This site is an amazing one for listening skills, learning vocabulary and practising pronunciation. It has a really wide range of video material at different levels, (indicated easy, medium and hard) that you can listen to and transcripts below them so that you can read along as you listen. That in itself would be helpful, but this site goes a whole lot further! As you watch each video, you can go back a line at a time and listen again (helpful), you can slow down the speed of the speaker (very helpful - I particularly love this feature) and you can click on the more difficult vocabulary in the transcript and it will give you a definition and a pronunciation guide (how much help do you need?!!). Fabulous! There is such a wide range of material it should appeal to adults with a wide range of interests and to young learners. You can register on the site and it will keep a track of your scores, but you can also use it without registering, and in either case it's free.
After you've watched the video, you can also use a microphone to record yourself reading each of the lines and the site gives you a score. Most of the videos have American accents, so you won't get 100% scores if you don't mirror that, but it's quite forgiving of other accents and even when I put on my most RP voice (ie quite different to an AmEng accent, but perfectly acceptable) it gave me a high score.
I think that this is something that you could set as a homework task, allow learners time to listen, understand the vocabulary, practice some of the pronunciation, and then come to class prepared to discuss a video that they have watched. It may be that you want to give them all the same one or they could each choose one and describe theirs to a small group as a jigsaw activity.
Limitations - I'm stuck to think of any!
Hi Jo, have sorted out the technology: sense of achievement on my part. Life-long learning!
ReplyDeleteYou're probably aware I went back to do the CELTA course and got through it. Have done a variety of teaching roles as a VL at South Birmingham College: my first assignment was a 12 week, 15 hours pw course for E1 and 2 learners at Birmingham Central Mosque. Also at various community settings which included teaching literacy as an integral element of a 12 week taxi-driver course. Worked last summer and the summer before at SBC's Learning Zone at the NEC on a 1:1 basis "teaching" literacy and numeracy. Last summer I was doing the same at Ladywood Fire Station.
Have also done some "TEFL" teaching through a small agency. Both students were at advanced level: I enjoyed doing this and would like to do more.I spent a week last summer in Spain at "Vaughantown" as part of a course doing 1:1 conversational English with (generally) high-level students. I'll probably do that again this summer.
Since autumn 2009 I've been working 4 days a week at SBC as a TA as a way of guaranteeing a regular,albeit, modest income. I started the DTLLS course at SBC that autumn but withdrew because of other commitments.I met Lynne Reveley from Solihull College last September with a view of restarting the course there: unfortunately there was no guarantee of having it funded. Will need to start looking again for this September. As I'm currently not working Fridays and have not taught since August, I'm looking for a few hours per week. If you know of any teaching being available I would appreciate your letting me know.(That's the sales pitch over with!!) As a result of having done a proofreading course and mentioning this to Fiona (Hardy),I am getting proofreading work from international students doing Ph.Ds
I still keepin contact with Susan-I'm seeing her on Saturday- and Navida.
Finally a big "thank you" for your encouragement to go back to the CELTA course. I got my head sorted out sufficiently to go back. Your confidence in my ability is much appreciated.
Kind regards
Ed