Category Archives: The web

Web-based materials and the tools for making them

6 Minute English from the BBC

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The BBC’s language learning service is an excellent multi-modal website with both general and specialised language foci. The 6 minute English section is a stand-out section for me.

6 min

6 Minute English

The clue is in the title. The recordings are based on current events in the UK and around the world. The themes are varied and rich, with several years of archived footage. The recording is normally a dialogue between the presenters, and contains authentic sound-bites from real news interviews. Prior to listening there is a multiple-choice general knowledge question about the topic, which is then answered at the end. This provides an engaging lead-in and gets the students thinking. Listening comprehension is supported by a list of 8-ish items of lexis or chunks. The items all have hidden and retrievable definitions underneath. These can be used as a lead-in or as a consolidation exercise. The audio script also has brief descriptions and definitions within it, which adds variety to the input. This is further supported with a language focus roundup at the end. All recordings have a full PDF transcript that can be downloaded or printed. This allows for differentiation and alternative methods of input and consolidation exercises. It is free to use and can be accessed (internet access and licenses permitting) by students outside of class, and could be part of their extramural activities or homework.

I cannot recommend this web page enough and the BBC for that matter. This resource definitely ticks a lot of the principles that I set out at the start of the blog. It has ‘real’ world functional language and can be perceived as relevant and useful. It has wide and varying amount of content that would appeal and engage. There are examples of authentic language use as well as the more manufactured dialogue which gives a good balance.

 

SoundCloud

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SoundCloud is something that I have been using for the past year or so. I have found it invaluable as a way of recording speaking practice to track progress and assess students. Speaking can be really difficult to monitor and give constructive feedback on; when you have a larger class-size, the time and resources are just impossible to manage all at once. SoundCloud is a free application that has a rich resource of audio material, it also has a simple mobile phone application that allows students to record and upload to a private and secure location.

Student Benefits

Record audio on phone or laptop
Upload, store and listen later
Evaluate and perfect
Monitor long-term progress

Teacher Benefits

‘Follow’ students
Give comments and feedback
Set homework tasks
Record audio for listening practice
Encourage independence

Here is an example of a student who has recorded himself practising the speaking coursework, which he then uploaded onto my SoundCloud page where I could listen and leave him comments.

Speaking example

I urge you to give it a go. My students were sceptical at first but they have really taken to it.

Your Brain on Video Games

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In this web section I am going to use to post things that I find on the web that effect or have effected my beliefs and practice of language teaching and learning.

This is something that I wanted to share. I originally watched this video as part of a Flipped class I taught. The idea was that students would watch the video and answer some comprehension questions as their homework. This would take place prior to a discussion in class. The discussion was based on the controversy surrounding video games and their effects on young people. To counterbalance the medias fairly focused view about violence and the corruption of youth I want a positive perspective on video games. This talk is both engaging (which I also point out to my skills students about audience participation), but is based on empirical studies highlighting the physical and cognitive benefits of video games. Anyway, the information that I drew from this has really changed some my teaching practice and beliefs in the affordances of video games in education. I recently wrote an essay about incidental vocabulary learning through commercial-off-the-shelf video games. In a lot of ways that essay would have not come together if it were not for this Ted-Talk. I am starting my quest for the chocolate covered broccoli (if you watch it, this makes sense).

Also, have a look at the media and video section of this blog to the see the Ted-Ed website.