Audio Resource Creation for Language Teaching - RIESI

Course background

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

Objectives of the course

1. 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
2. To learn to record and editing audio using Audacity. Making your audio resource richer by using multiple audio files (background music)
3. To introduce the philosophy of creating and adapting existing audio resources (Open Educational Resources created with FOSS)
4. To publish created audio resource on a public repository for the benefit of all teachers

Registration for the course

Click here to register for this Audio creation course

Approach

The course will be held over 4 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.

Offline activity — Install Audacity on computer. Record an audio clip using Audacity or mobile-based apps.

1. Sessions 2, 3 and 4: These sessions will be hands-on sessions. Here the participants will create the audio resource on the selected topic and will some sound effects to the recorded audio clips. The participants will present their audio files and will upload 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. Good internet connection to join the webinar sessions.

Join the webinar sessions

1. Webinar sessions dates: will be on 19th, 22nd, 26th and 28th of October.
2. The sessions timings: Evening from 6 pm to 7:30 pm.
3. Webinar link to join the session: https://b3.teacher-network.in/b/rak-0fv-jua-tra

Agenda of the course

Webinars	Particulars	Activities	Resources
Webinar session 1	Role of Audio in Language Teaching Learning	Introduction to the workshop and agenda explanations Helping participants to install Audacity software in their computers Go through audio recording basic options in audacity 4. Save as project file, export recorded audio files Go through a checklist of recording a good quality audio Participants will choose one topic to create audio.	- Learn Audacity handout and - Fill this form, with your topic for audio resource creation in the course
Webinar session 2	Using different applications for audio recording Understanding the technical specifications for audio headphones, microphone Understanding of Audacity editing tools.	Edit recorded audio files using basic tools as we needed. Get familiar with audacity project files and the audio files. Use "noise removal" to clear background noise Use amplification to adjust the output volume of audio files Go through OER audio repositories to access and download it to your device	Learn Audacity handout
Webinar session 3	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 edit tools to refine audio by removing unwanted part Use multiple tracks to add background music for the audio Use Silence, pitch change and features File export as audio files and save as project.	Learn Audacity handout
Webinar session 4	Using an audio editing tool to enhance an audio resource Understanding of using different background music to make more effective of the audio Publish created audio's on the web.	Fade in/out, echo to adjust the audio -voice modulation Add different audio elements to the audio in any particular places To understand what is a track and how tracks can be used mix audios+musics and multiple sound elements. Use Soundcloud.com to upload and share audio's Go through the course assignment requirements.	Learn Audacity handout and SoundCloud handout

Course 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. Access/Download OER background music's to your computer
5. Use SoundCloud repository to upload and share your audio materials (Video)

Online OER audio repositories

1. WikimediaCommons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Audio_files
2. BenSound - https://www.bensound.com/
3. Soundible - http://soundbible.com/
4. FreeSound - https://freesound.org/
5. SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/

Reading materials on ELT

1. Krashen's hypotheses for SLA (Second Language Acquisition)
2. Multilingualism, education and harmony - Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri (Multilingualism, as a resource for ELT
3. Multi-linguality_and_the_teaching_of_English_in_India - Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri
4. National Curriculum 2005 Framework (NCF2005) Position Paper on Teaching English
5. National Curriculum 2005 Framework (NCF2005) Position Paper on Teaching of Indian Languages
6. 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

Audio resources created by last batch participants

1. September Primary school teachers album
2. September Secondary school teachers album
3. November Primary school teachers album
4. November Secondary school teachers album
5. December CELT Audio resources album
6. January CELT Audio resources album
7. March CELT Audio resources album

Expected outcomes from the participants

It is expected that at the end of the course, each participant need to be created an audio resource, on their selected topic (poem or prose or any other resource) and these audio resources need to be submitted as assignment.

Only participants who successfully complete the course and upload their resources on the repository will get a certificate of completion from RIESI and IT for Change.

Course assignment and feedback

To submit your audio file, click here

To fill the course feedback form, click here