Teaching listening skills with audio tours

One of the things about being on holiday is that it gives you time to think and not just rush about from one job to another so here is a teaching idea I've been playing with.

As the internet and mp3 players have become more popular so has the use of audio tours. Once the preserves of museums which handed out clunky cassette players to visitors wanting a tour of the place audio tours have broken out of the geek ghetto to become the vital accessory for any self respecting tourist site. Cheap to produce, easy to use the mp3 audio tour can now be downloaded within minutes to your mp3 player or cell/mobile phone and then used as you wander around Athens, Bilbao or Crakow. So here are some ways they can be used to teach EFL/ESL.

Lesson plan 1

This lesson is aimed at upper intermediate or advanced students and is an excellent way of practicing listening skills.Also it is a great way of getting out of the classroom. Great perhaps for students studying English in UK summer schools. Learnerss will need;

an mp3 audio tour in English of a tourist site in their area,

mobile phone or mp3 player

mobile phone or digital camera

access to a pc and the internet

Windows Movie Maker or Photostory 3

1 Students download an audio tour onto their mp3/mobile phone. Click here to find an example of such a tour in Bristol.

2 Explain to students that they are going to illustrate the audio tour using their own pictures and images off the internet. So they will need something that can take pictures such as a digital camera or their mobile phones. If students do not have either of these the form groups in which at least one person has one.

3 Go to the start of the place mentioned and section by section follow the tour in groups of 2 - 4. Each group has to do one of two things;

a make a note of any names mentioned e.g The Watershed Media Centre, Charles Dickens etc.

b take pictures that show what is being described.

4 At regular intervals the teacher should stop each group and allow all students to swop any information they have noted or help with any problems of comprehension.

5 In the next lessons students once again form their groups in the classroom, each with access to the internet. For the next stage of the exercise you'll need either Windows Movie Maker (which comes as standard with Windows or Photostory 3 which can be downloaded free from the Microsoft site (click here to get it).

6 Students use the net to find and download any other images that could supplement their own photos such as maps, historic illustrations etc.

7 Go through the basics of your programe of choice such as how to add mp3s and pictures.

8 Students then use the programs to add photos and other images to the mp3 audio tour to make a visual version.

9 Students could then post their own version on YouTube, a class blog or even send it to the city/tourist site and ask if they could use it on their page.

Of course this is not the kind of exercise that all teachers would feel comfortable with. Lack of access to PCs or internet, unfamiliarity with the technology or even not being able to take students out of the classrrom are all factors which must be taken into account.

Soul Meets Body

Music by Death Cab For Cutie, photos by Teacher Dude, video making software from PhotoStory 3.

The law of unintended consequences

I don't think I believe it either I don't think I could ever have conceived in my wildest dreams that a million people would want to see what started out as a simple, proof-of-concept project. Just over a year ago I came across Microsoft's Photostory 3 and decided to play around with this program that allows you to produce short movies using still pictures. Intrigued I made a few videos hoping to pick up skills that I could then use in class to help my students on their own projects.

Now I see that those videos have taken on a life of their own and more than a 1.000,000 people have viewed them.

Essay writing revisited

Photo by Don McCullin

This year I'm going to be teaching a writing class and I thought I'd post this idea about how to make discursive writing a little more modern. Basically,the idea is that students have to produce a slide show which accompanies their essay. The concept comes from watching something similar on the Magnum agency website. Since the technical skills and software are readily available and easy to learn I thought that this would also be a great opportunity for my students.

Script by Robin Lustig

Lesson plan

1 Tell your students that they are going to see a presentation on war.

Be warned - some of the images are shocking. If you feel that this slide show is not suitable for your class then choose another podcast from Magnum's extensive list.

2 They have to make notes and write down as much as they can about what the narrator says. Please remind them that it is impossible for anyone to write down anything and they should just get what they can.

3 Show the video above.

4 Students then compare notes.

5 Ask students what they think is the message of the piece. Students write down their personal answers and then discuss in pairs/groups.

6 Elicit suggestions from the class.

7 Now play the video again and ask students to choose two images which they consider the most powerful/moving.

8 Students discuss this in groups and try to come up with a choice which they all agree on.

9 Now write the essay title on the board;

"Only the dead have seen the last of war."
Attributed to Plato.

10 Ask students what they think this means and if they agree.

11 Divide students into two groups according to what they think. Each group writes down 3/4 reasons and provides examples/reasons etc to support them.

12 Now ask each group to think of 1/2 reasons why the opposite side might disagree with their side's view and what we could say to counter such arguments.

13 Put students into two groups with representatives from each side.

14 Students discuss the question.

15 Students then write up their opinions in the form of an essay for homework.

16 After you've corrected the essays explain to students that they are going to create their own slide show that will accompany their essay in the same way that we saw previously.

17 For this students need to collect images from the internet that reflect their essays or illustrate their examples. Flickr would be a good place to start.

18 Next show them how to use either Windows Movie Maker (which is already on most PCs) or Photo Story 3 which can be downloaded free from Microsoft (click here). Make sure they understand how to record their own narration and add background music/sound effects.

19 Students the do this for homework and post their results on their class blog/wiki etc.

As well as providing students with a model to emulate this exercise also also gives them valuable speaking practice. Most importantly, they are required to listen to how they speak in English which is a must if they want to improve their pronunciation skills.

La Jetee

This is a film which has been a major inspiration for me, even though I've only ever seen clips of it. At long last I found a full - length version posted on Google Video. Basically, it is a short film based on black and white still photographs that tells the story of a man sent back in time from a post apocalyptic future.

I first heard about La Jetee when 12 Monkeys came out. According to the writers, it was one of their sources of inspiration and this is reflected in the script they produced.

The idea that you can make a film based just on photographs has had a grip on my imagination ever since. Now that we have cheap digital cameras available, photo sharing services such as Flickr and PhotoBucket and free software such as Photo Story 3 and Windows Movie Maker means that we can all produce such films with remarkable ease and at virtually no cost.

Just think of all the possible ideas that could be used as class/student projects. At long last I now have the access to affordable technologies and fast internet which means last years theoretical lesson plans have now become concrete realities.

For a great introduction to Photo shop 3 (my programme of choice) check out Teachnet's page

Teaching using photos

I got this idea from the BBC's Today programme. The aim is to record your journey home from work/school in pictures. The reporter published her photos (click here) did so as part of a project by a UK university;

"Today presenter Sarah Montague took these pictures of her walk home as part of a project being set up by academics at Northumbria University to increase our awareness of the environment around us.

To contribute contact mywalks@northumbria.ac.uk."

Lesson Plan

1 Tell students that they are going to find out how the others get to and from school. Elicit from them the kind of questions they would need to ask;

E.G. How do you get to school? How long does it take? Who drives you? Which bus do you take? Which route do you take?

2 Student then ask each other. The best thing is shuffle students around so they're not asking their regular partner(s).

3 Now explain to students that they are going to take 10 to 15 pictures of their journey home. They can use a digital camera or their mobile phone. Show them either your example or the one from the Today programme. If students don't have access to either then get them to borrow or share a friend's for a day or so.

4 In the next lesson get students to make a slide show of their pictures with suitable captions.

You can use BubbleShare or Slide.com for a simple version or Microsoft's Photo Story3, Windows Movie Maker or Jumpcut for a more sophisticated one.

If you do choose Jumpcut, Photo Story or Movie Maker then ask them to record a voice over and add some background music.

5 Now get students to post their slide shows on the class/personal blog.

6 For homework students write three questions about someone else's photos in the comments section. All questions must be answered by the following lesson.

Alternatively, you could simply ask them to post the photos on their Flickr page as a set with suitable captions for each. In this case the questions and answers are posted in the Flickr comment box.

You could even ask them to send it to the university project managers - click here for details.

2006 - A year in pictures

Well, soon it's back to work for me and like most of you it's going to be difficult first week until I find my rhythm again. So, here's a lesson plan that will put a smile, well, at least I hope, on your students' faces.

The basic idea is for your students to create a video based on what they did in 2006. They can use the photos/video they took with their digital camera or mobile phones in order to give the rest of us a taste of what last year was like for them.

Lesson plan

1 In the first week back ask your students to write down a list of the top 5/10 best moment in 2006. If necessary, work on any vocabulary items.

2 Students then ask each other about their highlights.

3 Now explain to students that they are going to make a video based on their 2006 and that they should use their photos/videos from last year to create a video.

4 Tell them that you are going to show your own video and that they should think of three questions to ask you about 2006.

My 2006 in pictures

5 Answer their questions.

6 Now tell students they have a week to make a 2-5 minute video something similar using Windows Movie Maker, Photo Story 3, imovie, Jumpcut.com etc . If you want, you could also get them to record a narrative explaining the images.

7 If, for some reason students don't have access to a digital camera/mobile phone then ask them to find images from Flickr that reflect their experience of 2006. For example, if they took part in some sports event, get some photos from Flickr that show something similar.

8 Students then post their work on the class/personal blogs.

9 For homework students choose three other blogs and post five questions about the video on each. All questions must be answered.

An hour in the life of a city

I made this using Photo Story 3 and pictures I took over the last couple of weeks. They come from Ano Poli, Ladadika, Langada St and Egnatia St in Thessaloniki.

The music is by The Crystal Method.

Today's video

Something I've been working on over the last few days. Today I had the chance to finish it.

Digital storytelling

I should have guessed it. I've been working on producing videos without video cameras over the last few weeks. The idea is that students use still photographs, either their own or images taken off the internet to create a video which can be posted on their blogs. A quick delve into the web has revealed that there are loads of educators doing the same thing. I came across a particular good site called Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling at the University of Houston that has lots of information on using Microsoft's Photo Story 3 (check out their tutorial pages) and great examples of projects that students can use for inspiration.

In addition, courtesy of a blogger writing in Romania (see here) I came across Comic Life a program that allows you to create comics using your photos. I know of at least one student who is going to love that idea. The only problem is that it is only for Mac OSX. If anyone knows of a similar program for Windows, please contact me.

Rammstein for beginners

I thought I'd share my latest creation. Most of the images are from Hughes Legalise - Batille's Flickr page.

"Light years into the future"

I read a recent interview in Time magazine with Brian Eno;


"Pointing to the popularity of do-it-yourself websites like YouTube and the affordability of video-editing software like Final Cut, Eno sees a parallel with the revolutionary effect the 45 r.p.m. single had on popular culture in the '60s. "It suddenly liberated music because people only had to have one good idea," he says. "And it only had to to last 2 1/2 minutes."

See here for the rest of the article.

I think it can be even simpler than that if you decide to use Window's Movie Maker (it comes with Windows XP as standard) or Photo Story 3 i.e freely available video editing tools. As a proof of concept I decided to make this video mainly using images from Flickr. What I hope to do in the near future is incorporate this technology into my lessons.

Thessaloniki at night

Now that I have a faster internet connection I'm able to try out various ideas I've written about in my blog over the last year. But before I can teach using these new opportunities I must make myself familiar with them. I created this short video using Window's Photo story 3, which can be downloaded free from here.