Voxopop

Voxopop is a website that allows users you start and contribute to audio conversations. I think it is a good way to make students practice speaking.

I instructed my English students to participate in this conversation, which concerns the topic of stress.

Voki

Here is a brief speaking activity that my students enjoyed.

Voki allows you to create a custom cartoon avatar which you can embed on your blog.  Using a telephone, you can record a message, which your avatar will  then utter.

Here is a voki created by one of my students.

Voki Home

EnglishCentral

Today, my English students started using EnglishCentral to practice their speaking skills.

The website requires a headset with a microphone. 

The student watches a video clip; there are hundreds from which to choose.  The videos have subtitles.  After each sentence, the student pauses the video and records himself repeating the sentence.  The student’s utterance is measured against the original and the student receives a score.

The website keeps profiles with scores, videos watched and achievements.

My students really enjoyed the activity.  Anything which is presented as a game seems to boost motivation.

Speaking

I wouldn’t call myself an introvert, but I am definitely a not-extrovert.

So begins an essay by Brad Bollenbach entitled “Social Skydiving: Where Do You Meet People?” on the website 30sleeps.com.  Me, I’m an introvert.  I don’t consider it a personal flaw; on the contrary, I consider my quiet nature to be the core and strength of my personality.  That being said, I have long felt that there is something odd about an introverted teacher teaching speaking skills to students. 

Me, I sometimes feel guilty for not giving speaking its fair share of classroom time.

Does oral language instruction get the short straw in your langauge arts program?

When preparing your students for standardized tests, those little standards labeled Speaking And Listening can easily slip by the wayside. And yet, is there any skill more important in landing a job, surviving social engagements, or being a successful leader than confident oral language skills?

The above quote is from the website Byrdseed, authored by Ian Byrd. 

Ian writes an inspiring series of articles, “Analyzing Great Speeches,” concerning teaching speaking.  He begins by stating a learning outcome:

Verbal and non-verbal patterns converge to create a powerful public speaker.

He then proceeds to present a unit plan in which students analyze and practise the specific elements that constitute good public speaking.

Before reading Ian’s essay, I never considered teaching speaking much beyond this: student stands in front of the class and speaks.  Ian demonstrates that teaching speaking does not need to be undirected and haphazard.  There is an underlying structure to speaking that can be analyzed and learned.

The article I quoted at the beginning of this post complements Ian’s insomuch as the author analyzes the components of socializing and speaking.  It is science, not magic.

I am reasonably good at meeting new people, but only for the same reasons that I am reasonably good at building websites or playing chess: I’ve treated it as a problem that can be solved through directed thinking and deliberate effort.

There is hope even for geeky introverts like me.

Photo by fantomdesigns.