This morning I attended a tech session at CATESOL on using Audacity software for language learning. Audacity is a free sound editor available for download at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. Although it is intended for music and other creative uses, Marsha Chan at Mission College has found it to be quite useful for teaching ESL as well.
Marsha showed us two major ways to use Audacity in the classroom. First, she showed us how to record our own voices and manipulate our recordings in various ways. A teacher might record a lecture to place online for later listening practice, or customized sounds for use in a PowerPoint presentation. Audacity's tools allow the teacher to change the pitch, tempo, and volume of the recording, as well as edit out any errors or background noise. Additionally, we discovered that changing the pitch significantly alters the sound of the recording, so that a single person can record in two different "voices" - perhaps a man and a woman having a dialogue.
Next, Marsha explained how she uses Audacity for commenting on a student's speaking. She asks students to submit digital sound files for homework. Her sample sound file was that of a student practicing the pronunciation of several vocabulary words, but she also alluded to more complex speaking journal-type assignments. The student's sound file can be imported into Audacity, where the teacher can then make comments orally on another track. Marsha suggested putting the student's speech on the left track (to be heard in the left ear when wearing headphones) and then recording comments on the right track (to be heard in the right ear) to provide the student with feedback. The file can then be exported as an mp3 file that can be placed online or emailed to the student.
Several conference attendees (including myself!) worried that it would be difficult for a student to understand the teacher's comments when they are spoken WITH the student's original speech. One attendee suggested that teacher comments be inserted into the student's speech, which can easily be done with Audacity. While Marsha confirmed that this method may be easier for a student to understand, and useful at times, she maintained that the simultaneous speech is more effective because it does not interrupt the rhythm of the student's original speech.
Marsha posted her PowerPoint and Audacity handout online at http://catesol2008.org/audacity. She also posted a 3rd file, which was not at the core of her presentation, but was a good idea nonetheless! The last PowerPoint file is Marsha's speaking prompt for her students. She begins with a photo, a story starter, and simple instructions: "Marsha likes gardening. In October she decided to plant some narcissus bulbs in her yard. Continue telling the story. Use past tense verbs with -ed endings /t/, /d/, and /id/." She then provides a series of pictures that prompt students to tell the gardening story in their own words.
Marianne and I are pretty excited about Audacity. I hope to be teaching OC this summer, so I can try it out with some students. In the meantime, I am going to make some PowerPoint presentations with picture prompts for G1 Grammar!
Jaime
1 comment:
Yes, indeed, we do like that Audacity! And it's free :-)
On the handout Jaime cited, you'll see that it is important to change the settings so that your files don't get so big (Audacity was made for recording music, but the range in speech isn't so broad and you can reduce the size of files by changing your settings.)
When you receive your student's file and import it onto your Left channel, then you can record in the Right channel and the student will hear his/her voice in one ear and yours in the other.
I hope you get a chance to go to one f Marsha Chan's sessions another time -- she makes learning fun and knows how to explain things (especially to Tech as a Second Language folks!).
--Marianne
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