Speaking and Listening

In this week’s session we looked at types of technology which can encourage speaking and listening in the classroom. As a group we came up with typical examples such as interactive whiteboards, webcams and paired work at computers, however none of us had seemed to have come across any of the equipment we were about to be shown …

Talking Photo Albums
The clue is in the name- record a personal message for each photo page and then listen to it back. These are great in schools for supporting speaking and listening and for making links between Literacy and ICT lessons. Children can use them for an endless number of activities such as, creating stories with their own drawings, practicing their letters and sounds, writing about school trips with photos that were taken, working in pairs to create presentations and so on.
 

 
Talk Tins
Talking Tins allow you to record and playback your own voice messages, music or sound effects and are proving to help children of all ages to develop their speaking and listening skills. Talk tins can be incorporated into the classroom in many ways…

• Put on each table to reinforce learning objectives or instructions.
• To set extension activities.
• To differentiate work.
• Used on display boards with recordings of children talking about their work.
• Used to record questions or clues.
• Children can record an interesting fact, or record their pronunciation of letters and sounds.

 

Talk time cards are another resource similar to talk tins which allow you to record a message or multiple messages, these resources are called talking tools.  
Podcasting
A podcast is a recording distributed over the Internet which you can download and listen to directly through your computer. Schools can use podcasts to record and display children’s work over the internet for parents to listen to, such as children reading poems or stories. This is a great way to motivate children as it gives them an audience and connects them to the world around them by allowing them to become a part of what they see on the internet or television. Audacity, is a programme that can be used by schools to set up a podcast used headphones and a mic, this can be connected to a SMART board and incorporated in slides.

Digital Imaging
There are various types of equipment that can be used in schools to create digital imaging such as “tough-cams” and digital cameras where children can record a sequence of pictures to make a story. Photostory3 is a piece of software provided free from Microsoft that allows you to take pictures, record sound, customise motion, add music and play back (and probably a lot more). Having had an opportunity to play with these pieces of equipment in class, I realised the endless amount of fun and enjoyment they can bring to a lesson and the discussions they invoke between groups. They are fantastic tools in motivating children and encourage children to practice their speaking and listening skills with one another.
  Here are some images of the animation we made in class using playdough and digital imaging to record a sequence of pictures...