Audio resource creation for English Language Teaching

Course background

Regional Institute of English, South India (RIESI) and IT for Change (ITfC) are collaborating to design and conduct an workshop on “Audio resources creation for language teaching ” for English language teachers, who are participating in the CELT/PGDELT program of RIESI. The course is based on the National ICT curriculum theme “Creating with ICT”.

Objectives of the workshop

1. To understand the connection between the word and the thought (can we communicate abstract ideas without words, i.e., sounds) and to recognize that the combinations of sounds and what they describe is arbitrary
2. To explore new digital methods for language learning. Exploring Audacity FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) tool to create rich language resources for use in a language lesson
3. To learn to record and editing audio using Audacity. Making your audio resource richer by using multiple audio files (background music)
4. To introduce the philosophy of creating and adapting existing audio resources (Open Educational Resources created with FOSS)
5. To publish created audio resource on a public repository for the benefit of all teachers

Registration for the workshop

Click here to register for this Audio creation course

Workshop agenda

Timing	Particulars	Activities	Resources
10:00-10.30	Introduction to the workshop	Understand the objective of the workshop Go through the workshop page and get familiar with agenda	Audacity installation
10.30-11.00	Get familiarity with Audacity	Brief introduction about Audacity tool and FOSS Go through Audacity tools interface to get familiar with it Understanding two methods to input the audio on Audacity tool	Learn Audacity#Working with the application
11.00-12.00	Importing the recording Amplification of audio	Import audio to systems Edit recorded audio files using basic tools as needed. Amplify the audio Saving your project	Learn Audacity#Recording with Audacity Learn Audacity#Adjusting the volume of the audio
12.00 - 1.00	Use Audacity platform to clear/edit background noise Access different background music and sound elements from the audio repositories	Use "noise removal" to clear background noise File export as audio files All the participants will go through Background music repository Identify some suitable background sounds/music to add and copy to their folders	Learn Audacity#Removing noise Learn Audacity#Working with the application Learn Audacity#Accessing and download background sounds Background Music Repository
LUNCH BREAK 1.00 - 2.00
2.00 - 3.30	Effectiveness of adding audio effects Understanding when and how to use audio effects to the audio's Using an audio editing tool to add sound elements.	Use multiple tracks to add background music for the audio To understand what is a track and how tracks can be used mix audios+musics and multiple sound elements. Use amplification to adjust the output volume of audio files	Learn Audacity#Importing audio and multiple tracks
3.30 - 4.30	Use an audio editing tool to enhance an audio resource Understanding of using different background music to make more effective of the audio	Fade in/out to adjust the audio -voice modulation Use Silence, noise reduction, pitch change and echo features Add different audio elements to the audio in any particular places Use Soundcloud.com to upload and share audio's	Learn Audacity#Fade a section in or fade it out Learn Audacity#Changing the Pitch, Speed and Tempo Soundcloud Handout
4.30 - 5.00	Participants' presentation	Participants can present their audio to other Other participants give feedback Participants' feedback	To fill the course feedback form click here

Note : Participants who actively participate and submit their final audio files by the end of the workshop will get participation certificates.

Workshop Resources

Technology resources

1. Audacity handout
2. Checklist for recording good audio clip
3. What is copyright and what is OER (Watch this video to know about different copyrights laws)
4. Use SoundCloud repository to upload and share your audio materials (Video)

Online OER audio repositories

1. Background music tracks accessed from different OER repositories (Google Drive)
2. WikimediaCommons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Audio_files
3. BenSound - https://www.bensound.com/
4. Soundible - http://soundbible.com/
5. FreeSound - https://freesound.org/
6. SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/
7. Pixabay - https://pixabay.com/music/search/no%20copyright%20music/
8. Access Language lab modules created by IT for Change

Reading materials on ELT

1. Krashen's hypotheses for SLA (Second Language Acquisition)
2. Multi-linguality_and_the_teaching_of_English_in_India - Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri
3. NCF2005 Position Paper on Teaching of Indian Languages
4. Digital Storytelling, an ICT-based method of co-constructing and transacting curriculum

Additional resources

1. Rich recitations
   • Karadi tales - Very rich and brilliant audio stories based on Indian stories and using Indian tunes.
     1. Crickematics with Rahul Dravid
     2. Monkey on a Fast with Sanjay Dutt
2. Poetry online
   1. Poems online (10,000 poems) available for download
   2. Access poems and upload your poems All Poetry
   3. Poetry foundation
3. Great speeches:
   1. I have a Dream, speech by Martin Luther King .Jr
4. Language Lab
   1. Language Lab stories

Audio resources created by last batch participants

Audio resources created by teachers at RIESI - Old repository

[1]Audio resources created by teachers at RIESI - New repository

Assignment submission

At the end of the workshop submit your audio file here

Workshop feedback form

Click here to submit your feedback about this workshop