ELTA Audio OER course

Audio resource creation for English language teaching - an online course from English Language Teachers Association (ELTA) and ITfC

Background

IT for Change and English Language Teachers Association (ELTA) are collaborating to design and conduct an online course on “Audio resources creation for language teaching ” for English language teachers. The course is based on the National ICT curriculum theme - Creating with ICT. This note discusses the objectives, approach, requirements of participants and expected outcomes from the course.

Objectives of the course

1. To explore the arbitrary connections between word and thought and script and sound
2. Exploring new digital methods for language learning.
3. Exploring Audacity FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) to create language resources for language teaching
4. Learning recording and editing audio using Audacity. Making audio resource richer by using multiple sources
5. Understand the philosophy of creating and adapting existing audio resources (Open Educational Resources created with FOSS)
6. Publishing created audio resource on a public repository for the benefit of all teachers

Approach

The course will be held over 5 webinar sessions and each webinar duration will be for a duration of 90 mins.

1. Session1: Overview of the course. Exploring the role of audio in language learning. Introduction to audio resources/ICT, and identification of audio resource to be created by each participant.
2. Offline activity – Install Audacity on your computer. Record an audio clip
3. Session 2, 3 and 4: These sessions will be hands-on sessions. The participants will create the audio resource on the selected topic and will finally upload it on an online repository.

Requirements from the participants

1. All the participants should have a computer (desktop or laptop) along with a good mic + speaker (headphones).
2. Audacity application must be installed on the computer. For installation instructions, refer https://teacher-network.in/OER/index.php/Learn_Audacity#Installation.
3. Only those intending to attend all 5 webinars should register for the course. To register please fill the google form http://tinyurl.com/ELTA-ItfC-Audioresource

Join the webinar sessions

Click here to join the webinar sessions
All the 5 webinar sessions will be held on the following dates: July 21, 24, 29, 31 and August 4. The webinar timings will be from 5.30 to 7 pm.

Expected Outcomes

It is expected that at the end of the course, each participant would have created an audio resource, on their selected topic (poem or prose or any other resource). This resource would be published on a public repository. Participants who successfully complete the course and upload their resources on the repository will get a certificate of completion from IT for Change and ELTA.

Agenda

Webinars and dates	Particulars	Activities	Resources
Webinar 1: July 21st 2020 from 5.30 to 7 pm	Role of Audio in Language Teaching Learning	1. Introduction to the course and agenda. Norms 2. Demonstration and discussion about listening and ELT. Hearing a Karadi tale 3. Participants will identify different audio elements 4. Participants will choose one topic to create audio 5. Instructions on installing the required software for the hands-on session and doing an initial recording.	Learn Audacity - https://teacher-network.in/OER/index.php/Learn_Audacity Assignment - Install Audacity. Record the audio using Audacity
Webinar 2: July 24th, 2020 from 5.30 to 7 pm	1. Using different applications for audio recording 2. Understanding the technical specifications for audio – headphones, microphone 3. Understanding of Audacity editing tools.	1. Go through basic audio recording options in audacity 2. Go through the checklist of recording a good quality audio 3. Go through the audio recording process - record pause, play, stop 4. Save as project file, export recorded audio files 5. Edit recorded audio files using basic tools as we needed 6. Get familiar with audacity project files and the audio files	Learn Audacity - https://teacher-network.in/OER/index.php/Learn_Audacity
Webinar 3: July 29th, 2020 from 5.30 to 7 pm	1. Effectiveness of adding audio effects 2. Understanding when and how to use audio effects to the audio's 3. Using an audio editing tool to add sound elements.	1. Use edit tools to refine audio by removing unwanted part 2. To understand what is tracks and how tracks can be used 3. Use multiple tracks to add background music for the audio 4. Use "noise removal" to clear background noise 5. File export as audio files and save as a project.	Learn Audacity
Webinar 4: July 31st, 2020 from 5.30 to 7 pm	1. Using an audio editing tool to enhance an audio resource 2. Understanding of using different background music to make more effective of the audio	1. Use amplification to adjust the output volume of audio files 2. Fade in/out to adjust the audio -voice modulation 3. Use Silence, noise reduction, pitch change and echo features 4. Add different audio elements to the audio in any particular places	Learn Audacity and www.SoundCloud.com
Webinar 5: August 4th, 2020 from 5.30 to 7 pm	1. Understanding OER and different OER licenses. 2. The presentation of participants created audio files. 3. Publish created audio's on the web.	1. Understanding about OER resources. 2. Understanding the types of OER licenses. 3. Understanding of SoundCloud audio repository. 4. Upload and share our created audio files on SoundCloud.	SoundCloud handout : https://teacher-network.in/OER/index.php/Learn_Soundcloud

Resources

Technology resources

1. Install Audacity application in your computer
2. Download different background music's to your computer
3. Checklist for recording good audio clip
4. Fill this form, with your topic for audio resource creation in the course

Online OER audio repositories

1. WikimediaCommons
2. BenSound
3. Soundible
4. FreeSound
5. SoundCloud

Reading materials on ELT

1. Krashens hypotheses for SLA (Second Language Acquisition)
2. Multi-linguality, education and harmony - Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri (Multi-lingualism, as a resource for ELT
3. Multi-linguality_and_the_teaching_of_English_in_India - Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri
4. National Curriculum 2005 Framework Position Paper on Teaching English
5. National Curriculum 2005 Framework Position Paper on Teaching of Indian Languages
6. Digital Storytelling, an ICT-based method of co-constructing and transacting curriculum
7. Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

Additional resources

1. Karadi tales - Very rich and brilliant audio stories based on Indian stories and using Indian tunes... must listen to all
   1. Karadi tale - Blue Jackal by Naseeruddin Shah
   2. Crickematics with Rahul Dravid
   3. Monkey on a Fast with Sanjay Dutt
2. https://www.swarasforschools.com/
3. I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King .Jr