What is RSS?
In a world heaving under the weight of billions of web pages, keeping up to date with the information you want can be a drag.
Wouldn't it be better to have the latest news and features delivered directly to you, rather than clicking from site to site? Well now you can, thanks to a very clever service, RSS. There is some discussion as to what RSS stands for, but the majority plump for 'Really Simple Syndication'. Put plainly, it allows you to identify the content you like and have it delivered directly to you. It takes the hassle out of staying up-to-date, by showing you the very latest information that you are interested in. Not all websites currently provide RSS, but it is growing rapidly in popularity and many others, including the Guardian, New York Times and CNN do provid.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Friday, March 09, 2007
Use of IT in our university---respond to week 8th reading assignment
In the university where I work, many teachers find that they have little or no choice about integrating IT into their language classrooms. For one thing, the classrooms where students have English classes are not equipped with multimedia machines; for another, many teachers don't see much use of incorporating IT into classroom activities or tasks and, therefore, don't bother to think hard about how to make IT an added value component in our language teaching and learning context.
However, some young teachers do prefer involving use of IT in their classrooms. Unfortunately, what they usually do in language labs is simply showing students English films and PPT slides, playing CDs, MP3s. Since use of IT should be matched to the students' learning needs and interests as well as requirments of specific teaching context, what these young teachers need to consider is how to make IT add value to teaching tasks and classroom activities, and thus make them more worthwhile. Considering the fact that teachers in our department get used to working within a structured learning environment where learning goals and objectives are highly predetermined, a considerable amount of practice and training would be required to help them to become digital languge educators who are capable of setting realistic goals with IT and using it effectively.
Saying from the students' point of view, although they are interested in new and high technology, they can easily lose interest in classroom tasks when they perceive that their needs are not being met. In addition, many students still believe they benefit most from closely regulated instruction system with low flexibility, in which time, place, curriculum and pacing are fixed in advance. Chinese students, esp. students from innerland provinces like Shanxi, tend to depend more on teachers. They lack learning autonomy and feel difficult to take charge of their own learning and be responsible for it.
Therefore, although flexibility (including time, place, curriculum, and pace) discussed in the book does offer the maximum opportunity to every possible learners, I'm afraid our students will have to take time to learn to monitor and assess their learning performance. What I mean is it would be quite impractical and impossible to incorporate tasks that are "liberated" or "free" into our teaching practice at present in Shanxi.
However, some young teachers do prefer involving use of IT in their classrooms. Unfortunately, what they usually do in language labs is simply showing students English films and PPT slides, playing CDs, MP3s. Since use of IT should be matched to the students' learning needs and interests as well as requirments of specific teaching context, what these young teachers need to consider is how to make IT add value to teaching tasks and classroom activities, and thus make them more worthwhile. Considering the fact that teachers in our department get used to working within a structured learning environment where learning goals and objectives are highly predetermined, a considerable amount of practice and training would be required to help them to become digital languge educators who are capable of setting realistic goals with IT and using it effectively.
Saying from the students' point of view, although they are interested in new and high technology, they can easily lose interest in classroom tasks when they perceive that their needs are not being met. In addition, many students still believe they benefit most from closely regulated instruction system with low flexibility, in which time, place, curriculum and pacing are fixed in advance. Chinese students, esp. students from innerland provinces like Shanxi, tend to depend more on teachers. They lack learning autonomy and feel difficult to take charge of their own learning and be responsible for it.
Therefore, although flexibility (including time, place, curriculum, and pace) discussed in the book does offer the maximum opportunity to every possible learners, I'm afraid our students will have to take time to learn to monitor and assess their learning performance. What I mean is it would be quite impractical and impossible to incorporate tasks that are "liberated" or "free" into our teaching practice at present in Shanxi.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Revised evaluation of 7 online listening websites
1. http://www.elllo.org/
ELLLO stands for English Language Listening Lab Online. It is a collection of over 1,000 listening activities that students can view free via the internet. Most listening activities come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcript and interactive quiz.
ELLLO offers a variety of listening activities that each targets a specific listening skill, need or interest. By clicking on English by Region language learners are able to choose English from different regions like Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, etc. By clicking different names of the country, a listener opens a window to experience its culture while listening. The listening activities include interviews (natural conversations with various speakers of English that offer multiple listening options), newscasts (help students learn academic English and develop test taking skills for standardized listening tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS), songs (with lyrics), presentations (Talking Points), listening games (designed for beginning students and for students who want to listen for fun and enjoyment), etc.
ELLLO is the creation of Todd Beuckens, an English teacher currently working in Japan. He started ELLLO so his students could listen to more authentic listening activities. ELLLO began in the summer of 2003 and has been going strong ever since.
ELLLO’s updates occur weekly on each Monday. On average there are at least five new listening activities each week. Activities are numbered for easy reference.
Although there are some advertisements on the top and right-side of the page on this website, it is still worth recommending to students since it offers rich listening materials which not only helpful for students to practice listening abilities and to learn about the target language culture.
The site is well-designed and easy to navigate.
2.http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
About. com was founded in 1996 by Scott Kurnit and a dedicated group of entrepreneurs. In 2005, About. Inc. was acquired by The New York Times Company.
This is one of the best online listening websites that offers various rich resources that ESL and EFL learners and teachers need in order to practice and teach listening skills. Its great variety enables language teachers and learners to choose materials according to their special needs. Listening activities in this site vary from beginner’s level to intermediate and to advanced levels. This site also offers Listening Lesson Plans for language teachers, with different difficulty levels and wide topics to choose from. Online Listening Quizzes are esp. good for language learners because they can get feedback immediately after they finish listening practice by giving their response through choosing and clicking the answers. It makes listening a private and individual activity and thus learners won’t worry about losing face or feeling embarrassed in front of others because of their incorrect choice. All the listening materials in this site are authentic and accessible freely online. Besides, both teachers and students can find a lot of other English resources in this site, such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Speaking, Writing skills, Reading skills, and even TOFEL and EILTS, etc. It offers links to other online listening resources as well.
The biggest shortcoming of the site is it includes some advertisements which have nothing to do with language learning. Therefore, teachers need to warn students of its negative aspects. Despite this shortcoming, esl.about.com is still recommendable since it offers English listening skills practice for ESL and EFL learners and teachers, plus comprehension quizzes for listening skill improvement for beginner, intermediate and advanced ESL EFL English levels.
The site is not well-designed. Its Ads seems more distractive than its main content due to the design and color, which makes navigation a little difficult. About. com is updated frequently.
3. http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
The site was created by The Internet TESL Journal in 1995 and Updated over the years. It is a sub-page of The Internet TESL Journal's TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links.
The site is specially designed for teachers and students of English as a Second language. One of the advantages of this site is it has separate links for students and teachers, which save both teachers and students time and trouble in finding the suitable materials they want to seek. In addition, it has Downloadable MP3 Files, which is esp. good for students so that they can download and listen to the materials whenever they want to. This also makes it easier for language teachers to use them in their classrooms.Also, this site is good for those who are interested in Literature. In this website, listeners can listen to a good many classic stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. To add, learners can watch and listen to Classic Movies as well as TV Comedies and many other types of scripts like speeches, etc.Furthermore, there are some materials specially designed for language learners. Take Ellie Speaks Out for example. It makes learners learn English and laugh at the same time. On top of that, the whole text is provided, which enables language learners of different levels a lot of choices to choose from.
This site is updated daily. Its website design is simple but easy to follow and navigate.
4. http://www.esl-lab.com/
This ESL language Web site is one of the most popular online language listening labs. It aims to help ESL/EFL students improve their listening comprehension skills through practice with self-grading. It is created and hosted by Randall Davis, who has worked at several colleges and universities in the United States. Randall Davis’ interest and specialty in CALL, video technology and language teaching, teacher training, and learner autonomy ensures esl-lab.com a good and dependable site for language learners.
This site is specially designed for ESL students to practice and test their listening capability. It is recommendable because it serves all levels of English language learners. In addition, it offers free audio and video quizzes. It provides various listening practice materials, such as General Listening Quizzes (Learn everyday conversation with adult and children's voices), Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes (Prepare for TOEFL/TOEIC), Language Learning and Life Tips (Life-skills tips with audio), and Long Conversations with Videos (Watch, listen and learn with interviews and conversations), etc.
Despite the fact that it has links to some sales products Ads, it is still a fairly good online listening lab because of its rich content and originality. The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate.
5.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
This is one of the best and the most popular authoritative Websites English teachers can turn to for searching authentic materials for listening class. There is a great variety for teachers to choose whatever they and their students need and are interested in. This is one of the sites that can be recommended to students because it not only offers good authentic listening materials but also is specially designed for language learners so that they can improve and practice their English with activities that involve listening and watching. Meanwhile, it opens a window for language learners to learn about the target culture.Each section of the site has something to listen to, and some can be watched and listened to at the same time. There are lots of exercises designed to test listeners’ comprehension. In fact, teachers and English language learners can find almost everything they like in this website. For those who are interested in British English pronunciation and British culture and society, this is the best site to be visited. The site makes English language learning and listening practice more interesting and enjoyable.
There is no attention-distractive Ads at all on this website. Each section and page is rich in content.
The site is well designed and uses distinct fonts and colors, which makes it easy for readers to read and navigate.
ELLLO stands for English Language Listening Lab Online. It is a collection of over 1,000 listening activities that students can view free via the internet. Most listening activities come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcript and interactive quiz.
ELLLO offers a variety of listening activities that each targets a specific listening skill, need or interest. By clicking on English by Region language learners are able to choose English from different regions like Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, etc. By clicking different names of the country, a listener opens a window to experience its culture while listening. The listening activities include interviews (natural conversations with various speakers of English that offer multiple listening options), newscasts (help students learn academic English and develop test taking skills for standardized listening tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS), songs (with lyrics), presentations (Talking Points), listening games (designed for beginning students and for students who want to listen for fun and enjoyment), etc.
ELLLO is the creation of Todd Beuckens, an English teacher currently working in Japan. He started ELLLO so his students could listen to more authentic listening activities. ELLLO began in the summer of 2003 and has been going strong ever since.
ELLLO’s updates occur weekly on each Monday. On average there are at least five new listening activities each week. Activities are numbered for easy reference.
Although there are some advertisements on the top and right-side of the page on this website, it is still worth recommending to students since it offers rich listening materials which not only helpful for students to practice listening abilities and to learn about the target language culture.
The site is well-designed and easy to navigate.
2.http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
About. com was founded in 1996 by Scott Kurnit and a dedicated group of entrepreneurs. In 2005, About. Inc. was acquired by The New York Times Company.
This is one of the best online listening websites that offers various rich resources that ESL and EFL learners and teachers need in order to practice and teach listening skills. Its great variety enables language teachers and learners to choose materials according to their special needs. Listening activities in this site vary from beginner’s level to intermediate and to advanced levels. This site also offers Listening Lesson Plans for language teachers, with different difficulty levels and wide topics to choose from. Online Listening Quizzes are esp. good for language learners because they can get feedback immediately after they finish listening practice by giving their response through choosing and clicking the answers. It makes listening a private and individual activity and thus learners won’t worry about losing face or feeling embarrassed in front of others because of their incorrect choice. All the listening materials in this site are authentic and accessible freely online. Besides, both teachers and students can find a lot of other English resources in this site, such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Speaking, Writing skills, Reading skills, and even TOFEL and EILTS, etc. It offers links to other online listening resources as well.
The biggest shortcoming of the site is it includes some advertisements which have nothing to do with language learning. Therefore, teachers need to warn students of its negative aspects. Despite this shortcoming, esl.about.com is still recommendable since it offers English listening skills practice for ESL and EFL learners and teachers, plus comprehension quizzes for listening skill improvement for beginner, intermediate and advanced ESL EFL English levels.
The site is not well-designed. Its Ads seems more distractive than its main content due to the design and color, which makes navigation a little difficult. About. com is updated frequently.
3. http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
The site was created by The Internet TESL Journal in 1995 and Updated over the years. It is a sub-page of The Internet TESL Journal's TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links.
The site is specially designed for teachers and students of English as a Second language. One of the advantages of this site is it has separate links for students and teachers, which save both teachers and students time and trouble in finding the suitable materials they want to seek. In addition, it has Downloadable MP3 Files, which is esp. good for students so that they can download and listen to the materials whenever they want to. This also makes it easier for language teachers to use them in their classrooms.Also, this site is good for those who are interested in Literature. In this website, listeners can listen to a good many classic stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. To add, learners can watch and listen to Classic Movies as well as TV Comedies and many other types of scripts like speeches, etc.Furthermore, there are some materials specially designed for language learners. Take Ellie Speaks Out for example. It makes learners learn English and laugh at the same time. On top of that, the whole text is provided, which enables language learners of different levels a lot of choices to choose from.
This site is updated daily. Its website design is simple but easy to follow and navigate.
4. http://www.esl-lab.com/
This ESL language Web site is one of the most popular online language listening labs. It aims to help ESL/EFL students improve their listening comprehension skills through practice with self-grading. It is created and hosted by Randall Davis, who has worked at several colleges and universities in the United States. Randall Davis’ interest and specialty in CALL, video technology and language teaching, teacher training, and learner autonomy ensures esl-lab.com a good and dependable site for language learners.
This site is specially designed for ESL students to practice and test their listening capability. It is recommendable because it serves all levels of English language learners. In addition, it offers free audio and video quizzes. It provides various listening practice materials, such as General Listening Quizzes (Learn everyday conversation with adult and children's voices), Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes (Prepare for TOEFL/TOEIC), Language Learning and Life Tips (Life-skills tips with audio), and Long Conversations with Videos (Watch, listen and learn with interviews and conversations), etc.
Despite the fact that it has links to some sales products Ads, it is still a fairly good online listening lab because of its rich content and originality. The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate.
5.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
This is one of the best and the most popular authoritative Websites English teachers can turn to for searching authentic materials for listening class. There is a great variety for teachers to choose whatever they and their students need and are interested in. This is one of the sites that can be recommended to students because it not only offers good authentic listening materials but also is specially designed for language learners so that they can improve and practice their English with activities that involve listening and watching. Meanwhile, it opens a window for language learners to learn about the target culture.Each section of the site has something to listen to, and some can be watched and listened to at the same time. There are lots of exercises designed to test listeners’ comprehension. In fact, teachers and English language learners can find almost everything they like in this website. For those who are interested in British English pronunciation and British culture and society, this is the best site to be visited. The site makes English language learning and listening practice more interesting and enjoyable.
There is no attention-distractive Ads at all on this website. Each section and page is rich in content.
The site is well designed and uses distinct fonts and colors, which makes it easy for readers to read and navigate.
The site is updated daily.
6. http://www.pbs.org
Started in1995, PBS stands for Public Broadcasting Service. it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is a non–profit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 354 public television stations. With more than 1,300 PBS television programs and specials, as well as original Web content and real-time learning adventures, the site offers authentic language listening materials with different categories that can satisfy both language teachers and learners of various interests. It has History section, Arts and Drama section, News and Views section, and Life & culture section, and so on. This site can be recommended to language learners of intermediate and advanced levels and those who are interested in exploring American culture.
Although there are some commercials on the site, which is the negative side of it, still the site's rich content and language originality far outweigh its shortcomings.
The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate. In addition, it is updated daily.
7. http://www.npr.org
NPR stands for National Public Radio (USA). It is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. It is a privately supported, non-profit membership organization. With original online content and audio streaming, npr.org offers hourly newscasts, special features and ten years of archived audio and information. NPR produces and distributes more than 130 hours of original programming each week.
Covering all kinds of topics including News, Nation, World, Business, People & Places, Health & Science, Music, Arts & Culture, books, etc. this site is one of the most authentic and authoritative for language learners and teachers to practice listening. However, since it is not designed purposefully for language learners or non-natives, the site is only recommended to language teachers and learners of English who are with high-intermediate and advanced level of English.
There is little commercial on this site. The only drawback is listeners will have to pay in order to access the transcripts of the shows.
The site is well-designed and distinct in its using of appropriate fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy for readers to read and navigate. Also, it is updated daily.
Revised 7 Listening Websites
- http://www.elllo.org/
- http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
- http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
- http://www.esl-lab.com/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
- http://www.pbs.org
- http://www.npr.org
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Podcasts: Another Source for Listening Input
Introduction
The advent of podcasts on the internet has given the language teacher a goldmine of materials for teaching listening skills. This article covers the subject of podcasts on several levels. It will first deal with the question of what podcasts are and what their advantages are. Next, the article describes how podcasts can benefit students and how to determine which podcasts would be the most beneficial. It also discusses how to maximize learning from podcasts. Lastly, the content of ESL/EFL podcasts will be described so that the reader can take advantage of the new wealth of materials available for teaching.
What Is a Podcast?
A podcast is the name of a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program. Podcasts are published on the internet as MP3 files. Interested listeners are able to download these MP3 files onto their personal computer or personal MP3 player of any type The files can be listened to at the convenience of the listener. Learners can listen over and over to any material that is of interest to them. To be useful in a school setting a teacher would need internet access, a computer that can play audio files or an MP3 player.Podcasts can be as short as two to three minutes and as long as an hour. Teachers can subscribe to a podcast through an RSS subscription (Really Simple Syndication). The advantage of this practice is that as new episodes become available they are downloaded to the computer automatically. Also, they come at no cost to the subscriber. Because podcast content is free, teachers now have a way to build up a big listening library for their students on contemporary and relevant topics. Teachers can also encourage students to download podcasts on their own so that they have more listening input.
Advantages of Podcasts
In thinking about podcasts, teachers might ask themselves what the benefit would be for their students. Even at the beginning levels, learners can benefit from global listening even if they only listen from three to five minutes a day. Beginning students will be exposed to the new language “with its own distinctive sound system, intonation patterns, pause system and word order”. (Patterson, 2001, p.93) The intermediate learner has a need for authentic texts and to be exposed to a variety of voices. By the time learners reach the advanced stage, they must be able to learn from listening. Most students in a foreign country rely heavily on reading, writing and vocabulary to learn. It is critical for them to be able to recognize “organizational markers, cohesive devices and definitions in context.” (Patterson, 2001, p. 97)
How to Decide What Podcasts Are Beneficial
There are at least two concepts that teachers must focus on in choosing a podcast for the students to hear. The first has to do with relevance. In order for students to benefit from listening to a podcast the content must be relevant to the learner. When a topic is relevant, it holds the attention of the learner and thus increases motivation. (Morley, 2001) Other researchers have also commented on the need for authentic language and contexts. By providing these tools, students will see the relevance of the activity to their long-term communicative goals. (Brown, 2001) The desire for relevant content is personified through such courses as Business English. In this past year, podcasts for Business English have appeared on the internet. They deal with practical topics such as socializing, telephoning and meetings. Teachers who teach overseas now have the opportunity to access such materials and pass it on to their students. The second concept that a teacher must consider in choosing a podcast is that of transferability. Actually, relevance and transferability are often connected. If students feel that the content is relevant, there is a strong possibility that what is learned can be applied to other situations whether it is at school or out in the real world. “Best listening activities present in-class activities that mirror real life.” (Morley, 2001, p.77) For instance, students can listen to a news broadcast with topics that can later be used in a real life conversation.
Listening Techniques to Enhance Learning
Students will gain the most from podcasts if they employ strategic listening techniques to consolidate their learning. Mendelsohn (1994) offers seven techniques that will help the listeners focus on any listening activity.
Listen for one crucial detail.
Listen for all the details.
Listen for the gist
Listen for mood and atmosphere.
Listen for the main idea.
Listen to form hypotheses and make predictions.
Listen to make an inference.
Have an Outcome in Mind
As students listen to a podcast, there must be a purpose for this activity. In other words, what will the students do with the information they gained through listening? Will they take notes, summarize the gist of a story, fill out an outline or fill in a gap story? (Morley, 2001) One can quickly see that a listening activity can involve more than one skill. Writing can be utilized as well as speaking. Students can discuss what they heard on the podcast. For instance, students’ can compare their life experiences with those reported on a podcast.
What Type of Content Is Offered on ESL/EFL Podcasts?
Trying to find information on the internet can sometimes prove to be very frustrating. However, a quick search on an internet search engine will uncover a number of new ESL podcast sites that have been developed for different purposes. The following are just some of the topics that are covered.
Vocabulary
Grammar Topics
Idioms and Slang
Business English
World News and Current events
Limericks and Jokes
Songs
Poetry
Teachers can also take advantage of mainstream media institutions that offer free podcasts such as Voice of America and National Public Radio. Podcasts are not just for listening. Often there is a transcript provided along with worksheets. Some podcasts even provide cultural notes. A number of websites interact with the students and ask them to write in with questions or comments. Often the comments of students provide the material for new programs. One innovative uses of podcasts is to have a student listen to a podcast and read along with its transcript. Then the student will make a recording of the material on a cassette tape and turn it into the teacher along with a written journal. The teacher then listens to the student’s recording and gives appropriate feedback to the student. This type of activity helps the students to develop fluency in reading, to improve pronunciation, and to acquire new vocabulary words.
Conclusion
My interest in podcasts developed because of the desire to find new materials for teaching listening skills. In teaching listening, a teacher can fall into the bad habit of using the same listening materials over and over again. Podcasts can supply fresh ideas and motivation. With any new idea, a teacher must also examine the reasons for using it and the purposes it can serve. Students in an EFL setting need to be exposed to new voices and relevant content. Podcasts can meet this need. But, a teacher must also be committed to teaching good listening techniques such as listening for details. At the end of the day students must be able to do something with what they have heard. As students respond positively to listening tasks, they will be motivated to learn more. After all, the goal of every teacher should be to help students gain confidence in hearing and understanding what is spoken in their new language.
Related Links
iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts
Introduction
The advent of podcasts on the internet has given the language teacher a goldmine of materials for teaching listening skills. This article covers the subject of podcasts on several levels. It will first deal with the question of what podcasts are and what their advantages are. Next, the article describes how podcasts can benefit students and how to determine which podcasts would be the most beneficial. It also discusses how to maximize learning from podcasts. Lastly, the content of ESL/EFL podcasts will be described so that the reader can take advantage of the new wealth of materials available for teaching.
What Is a Podcast?
A podcast is the name of a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program. Podcasts are published on the internet as MP3 files. Interested listeners are able to download these MP3 files onto their personal computer or personal MP3 player of any type The files can be listened to at the convenience of the listener. Learners can listen over and over to any material that is of interest to them. To be useful in a school setting a teacher would need internet access, a computer that can play audio files or an MP3 player.Podcasts can be as short as two to three minutes and as long as an hour. Teachers can subscribe to a podcast through an RSS subscription (Really Simple Syndication). The advantage of this practice is that as new episodes become available they are downloaded to the computer automatically. Also, they come at no cost to the subscriber. Because podcast content is free, teachers now have a way to build up a big listening library for their students on contemporary and relevant topics. Teachers can also encourage students to download podcasts on their own so that they have more listening input.
Advantages of Podcasts
In thinking about podcasts, teachers might ask themselves what the benefit would be for their students. Even at the beginning levels, learners can benefit from global listening even if they only listen from three to five minutes a day. Beginning students will be exposed to the new language “with its own distinctive sound system, intonation patterns, pause system and word order”. (Patterson, 2001, p.93) The intermediate learner has a need for authentic texts and to be exposed to a variety of voices. By the time learners reach the advanced stage, they must be able to learn from listening. Most students in a foreign country rely heavily on reading, writing and vocabulary to learn. It is critical for them to be able to recognize “organizational markers, cohesive devices and definitions in context.” (Patterson, 2001, p. 97)
How to Decide What Podcasts Are Beneficial
There are at least two concepts that teachers must focus on in choosing a podcast for the students to hear. The first has to do with relevance. In order for students to benefit from listening to a podcast the content must be relevant to the learner. When a topic is relevant, it holds the attention of the learner and thus increases motivation. (Morley, 2001) Other researchers have also commented on the need for authentic language and contexts. By providing these tools, students will see the relevance of the activity to their long-term communicative goals. (Brown, 2001) The desire for relevant content is personified through such courses as Business English. In this past year, podcasts for Business English have appeared on the internet. They deal with practical topics such as socializing, telephoning and meetings. Teachers who teach overseas now have the opportunity to access such materials and pass it on to their students. The second concept that a teacher must consider in choosing a podcast is that of transferability. Actually, relevance and transferability are often connected. If students feel that the content is relevant, there is a strong possibility that what is learned can be applied to other situations whether it is at school or out in the real world. “Best listening activities present in-class activities that mirror real life.” (Morley, 2001, p.77) For instance, students can listen to a news broadcast with topics that can later be used in a real life conversation.
Listening Techniques to Enhance Learning
Students will gain the most from podcasts if they employ strategic listening techniques to consolidate their learning. Mendelsohn (1994) offers seven techniques that will help the listeners focus on any listening activity.
Listen for one crucial detail.
Listen for all the details.
Listen for the gist
Listen for mood and atmosphere.
Listen for the main idea.
Listen to form hypotheses and make predictions.
Listen to make an inference.
Have an Outcome in Mind
As students listen to a podcast, there must be a purpose for this activity. In other words, what will the students do with the information they gained through listening? Will they take notes, summarize the gist of a story, fill out an outline or fill in a gap story? (Morley, 2001) One can quickly see that a listening activity can involve more than one skill. Writing can be utilized as well as speaking. Students can discuss what they heard on the podcast. For instance, students’ can compare their life experiences with those reported on a podcast.
What Type of Content Is Offered on ESL/EFL Podcasts?
Trying to find information on the internet can sometimes prove to be very frustrating. However, a quick search on an internet search engine will uncover a number of new ESL podcast sites that have been developed for different purposes. The following are just some of the topics that are covered.
Vocabulary
Grammar Topics
Idioms and Slang
Business English
World News and Current events
Limericks and Jokes
Songs
Poetry
Teachers can also take advantage of mainstream media institutions that offer free podcasts such as Voice of America and National Public Radio. Podcasts are not just for listening. Often there is a transcript provided along with worksheets. Some podcasts even provide cultural notes. A number of websites interact with the students and ask them to write in with questions or comments. Often the comments of students provide the material for new programs. One innovative uses of podcasts is to have a student listen to a podcast and read along with its transcript. Then the student will make a recording of the material on a cassette tape and turn it into the teacher along with a written journal. The teacher then listens to the student’s recording and gives appropriate feedback to the student. This type of activity helps the students to develop fluency in reading, to improve pronunciation, and to acquire new vocabulary words.
Conclusion
My interest in podcasts developed because of the desire to find new materials for teaching listening skills. In teaching listening, a teacher can fall into the bad habit of using the same listening materials over and over again. Podcasts can supply fresh ideas and motivation. With any new idea, a teacher must also examine the reasons for using it and the purposes it can serve. Students in an EFL setting need to be exposed to new voices and relevant content. Podcasts can meet this need. But, a teacher must also be committed to teaching good listening techniques such as listening for details. At the end of the day students must be able to do something with what they have heard. As students respond positively to listening tasks, they will be motivated to learn more. After all, the goal of every teacher should be to help students gain confidence in hearing and understanding what is spoken in their new language.
Related Links
iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts
Friday, February 23, 2007
Change isn't always good?
With high-tech bombarding in education situation, some of us are ready for change, while others are not. I think that some teachers are feeling like they are being forced to change. While I believe that change can be a good thing, I don't necessarily feel that it is always good. Frustration is only going to force some teachers to resist even more. Following is an American teacher talking about his feeling of CHANGE. He says:
"I agree that change is not always good, and that we shouldn't force anybody to change. But I do think change is inevitable. And I am beginning to believe (not quite there yet) that even teachers who have been successful in the past will not be successful in the future if they continue to do what "they've always done." I just think they will not be giving students the best possible education if they don't incorporate the resources that technology and the Internet provide. I also worry that they will not be preparing students for the future that they will be living in - the world truly is changing dramatically. "
I have to say I cannot agree with him any more.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Teachers of 21st Century---We have no choice
Dear Tan and Ice,
Both your reasons are reasonable, but I still insist my opinion that in order not to be left out by the society, a teacher, no matter how old or young she/he is, she/he must keep on learning.
In the past several years, life-long learning/education to a teacher simply meant one should update her/his knowledge of a particular area frequently, while nowadays it seems that besides one's professional knowledge, mastering of high-tech knowledge and skills becomes a necessity. To be an excellent teacher of 21st century, we have no choice but to work harder than ever before in order to follow the footsteps of the new world.
However, we do have our choices to make: we can choose to stick to the old teaching method or we can choose to corporate high-tech into our classroom. The point is whether sticking to the old teaching method and not striving ahead work well. If it does, then everything is fine. But I do suspect it will.
I remember six years ago one famous professor from the Foreign Languages School of Beijing Normal University once openly expressed his strong objection of using a computer. He refused to use computer to write his papers or anything else. I quite understood him then. But now I feel sorry for him because it seems that one just cannot work nowadays without relying on a computer. Do you see what I mean? Facing high-tech, being afraid or ignoring it is useless, what we can do is trying our best to catch up. This is specially true for a teacher. My experience tells me it is never an easy and comfortable life to be a teacher. To be a top teacher of 21st century, we have to suffer more pains in order to improve ourselves and realize our values.
Both your reasons are reasonable, but I still insist my opinion that in order not to be left out by the society, a teacher, no matter how old or young she/he is, she/he must keep on learning.
In the past several years, life-long learning/education to a teacher simply meant one should update her/his knowledge of a particular area frequently, while nowadays it seems that besides one's professional knowledge, mastering of high-tech knowledge and skills becomes a necessity. To be an excellent teacher of 21st century, we have no choice but to work harder than ever before in order to follow the footsteps of the new world.
However, we do have our choices to make: we can choose to stick to the old teaching method or we can choose to corporate high-tech into our classroom. The point is whether sticking to the old teaching method and not striving ahead work well. If it does, then everything is fine. But I do suspect it will.
I remember six years ago one famous professor from the Foreign Languages School of Beijing Normal University once openly expressed his strong objection of using a computer. He refused to use computer to write his papers or anything else. I quite understood him then. But now I feel sorry for him because it seems that one just cannot work nowadays without relying on a computer. Do you see what I mean? Facing high-tech, being afraid or ignoring it is useless, what we can do is trying our best to catch up. This is specially true for a teacher. My experience tells me it is never an easy and comfortable life to be a teacher. To be a top teacher of 21st century, we have to suffer more pains in order to improve ourselves and realize our values.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Teacher’s Role:
---A Response to Tan Dinghua's Comment
I think what a teacher can do in such a fast-paced society is to arm him/herself as well as possible, while high-tech is definitely one of those areas that we need to know more about. As educators, our duty is, first of all, to educate the students. But to be an excellent educator, we need to learn more about new technology so that we can apply them to our teaching to make it more effective and efficient, and at the same time to meet the students’ needs and also to let them realize we are not out of date and are trying to catch up with them. With this understanding established between students and the teacher, teaching result would be more satisfactory.
---A Response to Tan Dinghua's Comment
I think what a teacher can do in such a fast-paced society is to arm him/herself as well as possible, while high-tech is definitely one of those areas that we need to know more about. As educators, our duty is, first of all, to educate the students. But to be an excellent educator, we need to learn more about new technology so that we can apply them to our teaching to make it more effective and efficient, and at the same time to meet the students’ needs and also to let them realize we are not out of date and are trying to catch up with them. With this understanding established between students and the teacher, teaching result would be more satisfactory.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Learn more about a High Tech
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change available content, typically without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. The term wiki also can refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a Web site, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (the original wiki) WikiWikiWeb and on-line encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.
Wiki is a website or similar online resource which allows users to add and edit content collectively.
Wiki is a collection of websites of hypertext, each of them can be visited and edited by anyone. “Wiki wiki” means "rapidly" in the Hawaiian language.
Wiki is online collaboration model and tool that allows any user to edit some content of webpages through a simple browser.
Key characteristics of Wiki:
A wiki enables documents to be written very collaboratively in a simple markup language using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page"(Wiki page is a web page that is part of a WIKI system. Such page has the characteristic of being editable by any browser and its content can therefore be changed by the web users.) while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is "the wiki". In effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching or even creating information.
A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. Most wikis are open to the general public without the need to register any user account.
To learn more about Wiki, please follow the link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIKI
A wiki is a website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change available content, typically without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. The term wiki also can refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a Web site, or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (the original wiki) WikiWikiWeb and on-line encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.
Wiki is a website or similar online resource which allows users to add and edit content collectively.
Wiki is a collection of websites of hypertext, each of them can be visited and edited by anyone. “Wiki wiki” means "rapidly" in the Hawaiian language.
Wiki is online collaboration model and tool that allows any user to edit some content of webpages through a simple browser.
Key characteristics of Wiki:
A wiki enables documents to be written very collaboratively in a simple markup language using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page"(Wiki page is a web page that is part of a WIKI system. Such page has the characteristic of being editable by any browser and its content can therefore be changed by the web users.) while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is "the wiki". In effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching or even creating information.
A defining characteristic of wiki technology is the ease with which pages can be created and updated. Generally, there is no review before modifications are accepted. Most wikis are open to the general public without the need to register any user account.
To learn more about Wiki, please follow the link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WIKI
A little more about High Tech
What is podcasting?
The concept of podcasting was suggested as early as 2000 and its technical components were available by 2001. In 2003 regular podcasts started showing up on well-known Web sites and software support spread.
Podcasting is like broadcasting in that someone creates a show for an audience. The difference is that broadcasting is done for a general audience to tune in (through television, radio, or Internet radio) while podcasting is much different, you can target a specific niche which makes the power of podcasting much more exciting.
Podcasting is an automatic mechanism whereby multimedia computer files are transferred from a server to a client, which pulls down XML files containing the Internet addresses of the media files. In general, these files contain audio or video, but also could be images, text, PDF, or any file type.Podcasting's initial appeal was to allow individuals to distribute their own "radio shows," but the system quickly became used in a wide variety of other ways, including distribution of school lessons, official and unofficial audio tours of museums, conference meeting alerts and updates, and by police departments to distribute public safety messages.
To know more about Podcasting, please follow the link
Thursday, February 08, 2007
High Tech---A Double-Edged Sword
Hign tech is like a double-edged sword. It may on the one hand faciliate teaching and learning in the classroom while it may, on the other hand, cause distractions and thus affect both teachers' instructions and students' performances.
I tend to agree with Tan Dinghua that teachers should not allow students to use laptops in class since they are diverting both the teacher and the students' attention. However, asking students to shut down their computers is not a good solution, because not all the students are doing sth. unrelated to the lecture with their computers. What if a student is using his/her computer to take notes?
Therefore, high tech brings us great convenience while does us harm at the same time. Digital distraction in future classrooms of China will be the teacher's biggest headache. Actually, it has already! With so many college students own mobilephones, there is too much disturbance in classroom.
What I do in my daily teaching practice is I make it clear in my first lecture that all students must power off their mobile phones in class. The most important thing is I require myself to be a role model to them---I never brought my mobile phone to classroom and of course never talked to a mobile phone in class, which unfortunately so many young teachers do. Although there were a few times some students forgot to turn off their power, I did not give them any punishment as the sound of their MUSIC already made them embarassed since all the other students turned back and looked at them. Perhaps in future I will carry out some friendly PUNISHMENTS on my students, as what is mentioned in that article.
I tend to agree with Tan Dinghua that teachers should not allow students to use laptops in class since they are diverting both the teacher and the students' attention. However, asking students to shut down their computers is not a good solution, because not all the students are doing sth. unrelated to the lecture with their computers. What if a student is using his/her computer to take notes?
Therefore, high tech brings us great convenience while does us harm at the same time. Digital distraction in future classrooms of China will be the teacher's biggest headache. Actually, it has already! With so many college students own mobilephones, there is too much disturbance in classroom.
What I do in my daily teaching practice is I make it clear in my first lecture that all students must power off their mobile phones in class. The most important thing is I require myself to be a role model to them---I never brought my mobile phone to classroom and of course never talked to a mobile phone in class, which unfortunately so many young teachers do. Although there were a few times some students forgot to turn off their power, I did not give them any punishment as the sound of their MUSIC already made them embarassed since all the other students turned back and looked at them. Perhaps in future I will carry out some friendly PUNISHMENTS on my students, as what is mentioned in that article.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Learn about a new Tech
What is Skype?
Skype is the most popular voice service. With more than 100 million registered users, Skype is the most popular voice communication service in the world. If you use Skype to make PC to PC communication, you pay nothing more than the monthly Internet service. Skype is changing how people communicate with the integration of voice and Instant Messaging into one application. You can talk when you want and type when you want, and switch betw. the two as you wish.
Skype also provides presence information in a very practical way. Presence is the availability and willingness of a person to communicate. People use Skype mainly for the high quality of voice it offers and esp. because it offers free PC service. People around the world use Skype for several things: for long-distance meetings with family, friends and loved ones; for remote activity monitoring; for business calls; for long-distance conferences; for cheap calls during travel etc.
Skype is used in nearly all countries of the world. Today, there are many Skype user groups around the world. The largest groups are found in Europe, north America and South East Asia.
What do you need to use Skype?
You need a computer; A good internet connection; Sound; Speakers and earpieces; A microphone; The Skype software; and One or more persons to communicate with.
Where to download Skype?
The Skype software is freely Downloadable from www.skype.com.
Skype and teaching: Skype can be used as a Bridge between the teacher and the student, which provides an easy and convenient way for both to communicate. It is esp. good for individual instruction. It gives the student chance to voice his/her doubts and also helps the teacher to know about a particular student's needs and problems and thus help him/her individually.
Skype is the most popular voice service. With more than 100 million registered users, Skype is the most popular voice communication service in the world. If you use Skype to make PC to PC communication, you pay nothing more than the monthly Internet service. Skype is changing how people communicate with the integration of voice and Instant Messaging into one application. You can talk when you want and type when you want, and switch betw. the two as you wish.
Skype also provides presence information in a very practical way. Presence is the availability and willingness of a person to communicate. People use Skype mainly for the high quality of voice it offers and esp. because it offers free PC service. People around the world use Skype for several things: for long-distance meetings with family, friends and loved ones; for remote activity monitoring; for business calls; for long-distance conferences; for cheap calls during travel etc.
Skype is used in nearly all countries of the world. Today, there are many Skype user groups around the world. The largest groups are found in Europe, north America and South East Asia.
What do you need to use Skype?
You need a computer; A good internet connection; Sound; Speakers and earpieces; A microphone; The Skype software; and One or more persons to communicate with.
Where to download Skype?
The Skype software is freely Downloadable from www.skype.com.
Skype and teaching: Skype can be used as a Bridge between the teacher and the student, which provides an easy and convenient way for both to communicate. It is esp. good for individual instruction. It gives the student chance to voice his/her doubts and also helps the teacher to know about a particular student's needs and problems and thus help him/her individually.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
E-Learning Assignment
Dealing with Digital Distractions in Wireless Classroom
As more and more classrooms go wireless, there is a lot of misuse of technology during class, such as Web surfing, text-messaging, gaming, watching videos, sending E-mails, etc. While classroom access to the Internet may be a wonderful teaching tool, it can also be a barrier to learning and will put an unprecedented barrier between the student and the instructor.
As teachers of 21st century, we will all face such a problem. To combat technology distractions, I suggest solutions from two aspects---both universities and teachers should take some measures to deal with this problem:
First of all, etiquette education (netiquette/CR etiquette) should become part of universities’ modules. In other words, students need to be taught about what classroom behaviors are appropriate. In addition, universities need to provide ground rules for technology use in the classroom. A statement should be made clear that inappropriate use of technology will not be tolerated and certain punishment will be exercised on those who break the rules.
From the perspective of teachers, they need to be well trained to be in front of the class. Just as the article mentioned that “students expect to be entertained as they learn. If the entertainment doesn’t come from the front, it comes from the Internet.” Therefore, facing great challenges, teachers must thinking of ways to attract their students. In doing so, they may need to change the ways they teach.
To add, teachers should be role models of their students. If a teacher talks to a hand phone in class, how can she/he expect the students not to send instant messages during her/his lecture?
Reference:
Michael J. Bugeja, Distractions in the Wireless Classroom
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/01/2007012601c/careers.html
As more and more classrooms go wireless, there is a lot of misuse of technology during class, such as Web surfing, text-messaging, gaming, watching videos, sending E-mails, etc. While classroom access to the Internet may be a wonderful teaching tool, it can also be a barrier to learning and will put an unprecedented barrier between the student and the instructor.
As teachers of 21st century, we will all face such a problem. To combat technology distractions, I suggest solutions from two aspects---both universities and teachers should take some measures to deal with this problem:
First of all, etiquette education (netiquette/CR etiquette) should become part of universities’ modules. In other words, students need to be taught about what classroom behaviors are appropriate. In addition, universities need to provide ground rules for technology use in the classroom. A statement should be made clear that inappropriate use of technology will not be tolerated and certain punishment will be exercised on those who break the rules.
From the perspective of teachers, they need to be well trained to be in front of the class. Just as the article mentioned that “students expect to be entertained as they learn. If the entertainment doesn’t come from the front, it comes from the Internet.” Therefore, facing great challenges, teachers must thinking of ways to attract their students. In doing so, they may need to change the ways they teach.
To add, teachers should be role models of their students. If a teacher talks to a hand phone in class, how can she/he expect the students not to send instant messages during her/his lecture?
Reference:
Michael J. Bugeja, Distractions in the Wireless Classroom
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/01/2007012601c/careers.html
Saturday, February 03, 2007
8 Online Listening Websites
- http://www.elllo.org/
- http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
- http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
- http://www.esl-lab.com/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
- http://www.listeningexpress.com/
- http://www.clet.ait.ac.th/sall.htm
- http://www.pbs.org/
Evaluation of 8 Listening Websites
1. English Language Listening Lab Online
http://www.elllo.org/
ELLLO stands for English Language Listening Lab Online. It is a collection of over 1,000 listening activities that students can view free via the internet. Most listening activities come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcript and interactive quiz. ELLLO offers a variety of listening activities that each targets a specific listening skill, need or interest. It offers English by Region, which means language learners are empowered to choose English from different regions like Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, etc. By clicking different names of the country, a listener opens a window to experience its culture while listening. The listening activities include interviews, newscasts, surveys (Mixer), songs, presentations (Talking Points), and listening games.
Interviews are natural conversations with various speakers of English that offer multiple listening options. It offers a collection of audio recordings and listening activities featuring speakers of English from different countries. Students can listen to a variety of English that is harder to find in more traditionally scripted textbooks. Also, ELLLO Interviews contains rich images that help listeners follow the topic of the conversation. It covers topics including food, sports, traveling, life, places, and other topics of its culture.
Listening Games help students listen for gist. Students can listen to audio about a topic and choose the picture that matches the audio. The listening games are designed for beginning students and for students who want to listen for fun and enjoyment.
Mixer is a survey that features six different speakers answering the same question. Students can easily follow the topic and compare the various responses. Each speaker's segment comes with two questions that appear at the end of the audio segment to develop test taking skills.
English by Region is a collection of speakers from the same country or region. For students getting ready to study, live or visit one country, they can search through the large list of regional speakers. ELLLO also contains a large collection of non-native English speakers to prepare students for real international communication.
News Center is an animated newscast. Each Newscast has six stories. For each story, students can try to answer questions about each news story. News Center can help students learn academic English and develop test taking skills for standardized listening tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS.
Songs are a great way to learn English. ELLLO contains some great songs by independent artists. As the students listen, the words are displayed on the screen so students can catch the lyrics. Listening and reading the lyrics is a great way to help students improve grammar, pronunciation, reading speed, reading by chunks and learn common slang and idioms.
ELLLO’s updates occur weekly on each Monday. On average there are at least five new listening activities each week. Activities are numbered for easy reference.
2. English listening skills and activities: About: English as 2nd Language
http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
This is an American site. It is one of the best online listening websites that offers various rich resources that ESL and EFL learners and teachers need in order to practice and teach listening skills. Its great variety enables language teachers and learners to choose materials according to their special needs.
Listening activities in this site vary from beginner’s level to intermediate and to advanced levels. This site also offers Listening Lesson Plans for language teachers, with different difficulty levels and wide topics to choose from. Online Listening Quizzes are esp. good for language learners because they can get feedback immediately after they finish listening practice by giving their response through choosing and clicking the answers. It makes listening a private and individual activity and thus learners won’t worry about losing face or feeling embarrassed in front of others because of their incorrect choice.
All the listening materials in this site are authentic and accessible freely online. Besides, both teachers and students can find a lot of other English resources in this site, such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Speaking, Writing skills, Reading skills, and even TOFEL and EILTS, etc. It offers links to other online listening resources as well.
3. ESL : Listening
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
This is a sub-page of The Internet TESL Journal's TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links. ESL: Listening is specially designed for teachers and students of English as a Second language. One of the advantages of this site is it has separate links for students and teachers, which save both teachers and students time and trouble in finding the suitable materials they want to seek. In addition, it has Downloadable MP3 Files, which is esp. good for students so that they can download and listen to the materials whenever they want to. This also makes it easier for language teachers to use them in their classrooms.
Also, this site is good for those who are interested in Literature. In this website, listeners can listen to a good many classic stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. To add, learners can watch and listen to Classic Movies as well as TV Comedies and many other types of scripts like speeches, etc.
Furthermore, there are some materials specially designed for language learners. Take Ellie Speaks Out for example. It makes learners learn English and laugh at the same time. On top of that, the whole text is provided, which enables language learners of different levels a lot of choices to choose from.
This ESL language Web site is created and hosted by Randall Davis who has worked at several colleges and universities in the United States. His areas of interest and specialty include CALL, video technology and language teaching, teacher training, and learner autonomy.
This site aims to help ESL/EFL students improve their listening comprehension skills through practice with self-grading.
The site is well designed for ESL students to practice and test their listening capability. It is recommendable because it serves all levels of English language learners and it offers free audio and video quizzes. It provides various listening practice materials, such as General Listening Quizzes (Learn everyday conversation with adult and children's voices), Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes (Prepare for TOEFL/TOEIC), Language Learning and Life Tips (Life-skills tips with audio), and Long Conversations with Videos (Watch, listen and learn with interviews and conversations), etc.
The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate.
5. BBC English: radio programs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
This is one of the best and the most popular Websites English teachers can turn to for searching authentic materials for listening class. There is a great variety for teachers to choose whatever they and their students need and are interested in. This is one of the sites that can be recommended to students because it not only offers good authentic listening materials but also is specially designed for language learners so that they can improve and practice their English with activities that involve listening and watching. Meanwhile, it opens a window for language learners to learn about the target culture.
Each section of the site has something to listen to, and some can be watched and listened to at the same time. There are lots of exercises designed to test listeners’ comprehension. In fact, teachers and English language learners can find almost everything they like in this website. For those who are interested in British English pronunciation and British culture and society, this is the best site to be visited. The site makes English language learning and listening practice more interesting and enjoyable.
All the programs are updated weekly. The regular maintenance always keeps the site up-to-date. In addition, the format of the webpage is well designed and easy to read.
7. Online Listening Resources: Language Center
http://www.clet.ait.ac.th/sall.htm
This Language Center online listening resources is among the good on-line listening language resources sites.
One great advantage of it is it has links to most of the famous and popular radio and TV stations in the world, such as BBC ENGLISH, CNN News, CTVNet TV, Discovery Channel Online, PBS Online, NPR Online, ect. Therefore, learners with different language pronunciation favor or with interest in different cultures are able to find what they like to watch and listen easily.
http://www.elllo.org/
ELLLO stands for English Language Listening Lab Online. It is a collection of over 1,000 listening activities that students can view free via the internet. Most listening activities come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcript and interactive quiz. ELLLO offers a variety of listening activities that each targets a specific listening skill, need or interest. It offers English by Region, which means language learners are empowered to choose English from different regions like Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, etc. By clicking different names of the country, a listener opens a window to experience its culture while listening. The listening activities include interviews, newscasts, surveys (Mixer), songs, presentations (Talking Points), and listening games.
Interviews are natural conversations with various speakers of English that offer multiple listening options. It offers a collection of audio recordings and listening activities featuring speakers of English from different countries. Students can listen to a variety of English that is harder to find in more traditionally scripted textbooks. Also, ELLLO Interviews contains rich images that help listeners follow the topic of the conversation. It covers topics including food, sports, traveling, life, places, and other topics of its culture.
Listening Games help students listen for gist. Students can listen to audio about a topic and choose the picture that matches the audio. The listening games are designed for beginning students and for students who want to listen for fun and enjoyment.
Mixer is a survey that features six different speakers answering the same question. Students can easily follow the topic and compare the various responses. Each speaker's segment comes with two questions that appear at the end of the audio segment to develop test taking skills.
English by Region is a collection of speakers from the same country or region. For students getting ready to study, live or visit one country, they can search through the large list of regional speakers. ELLLO also contains a large collection of non-native English speakers to prepare students for real international communication.
News Center is an animated newscast. Each Newscast has six stories. For each story, students can try to answer questions about each news story. News Center can help students learn academic English and develop test taking skills for standardized listening tests such as TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS.
Songs are a great way to learn English. ELLLO contains some great songs by independent artists. As the students listen, the words are displayed on the screen so students can catch the lyrics. Listening and reading the lyrics is a great way to help students improve grammar, pronunciation, reading speed, reading by chunks and learn common slang and idioms.
ELLLO’s updates occur weekly on each Monday. On average there are at least five new listening activities each week. Activities are numbered for easy reference.
2. English listening skills and activities: About: English as 2nd Language
http://esl.about.com/od/englishlistening/English_Listening_Skills_and_ActivitiesEffective_Listening_Practice.htm
This is an American site. It is one of the best online listening websites that offers various rich resources that ESL and EFL learners and teachers need in order to practice and teach listening skills. Its great variety enables language teachers and learners to choose materials according to their special needs.
Listening activities in this site vary from beginner’s level to intermediate and to advanced levels. This site also offers Listening Lesson Plans for language teachers, with different difficulty levels and wide topics to choose from. Online Listening Quizzes are esp. good for language learners because they can get feedback immediately after they finish listening practice by giving their response through choosing and clicking the answers. It makes listening a private and individual activity and thus learners won’t worry about losing face or feeling embarrassed in front of others because of their incorrect choice.
All the listening materials in this site are authentic and accessible freely online. Besides, both teachers and students can find a lot of other English resources in this site, such as Grammar, Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Speaking, Writing skills, Reading skills, and even TOFEL and EILTS, etc. It offers links to other online listening resources as well.
3. ESL : Listening
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/
This is a sub-page of The Internet TESL Journal's TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links. ESL: Listening is specially designed for teachers and students of English as a Second language. One of the advantages of this site is it has separate links for students and teachers, which save both teachers and students time and trouble in finding the suitable materials they want to seek. In addition, it has Downloadable MP3 Files, which is esp. good for students so that they can download and listen to the materials whenever they want to. This also makes it easier for language teachers to use them in their classrooms.
Also, this site is good for those who are interested in Literature. In this website, listeners can listen to a good many classic stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. To add, learners can watch and listen to Classic Movies as well as TV Comedies and many other types of scripts like speeches, etc.
Furthermore, there are some materials specially designed for language learners. Take Ellie Speaks Out for example. It makes learners learn English and laugh at the same time. On top of that, the whole text is provided, which enables language learners of different levels a lot of choices to choose from.
The website is well designed and easy to follow and read.
4. Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
This ESL language Web site is created and hosted by Randall Davis who has worked at several colleges and universities in the United States. His areas of interest and specialty include CALL, video technology and language teaching, teacher training, and learner autonomy.
This site aims to help ESL/EFL students improve their listening comprehension skills through practice with self-grading.
The site is well designed for ESL students to practice and test their listening capability. It is recommendable because it serves all levels of English language learners and it offers free audio and video quizzes. It provides various listening practice materials, such as General Listening Quizzes (Learn everyday conversation with adult and children's voices), Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes (Prepare for TOEFL/TOEIC), Language Learning and Life Tips (Life-skills tips with audio), and Long Conversations with Videos (Watch, listen and learn with interviews and conversations), etc.
The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate.
5. BBC English: radio programs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/index.shtml
This is one of the best and the most popular Websites English teachers can turn to for searching authentic materials for listening class. There is a great variety for teachers to choose whatever they and their students need and are interested in. This is one of the sites that can be recommended to students because it not only offers good authentic listening materials but also is specially designed for language learners so that they can improve and practice their English with activities that involve listening and watching. Meanwhile, it opens a window for language learners to learn about the target culture.
Each section of the site has something to listen to, and some can be watched and listened to at the same time. There are lots of exercises designed to test listeners’ comprehension. In fact, teachers and English language learners can find almost everything they like in this website. For those who are interested in British English pronunciation and British culture and society, this is the best site to be visited. The site makes English language learning and listening practice more interesting and enjoyable.
The site is well designed and uses appropriate fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy for readers to read and navigate.
6. Listening Express
http://www.listeningexpress.com/
This site is non-commercial and non-profit. It claims that all the materials available freely serve only for the purpose of English language learning.
The site offers free downloadable listening materials in the form of MP3, RM and WMV format. The sources include widely known and popular radio programs like VOA Special English, VOA News Now, CRI (Special) English, Talk to America, Talk of the Nation, Our world, BBC World News, Business Report, Sports Roundup, English Evening, Studio-Classroom On-the-air, and some TV programs such as CNN Student News and BBC London TV News, etc.
The site is designed to serve Language teaching and leaning purpose. No advertising, no disturbing picture, and no unnecessary information in the site. Considering the tight budget of many Chinese college/university students, this is an ideal online listening website where they can download all the materials free of charge and can visit it endlessly without any time limit. Besides radio programs of news, business and sports reports both in and out of China, there are talking programs as well, from which language learners can learn real life English and at the same time enjoy language learning.All the programs are updated weekly. The regular maintenance always keeps the site up-to-date. In addition, the format of the webpage is well designed and easy to read.
7. Online Listening Resources: Language Center
http://www.clet.ait.ac.th/sall.htm
This Language Center online listening resources is among the good on-line listening language resources sites.
One great advantage of it is it has links to most of the famous and popular radio and TV stations in the world, such as BBC ENGLISH, CNN News, CTVNet TV, Discovery Channel Online, PBS Online, NPR Online, ect. Therefore, learners with different language pronunciation favor or with interest in different cultures are able to find what they like to watch and listen easily.
The site is well-designed and uses appropriate fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy for readers to read and navigate.
8. PBS online
http://www.pbs.org/
This is an American site, which enriches lives of Americans. It offers authentic language listening materials. The site includes different categories that can satisfy language teachers and learners with different interests. It has History section, Arts and Drama section, News and Views section, and Life & culture section, and so on. This site can be recommended to language learners of intermediate and advanced levels and those who are interested in exploring American culture.
The site is well-designed and distinguished by its appropriate use of fonts and colors. Therefore, it is easy to read and navigate. In addition, it is updated frequently.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
My doubt
Our country, in my opinion, enjoys making big and pleasing-to-ear policies. All the aims set in IT education sound fantastic. But I really doubt its practicality and possibility. What do you think?
Week 3 Assignment: IT Educational Policy In China
The Chinese government believes that modernization of education
by applying information technology is essential in order to produce
students who can be competitive in the information era. The process
of introducing and integrating information and communication
technology (ICT) application into the education system is referred
to as educational “informationization” – something the Chinese
government is giving a great deal of attention to.
The actions being undertaken by the government and
schools include the following:
1. Constructing infrastructure needed for an information environment;
2. Developing educational resources;
3. Encouraging computer education;
4. Supporting teacher professional development; Integrating ICT into traditional classrooms;
5. Delivering good educational resources into rural areas using ICT-assisted distance education methods;
6. Changing administration systems through ICT applications.
Long-term Goals for Chinese Educational Informationisation
The aim is to meet the following goals by 2010:
1. ICT-based infrastructure which covers the whole country will be set up;
2. ICT education will be popularised in the most places;
3. The competence of ICT application for all Chinese citizens will be improved;
4. There will be enough ICT specialists to meet social development needs;
5. A lifelong education system will be in place; Software producing centres and ICT corporations will be operational;
6. The general level of infrastructure development and ICT application in education will rank at the top level among developing countries;
7. For universities, and for 85 per cent of the technical/vocational schools and primary and secondary schools in the developed area of China, the level of infrastructure development and ICT application will match that of developed countries.
Main Tasks and Relative Policies
To realise these goals, the Chinese government has developed policies and plans as follows:
1. Increase the bandwidth of the main lines of China Education and Research Network (CERNET),
extend coverage towards the West and include small cities;
2. Enhance the province and city networks of CERNET in order to supply good quality service to all kinds of education institutes with 2.5 Gbps bandwidth;
3. Construct a wide band satellite-based network (CEBsat) and combine that with Internet (CERNET) in order to supply multiple information transmission services for the entire country, particularly remote and rural areas;
3. Enhance university campus network construction, particularly in the western part of China, and develop a digital information platform to support an e-library, an information management system and a distance education system;
4. Enhance campus network construction in primary and secondary schools, particularly in village areas, launch the course ICT Education in most of schools and integrate ICT into the curriculum of middle technical/vocational schools;
5. Improve education administration informationisation by constructing platforms for officials, resources and public information;
6. Increase the number and quality of ICT specialists to spread ICT education in primary and secondary schools, to train teachers in information literacy and to provide inservice training about information literacy for adult and vocational students;
7. Facilitate sharing of teaching resources in order to improve the quality of education by developing a distributed education resource platform;
8. Launch research on second generation networks and conduct trials in selected central cities;
9. Develop policies regarding education enterprises that will encourage more financial investment and support development of ICT corporations;
10. Develop quality standards for education informationisation and use them to develop evaluation systems.
Reference:
Ms Chen li Ph.D. Policy goals and Implementations.
To know more about education in China, please click the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China
To know more about IT or ICT (information and communication technology) policy and the recent development of CATE (computer and advanced technology in education) in China, please follow the link:
http://www.iasted.org/conferences/cfp-570.html
Join in the discussion
Hello! Could I invite you to have a discussion about how we can emply IT effectively in our listening class? I am very interested in how we, as English teachers, can make listening class both interesting and productive.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
My Teaching Situation
In the university where I work, there isn't much involvement of technology in English language teaching. The only technology that has been employed there is Language Labs, where the teacher gives listening classes. Therefore, there is a big difference between the description given by Gates and my teaching situation.
The students don't have easy access to Internet since the library has limited capacity and students will have to pay to use the computers. Many students go to Net Bar outside school to surf the net, but few do it for the sake of study or language learning. What's more, English teachers there are not quite familiar with the information technology, and many don't have access to Internet at all. Thus, few teachers surf the net to gain teaching materials for their classes. Classroom teaching is still teacher-centered and lacks of communication with the students.
Although I agree with Gates in saying that connecting classrooms to the network will enable students and teachers to communicate with their counterparts across town and around the world, there is a long way to go before my university to catch up. Hopefully, I expect we'll have our Digital White Board, Multimedia, and better classroom environment soon.
The students don't have easy access to Internet since the library has limited capacity and students will have to pay to use the computers. Many students go to Net Bar outside school to surf the net, but few do it for the sake of study or language learning. What's more, English teachers there are not quite familiar with the information technology, and many don't have access to Internet at all. Thus, few teachers surf the net to gain teaching materials for their classes. Classroom teaching is still teacher-centered and lacks of communication with the students.
Although I agree with Gates in saying that connecting classrooms to the network will enable students and teachers to communicate with their counterparts across town and around the world, there is a long way to go before my university to catch up. Hopefully, I expect we'll have our Digital White Board, Multimedia, and better classroom environment soon.
Monday, January 15, 2007
My Webography Topic
Hi, Dear all
Welcome to my Blog. This is the first time I learn and create my blog. I'd like to share my English learning and teaching experiences with all of you here, esp. in the area of teaching of listening, which is also my Webography topic. Any suggestions and advice are welcome.
Welcome to my Blog. This is the first time I learn and create my blog. I'd like to share my English learning and teaching experiences with all of you here, esp. in the area of teaching of listening, which is also my Webography topic. Any suggestions and advice are welcome.
Cheng Yanping
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