Vocaroo--Simple way to record for learning

Vocaroo--a Simple Tool of Recording for Learning Language

Podcast has been popular in many fields, such as tourism, advertisement,  education. The content of podcast can audios, videos and image materials. The tool I want to introduce is an audio podcast, which is easy to get access to and totally free. 

First, I'd like to introduce you how to use it.

1. Search the website http://vocaroo.com/. You will see a clear webpage.

2. Click to record, up to five minutes.

3. After you record, you can save it in many ways.

You can email, embed, share it in facebook, Blogger, etc.I embeded what I record, you will see how clear the sound is.

Audio and voice recording >>

You also can download it as a mp3 file by simple click ‘MP3'.

Podcasting has been used by many educators for many reasons. I think the most significant reason is its convenience and flexibility. Learners can listen to it everywhere by their smart phones, ipod, laptop, etc. It is helpful to learners with their listening. Vocaroo is not just has the benefits of usual podcast. It is unique because of its easy recording. As learners can record their sound easily with Vocaroo, they can use it to complete speaking tasks. Teachers can check their students' speaking tasks after class to save time.

I think this will be a useful tool for me to check my students practice after class. I used to ask students to reader after some IELTS listening text (as they are preparing for IELTS), then send me their recording by Wechat. Although it is convenient, the recording could just last 50 seconds. It is not enough. With Vocaroo, they can read longer and send the recording by email directly. If they can embed in their blogs, then it will be even better for me to give feedback.

I like this web tool, but it also has its limitation. I tried to use it on my Mac, it always appears 'nothing was recorded'. This is because of the microphone. After I changed to anther laptop, I can use it with an earphone which is with microphone together. As a result, it may be limited to some certain facilities. Another drawbacks is about the length. If someone want to record longer text, then it could not be done. However, I still want to say it is worth trying.




 

Quizlet----useful tools for ESL teachers

Quizlet----useful tools for ESL teachers

I think almost every ESL teacher(especially with young learners) once used vocabulary cards to teach students group of words, like animals, fruits, food, etc. Some teachers may also design slides to show different vocabulary. It always takes a long time to search suitable pictures to match those vocabularies in order to help students understand them. Even you can find good pictures, what about the pronunciation? 

Quizlet is a good solution. It is a free website. You can sign up with Google or Facebook. 

If you want to upgrade to 'teacher', it only cost $25 per year. With the free version, there are also many benefits deserve your attention.

Benefits 

1) There are many sets done by other users that you can apply directly by 'search quizlet' on the top.

I tried animals, it shows there are 5000+ sets. 

And you can sort by different categories, like most relevant, most recent, etc. 

2)You can study and play with every set.

In the Study section, the flash cards are easy for teachers to show how the words pronounce without pictures.  

     

2) If there is a smartboard in your classroom, the 'Scatter' will be a good practice for students. They play it on the screen. You can divide the students into groups to have a competition.



3) The key characteristic of Quizlet is that you can create your own set. For example, I created a set of 'shopping' and it is very convenient to search pictures by clicking the sign of pictures on the right.
you can also add explanation and translation easily.

You can also add sound to these vocabulary, you can even record your own voice if you upgrade. 

4) After creating the set, you can share it on facebook, twitter, or email it to any one you like. You can even embed those practice with your set in your blog or website.

5) For those students who have no computers, the teacher can print the vocabulary for them by click 'print' in 'TOOLS'

Drawbacks

Of course, there are also drawbacks with Quizlet. As it was developed by American technicians, all pronunciations are American accent. If you want British accent, you need to add recording by yourself.  

Evaluation

Quizlet is quite useful both for teachers or students. It can be used in class instead of slides or after class as a assignment for students to learn new vocabulary. 

I think Quizlet helps me solve the problem of how to teaching IELTS listening vocabulary in a effective way. Because we used to just offer students with words list. They always feel difficult to remember those vocabulary not only because of the meaning but also because of the pronunciation.  

They don't have enough time to look up for pronunciation. With Quizlet, they can get access to those vocabulary simply by clicking the link which the teacher shared with them.

FluentU and VoiceTube---Real English to learn

FluentU and VoiceTube---Real English to learn

Films and some funny videos are good resources for ESL students to learn real English. Many teachers choose videos from internet for their classes. However there is always a big issue with it, especially for those teachers in China. Those videos on the internet usually have Chinese subtitles. Students may rely on those subtitles to understand what they hear. As a result, it is meaningless to use those videos as a practice. Sometimes you can find some videos with English subtitles, but it takes a long time. Of course, if films are the only resources you want to use, you can buy DVD disks, but it is really a big sum of money. So I gave up to use videos in class for quite a long time.

However, two websites introduced in ICT class help me solve the problem: one is FluentU, and the other is VoiceTube. Here, I'd like to show you how it works.

FluentU

After signing up (it is free), click 'Videos' below 'BROWSE' on the left. You will see a lot of videos. They have been placed in different categories. You can sort by 'DIFFICULTY', 'TOPICS' and 'FORMATS'.

After click 'elementary', there are quite lot videos for you to choose.  Most of them are cartoons that are suitable for young learners.

Click whatever you want.

 You can 'watch' or 'learn'. I think I'd like to let the students watch it first(of course without subtitles), and then learn it. Below these two tools, you can see 'Dialogue' and 'Vocab'. Click 'Vocab', you will find it has helped you list all the vocabulary from the video. As a result, these words can learned before watching the video or after. 

However, the biggest problem of this is you need to upgrade if you want to learn. 

Voice Tube

For those Chinese students and teachers, I suggest Voicetube which is totally free. What's more there are more videos on various topics, even speeches of TED. 

Those unknown vocabulary can be looked up automatically when you single click. Every word you have looked up will be listed on the right below the script. 

You can even adjust the speaking speed. 

Evaluation

VoiceTube is useful both for teachers and students. Teachers can use it either in class or sign a task for student to complete after class. For those high level learners, this is really a great tool for self-learning. As my students are those preparing for IELTS, so these materials are suitable for them to learn authentic English. I think I'd like to use the VoiceTube once a week. Every week I will choose different topics that are related to IELTS listening and reading content. 

However, there are still some limits with these two tools. One is that these tools are not so interactive. You can contribute your comment if you sign in with facebook account, but there are few people will response you. Another problem is this software was designed by Taiwan company, so all the levels are based on their criterions.