The week was my opportunity to complete the Seven Wonders of the Whiteboard Challenge's first task. Set by Jess McCulloch it was all about using mp3 files and voice recording etc...
"How on earth" I wondered to myself, "do I get that into my first week of the new school year"and a little voice inside my head said "you can do it"...I will go to the doctor's about these voices very soon, I promise!
I have a gorgeous Yr 7 German class and decided that, since by today I would have seen them twice already and they would know about some of my little "nuances"by now, that last lesson on a Friday afternoon was the perfect time to use them as guinea pigs. Having had an induction lesson last term when they came to visit, I thought it was a pretty safe bet that they would have learnt greetings and saying their names, so I decided to launch them in at the not-so-quite deep-end. I found some pictures of celebreties (see above) and recorded myself saying hello, saying their name, asking "What is your name?" and then saying "bye". The class then had to listen to the sound-bite and drag the picture of the appropriate celebrety to the symbol of the speaker. They worked really well and they responded very positivly to this (although, I think in the future I need to stick to Simpsons characters) then moved on. We then practices a roleplay along the same lines and then I asked for volunteers to be recorded. Using my new USB microphone, I got 5 conversations recorded (some from the other side of the classroom...I was well impressed-much to the class's amusement) which they actually really enjoyed. It was really great to hear them leaving the room telling their friends that they had been recorded. I think, in the long run, that being able to hear themselves speaking will really help them improve their spoken German as they'll be able to hear their pronunciation for themselves and therefore hear when they need to make changes.
I'm hoping to be a bit more ambitious with my next stage of the challenge, as I'll have been back a work for a bit longer and will know my classes better (I hope).
"How on earth" I wondered to myself, "do I get that into my first week of the new school year"and a little voice inside my head said "you can do it"...I will go to the doctor's about these voices very soon, I promise!
I have a gorgeous Yr 7 German class and decided that, since by today I would have seen them twice already and they would know about some of my little "nuances"by now, that last lesson on a Friday afternoon was the perfect time to use them as guinea pigs. Having had an induction lesson last term when they came to visit, I thought it was a pretty safe bet that they would have learnt greetings and saying their names, so I decided to launch them in at the not-so-quite deep-end. I found some pictures of celebreties (see above) and recorded myself saying hello, saying their name, asking "What is your name?" and then saying "bye". The class then had to listen to the sound-bite and drag the picture of the appropriate celebrety to the symbol of the speaker. They worked really well and they responded very positivly to this (although, I think in the future I need to stick to Simpsons characters) then moved on. We then practices a roleplay along the same lines and then I asked for volunteers to be recorded. Using my new USB microphone, I got 5 conversations recorded (some from the other side of the classroom...I was well impressed-much to the class's amusement) which they actually really enjoyed. It was really great to hear them leaving the room telling their friends that they had been recorded. I think, in the long run, that being able to hear themselves speaking will really help them improve their spoken German as they'll be able to hear their pronunciation for themselves and therefore hear when they need to make changes.
I'm hoping to be a bit more ambitious with my next stage of the challenge, as I'll have been back a work for a bit longer and will know my classes better (I hope).
Sounds like a great activity! Look forward to maybe sharing German resources...I am doing my challenges with 7 German too! CHeers, Tina
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great activity! Look forward to maybe sharing German resources...I am doing my challenges with 7 German too! CHeers, Tina
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