Teachers

Tutorial: Advanced Speech Markup (Changing how Alexa talks)

1. You can use the buttons below the speech area to modify how Alexa delivers content. First add your content. Then select some of it by selecting a range with the mouse. Now click the button corresponding to the effect you wish to apply.
2. An opening tag will be added to the window before the selected content, and a closing tag after. Be very careful not to modify these tags, as any variation will prevent Alexa from delivering this slide. (She will instead indicate that there was an error, and the skill will terminate.) It's very important to check your slide once you've applied any of these advanced speech tags.
3. Hovering the mouse over the button will tell you what it does. You can make Alexa whisper the selected content, decrease her emphasis, increase her emphasis, change her pitch, or change the rate at which she speaks. There is also a button for adding a half second pause or a 1 second pause. Alexa can be paused for up to 10 seconds.
4. The last button removes tags. You highlight a section of copy and click this button, and any tags will be removed. Be sure to remove both the start and end tags, or there will be an error when Alexa tries to read the copy.
5. One of the tags is an interjection. This is a word that Alexa says in a way fitting the expression. Only the words listed below will function correctly, when used with this tag: