Practising Speaking Skills through Webtools.

Audio recording and upload >>

I've tried Vocaroo for the recording of one of the activities me and my group designed last Saturday. I am aware that the volume is a bit low but I have been trying to mend it unsucessfully yet (and I don't happen to have a microphone other than that incorporated in my notebook).
I think it is an interesting tool for voice recording, and now that I am working with my students on a unit called "On the Phone", I figured that the dialogues I've asked them to write (be it phone conversations or answering machine messages) they can later record using this webtool and share it on my class blog.

Here go the other two activities we designed:

A. Using Voxopop.
Target: 6th formers, primary school.
Level: Pre-intermediate
Goals: improving speaking and writing skills.
Activity: Collaborative story writing. SS work in groups of five. The teacher gives them titles to use as triggers for the stories they are going to invent. The groups receive different titles. Each student in the group is supposed to write a part of the story (in two paragraphs) and record it. This is what they will upload to the class blog, with each section of the story having its corresponding picture. Once their story is ready, the whole story (pictures and recordings) will be uploaded for other students to check it out and comment on it in class.

B. Using Present Me.
Target: 5th year, high schoool
Level: upper-intermediate
Aim: enhancing speaking skills while developing the ability to deliver a presentation.
Activity: SS will deliver a presentation regarding their course of studies. The teacher gives them guidelines as to what information should be there. Their presentations should be uploaded to the class blog using Present Me to be shared afterwards in class.

Very useful webtools for the practice of speaking skills!