Week 4: Speaking and Listening

This week we looked at how ICT can help children explore and improve their speaking and listening skills through a variety of gadgets. We looked at how they would be useful and had a go at using some ourselves!

We began by asking: How does technology encourage speaking and listening? we came up with these ideas:

• can record discussions through it to listen back and reflect on
• interactivity - a way of communcating between people
• peer-assistance when using computers in the classroom encourages children to co-operate and comminicate with each other
• podcasts - can listen to the views of others

Speaking and Listening Gadgets

We then looked at some gadgets useful in the classroom for develoing speaking and listening skills.

Talking Photo Album

On the face of it this gadget looks like any old photo album - with the polythene sleeves and hard back cover. But this photo album allows you to record things over each photo graph. It's very simple to use, and would be great to use for all sorts of subjects; from retelling a story in english or as an aid for phonics letter and sounds, describing a life cycle in science or a book of animals which tells you facts about them, or even documenting a field trip. It is a great means of communication, especially for EAL children who might find writing too challenging or SEN children with motor skills.

'Talk Tins' 

These curious hockey-puck like things similarly allow you to record anything you like into them. 
They would be incredibly useful for recording instructions into, so that when children got to their tables to complete an activity, all they would need to do is listen to the teachers instructions as opposed to having to go back to the teacher to repeat it.
They would also be great to use for treasure hunts; each one giving a different clue as the children progress.

'Talk Time Cards' 

These are essentially whiteboards with a recording facility built within them. I have seen them in use in the classroom and they can be really useful and effective. They could be a great learning aid for EAL children, as the whiteboard could feature an image to accompany the sound to aid with writing. 
These can also be found with multiple buttons on them so several messages can be recorded in sequence; again this would be a useful tool for recording instructions into; they could be used by the in Science to recount the steps of an experiment or in History or Geography to ask a sequence of questions on a topic.

Podcasting

We moved on to look at Podcasting as something which could be useful for learning in the classroom. Podcasts are like Radio shows, but which you can download at any time and subscribe to through iTunes. We listened to some extracts from Podcasts made by children through their school, and it was clear that they loved the process!

Podcasting is a great way to give children a voice - a means by which children can learn to articulate their thoughts and ideas and also listen to the thoughts and ideas of others. In doing so, they feel more connected to their world and community, and contribute to the vast deposits of ideas and knowledge which can be found on the internet.

We listened to some school radio stations through a site called: http://www.radioanywhere.co.uk which is specifically for schools to upload audio programs onto.

There is also a site called http://audacity.sourceforge.net where you can download easy-to-use software which allows you to record and edit audio. You can get creative with the editing by changing acoustics and pitch and then export the end result into an mp3 or wav file ready for publishing anywhere.




Digital Imaging

Although not directly linked with Speaking and Listening, we looked at child-friendly tools for catching video and images, which could be used to facilitate speaking and listening opportunities.

Tough Cams

As tough as they sound, these hard wearing video/photo cameras are very child friendly and very easy to use. The photos and videos captured on them can be connected to a computer simply by plugging one in via a USB port in true plug n' play fashion. These can be edited through accompanying software which is also easy to use.




Microsoft Photo Story

This software, similar to Microsoft Movie Maker but much more simple to use, allows you to upload video or images and 'make a story'  - you can add sound effects or record over the images and add text captions, as well as effects to move between images. These would be great to use for any subject, and provide opportunities for children to work on their speaking and listening skills through both creating the 'stories' and then watching other peoples and commenting and engaging with them.

I had a little bit of time to create a little something of my own, and here it is!

In Reflection...

I think there are many ways technology can help children with their speaking and listening skills. The gadgets we looked at are effective because they can be used across the curriculum subjects. They are also easy to use and the children seem to engage positively with them. It would be nice to see if I could use some of this software or gadgetry when I am in the classroom.