fifteen minutes, the same characters waiting in their worlds.