Just found this link via
Nik Peachey's quickshout blog which may be of interest to some of you (if you haven't visited the link already, that is). Useful albeit small selection of free video clips of different genres to suit students of all ages and abilities. Every clip has an accompanying script which appears in a window alongside, to enable students to listen AND read while watching the clip. Have a look at
http://en.yappr.com/welcome/Video.action?videoGuid=10CEB2F8-8FB4-4225-8F06-54713BB83B7C to see exactly how it works. A lot more clips are available upon paying a subscription fee. I can't wait to try Yappr out myself!
Well Mr. Kiat actually you sound far more geeky than I am ! Pooling knowledge is a fine way to grow as a teacher. I will just have to find the time to look at other blogs.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of myself as being a geeky individual but I'm starting to believe that it may be the case!
ReplyDeleteRead the comment you posted in my blog. You are right, that thing has been on my mind: which age group to teach and where to teach. What did you consider way back before you started teaching?
ReplyDeleteBtw Yappr sounds interesting. I think students may have learn at least something listening to English songs. Did you try playing songs and ask students to gap fill? I quite liked it when I was a student. I learnt quite a lot in it.
Wouldn't it be good if we could get the students to do the work of transcribing the song? Is there some way that you can submit these transcriptions to the site (or a similar one?). If students could see their transcribed songs online afterwards, that might give them some special motivation to transcribe them well?
ReplyDeleteCan you provide a link back to the post in the QuickShout blog too?
Well, Yappr is in fact a community site which allows newly subscribed users to become 'Yapprs'. Yapprs are able to upload and transcribe video clips of their choice together with their transcriptions. I haven't tried this out myself but I believe the creator of the Yappr site has the final say on which clips actually get published. Once published, comments can be given by other Yapprs regarding the clips themselves or the accuracy of the transciptions.
ReplyDeleteUnscubscribed users, unfortunately, aren't able to publish or post anything. They can only use the site to help them improve their listening and comprehension skills. In a classroom setting, the teacher might indeed ask students to listen and complete a gap-filling exercise (as Alice W has mentioned). The subtitles to the clips can actually be turned off if you want the students to really LISTEN. (Some might ask then what's the difference between Yappr and YouTube - well, Yappr videos are a collection of short and fun clips that are aimed at language learners). Teachers can also use the videos to stimulate student discussion.
In short, if you want to fully exploit Yappr and make it an integrative CALL application you must become a subscribed member. Otherwise, Yappr can only be considered to be a communicative CALL application.
My apologies for my careless use of English in my last post. Line 2-3 should read, 'Yapprs are able to upload and transcribe video clips of their choice.' And, the second paragraph should begin with the word 'Unsubscribed' rather than 'Unscubscribed'. See, even native English speakers make mistakes!
ReplyDelete