In
foreign language teaching, there are numerous podcasting, screen casting and
video sharing websites supporting the skills of our learners. Podcasts are easy
to access and teachers can find ones on various topics that are at the level of
their students. Moreover, they can create their own podcast to share it with
their learners, which can be even more appealing for their learners. Students
can also prepare their own podcasts in their own time giving them the
opportunity to record as many times as they would like, reflecting their
interests, personality, and leaving room for improving themselves.
The
podcasting tool that would benefit language learners is Voice Thread. Voice Thread
offers many options for a language class. Reflections, projects, topic
discussions can be done with voice thread. Learners can make effective
presentations by including voice, video and text explanations. Using media
allows language learners to express their ideas more effectively. All they have
to do after they create their voice thread is to send the link or embed it in a
web page. An asynchronous conversation can occur when viewers make comments by
using a microphone, webcam, phone, text or uploading an audio file. In addition
to presentations, I would use voice thread for extra drilling purposes. Foreign
language students are not exposed to the target language because they live in
environment where the mother tongue is used. Therefore, they need extra
pronunciation practices and dictation activities. Therefore, language teachers
can record sentences using the target language structures for their learners to
listen, practise saying them and writing them, and finally compare them with
the original one. I could also use it for reflection purposes on my lessons to
be able to see what puzzled them, and what they enjoyed doing to plan the
following week's lesson. Pictures can be uploaded for them to comment on them,
which could be an excellent speaking practice for all levels. For upper levels,
learners can discuss the two side of an issue, which is a meaningful pair work
discussion and learners can listen and comment on them. You may find more
information on voice thread in the following link: www.voicethread.com
A video sharing website that would benefit language learners is TokBox. TokBox is a free video communication platform that anyone can use by creating an account. Then all you have to do is to use your webcam to record your videos along with texts you can add to the message part. After you do your recording, you can send it to anyone's email. You can also have live communication with people in your contact list by clicking on the chat button. Another great aspect of it is that it allows you to upload videos from YouTube creating the opportunity to discuss on them by inviting people through Tweet or Facebook or TokBox contacts. Language teachers can use it for many purposes. A very effective way would be uploading videos from YouTube and invite them to an online conversion. Nik Peachey (2009) suggests another task that would engage the learners in a meaningful way. He suggests using a video that has many people in it and having half the class choose one of the roles and describe what happened by recording a video and the rest to be detectives to take notes and compare it with the original one to have a complete understanding of what happened. Whole class can reflect on what they did well and determine what they missed in the video. For more information on TokBox, please visit www.tokbox.com
References:
Peachey, N. (2009, September 17). Nik's Learning Technology Blog [Web blog]. Retrieved from: http://issuu.com/nikpeachey/docs/web20-tools-for-teachers/1
Peachey, N. (2009, September 17). Nik's Learning Technology Blog [Web blog]. Retrieved from: http://issuu.com/nikpeachey/docs/web20-tools-for-teachers/1
Hi Su,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using a website where my learners can share their videos. I could ask my learners to record videos on a variety of topics, either individually, or in pairs or groups. For instance, after teaching my learners how to give a good presentation, I can ask each learner to record themselves presenting a topic that we decide on, record it and share it on TokBox. Then, I could ask them to view a number of their peers’ presentations and note down 3 good things and 3 things that could be improved about each. They would share these with their peers. This is a great way for them to practice and get feedback before their real performances in class, which will be assessed.
Great post, thanks!
Izlem.
Thank you for your suggestions, Izlem. I will definitely add to my repertoire.
DeleteSu
Su, There are excellent tools for language learners. I wish I had the opportunity to use podcasts, or tools like You Tube and video sharing when I was trying to learn foreign languages. I could never keep up or remember in class- too much time spent on tenses and grammar and not enough time on learning to speak the language through vocabulary building. Teri
ReplyDeleteTeri, My experience is no different. The only tools used in class was cassettes and they belonged to the teacher and the only practicing opportunity we had was chorally repeating the nonsense dialogues. We could practice only in class with drills. So, language learners these days are so lucky but I am not sure how many of them are really using them.
DeleteThank you for your response.
Su
Hi Su I finally caught up!
ReplyDeleteThis blogging and podcasting is so new to me, I must admit I find it a little intimidating. I have realized over the last couple of weeks through our studies how beneficial it is to keep up with technology, especially if we want to effectively teach adult learners!
Hi Kathy,
DeleteMany things are pretty new for most of us I guess, at least to me. I will start using the ones in my blog starting from next week and see how it goes. Adults are changing so we have to keep up with the advances in technology.