For parents of 6–12 year olds
Your child reads aloud. The app listens.
Ten quiet minutes each evening. Your child reads a line out loud, Vokela follows every word, and you get one sentence about how it went — no scores, no pressure, no homework for you.
Free while we test · We will email you when your place is ready
Why it matters
Reading is slipping across Europe — and confidence goes with it.
The biggest international study of ten-year-olds’ reading found a drop almost everywhere after the pandemic. Latvia fell the furthest of the Baltic countries measured.
- 21 of 32countries scored lower than five years earlierIEA PIRLS 2021
- −30 pointsLatvia’s fall, the steepest among its neighboursIEA PIRLS 2021
- 40%of Latvian fourth-graders reach the high reading benchmarkIEA PIRLS 2021
- 541 vs 449average score of confident readers versus unconfident onesIEA PIRLS 2021
That last number is the one we built for. Children who believe they can read, read more — and reading more is what makes them better. Confidence is the lever a parent can actually pull at home.
How it works
One line at a time.
Listen first
A clear Latvian voice reads the line aloud. Hearing it once takes the fear out of trying — your child knows what the words should sound like.
Read it out loud
Your child taps the microphone and reads. Each word lights up green as it is heard. Nothing turns red, ever, and there is no timer counting down.
Try the tricky word
A word that needs another go turns yellow. Tap it to hear it again, say it once more, and move on. One word, one repeat — never a drill.
Three stars, then stop
A finished story earns three stars and a sticker. That is the whole reward system: no shop, no streak to lose, nothing to buy.
Ten minutes is the session. When the time is up, Vokela says so and closes the book — because a child who stops while still enjoying it comes back tomorrow.
For you
One sentence, not a dashboard.
- Know what to practise
- After each session you see which sounds were shaky — “ā and ē tonight, everything else was confident” — and the exact words behind them.
- Set the evening, once
- A daily limit and a bedtime, and Vokela keeps to them. After bedtime the app simply will not open.
- No numbers in front of your child
- Accuracy, speed and comparisons stay on your side of the app. Your child sees stars and stickers; you see the detail.
- Nothing to buy inside
- No adverts, no shop, no in-app purchases on any screen a child can reach. Ever.
What UK government guidance for schools says about the thing that works:
“It is vital that pupils read widely and frequently to increase their confidence and fluency.”
UK Department for Education, The reading framework (2023)
Our promise
Your child’s voice stays your child’s.
- Their voice is listened to during the session and not kept afterwards — unless you switch that on yourself.
- Recordings are never used to train anyone’s AI.
- Children have no accounts, no email, no real name — a nickname and an avatar, nothing more.
- Data is processed in the European Union.
- You can delete everything, at any time, in one tap.
Who we are
Three of us, one hackathon, one stubborn problem.
We met at StartSchool in Riga and built the first version of Vokela in a weekend, because between us we had seen the same thing from three directions: children who can decode words but do not believe they can read.
Dags Hofrats
Founder
Latvian-born, British-raised entrepreneur who spent most of his life in the UK and Vietnam, where teaching English turned into a lasting passion for education.
Juris Vītols
Founder
Student at Riga Technical University. Keeps the plan honest and the week moving.
Emīls Timanis
Founder
Student and rapper. Writes rhymes for a living, so he knows exactly how much reading aloud well depends on rhythm, breath and confidence.
Support us
Help more children read aloud with confidence.
Vokela is built by three people in Riga, with no investors asking us to add ads. If you believe in what we are doing, you can help us build it faster.
Bookmark
€5 / month
Helps pay for the speech technology that listens every time a child reads.
- A short update from the team every month
Chapter
€15 / month
Helps us test new stories with Latvian teachers and children.
- Monthly updates from the team
- Early access to new stories and features
Library
€50 / month
Helps us bring Vokela to whole classrooms, and to new languages.
- Everything in Chapter
- Your name on our founding supporters list, if you want it
- A thank-you call with the team
Payments are handled securely by Stripe — we never see your card. To stop a monthly payment, just write to us. Support is a gift to the team: it does not buy anything for your child, and the app stays free while we test.
Questions
What parents ask us
What age is Vokela for?
Children aged about 6 to 12 — from those just starting to read on their own to confident readers building fluency and expression. It works best when a grown-up is nearby for the first few evenings.
Does my child need to be able to use a phone?
No. There is one big button on the first screen. No login, no password, no menus — a child who can tap a picture can use it.
What if the app mishears my child?
Then it says so, rather than blaming them. If we cannot judge a word, we leave it unmarked. A wrongly corrected child stops wanting to read, so we would rather miss a mistake than invent one.
Which languages does it support?
Latvian first, because that is where the need is sharpest and where we are from. English is next, then other European languages — each one added with native speakers, never machine translation alone.
What does it cost?
Nothing while we are testing. When we do charge, it will be a simple family subscription, never adverts and never anything a child can buy.
Is it a substitute for a teacher or a parent?
No. It is ten minutes of practice between lessons, the same way a football drill is not a match. The reading that matters most still happens with you.
How does Vokela help my child learn to read?
Vokela does not teach the alphabet from scratch. It trains what comes next: reading aloud, more fluently and with confidence. Your child listens to a line first, reads it out loud, tries the tricky word once more and stops after three stars. Ten minutes each evening is enough.
What if my child doesn’t want to read?
Start small and without pressure: one short line, praise for what went well, and stop while it is still fun. That is why Vokela never shows red and never puts scores in front of your child. Confidence grows from small wins — and children who believe they can read, read more.
Waiting list
Be one of the first families to read with Vokela.
We are opening Vokela to families in small groups. Leave your email and we will write to you when there is a place for you.
We only use your email to tell you about Vokela. No spam, and you can ask us to delete it at any time.
Ten minutes tonight.
Open Vokela, pick a story, and let your child read the first line out loud. That is the whole thing.
Join the waiting listWorks in a browser — nothing to install.