Friday 22 January 2010

Using video on your phone to record listening material

In a previous post I talked about how easy it is to use the video recording function on your mobile phone to record student presentations or discussions for further analysis later. Another great use of the video-recording function on your phone is to record yourself speaking on a particular subject in order to create a listening.

For example, a few days ago I wanted students to talk about a movie they liked in groups (discussing plot, favourite scenes etc), but first wanted to model what I wanted them to do through a listening. So, I sat in front of my desk, propped my phone up with a book in front of me - there are small tripods available for phones, but any support will do really - and spoke for several minutes on a film I liked. Below you can see what I recorded, the quality isn't fantastic but it is certainly clear and having the extra visual support of the face/facial expressions makes it far more manageable and authentic for the students.



I'm lucky that I have a projector and internet connection in my classroom, so I was able to upload this to You Tube for watching in class, but it is possible with many phones to just hook the phone up to a television (using the white, yellow and red composite cables) for them to be able to view it.

This is particularly useful when you want to model a particularly speaking task that students have to do, and also a great way for them to listen for key words and expressions that they might use.

Thinking ahead, I can see that this is something that students could do as well for homework. They could prepare a short speech on a particular topic and these could be shown in class with focus questions. This might be a good way for shyer students to rehearse and practise their speaking before they 'present' to the class. This is something I hope to try out in the next few weeks.

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