nliddane
Joined: Wednesday, 08 April 2009 19:07:45
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My student is fairly advanced in that she reads, writes and speaks fairly well but isn't confident in her speaking skills. She doesn't have anyone to speak correctly with on a regular basis. I suggested that she take out a book on tape from the library as well as the book itself. That way she can hear and read english a little everyday and practice more between our sessions. She's done this for about two weeks now and both of us
see an improvement in her speaking skills.
Also, I suggested that she practice speaking more slowly. In our
discussions I learned that she speaks quickly and kind of mushes the words together to get them out because she is uncomfortable with them. When she does that, people have difficulty understanding her. She's learned that if she speaks more slowly, her pronunciations are clearer and she's better understood.
Nancy Liddane
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Dear Nancy,
Suggesting that your student listen to books on tape is a wonderful idea. You can also make your own recordings of either LESes that you make or readings that you and your student complete together. It's easy. All you need is a headset with a microphone and a computer with Windows XP. Plug in your headset and make sure the microphone is working. Then left click on the start button, left click on "All Programs," then on "Accessories," then on "Entertainment" and last on "Sound Recorder." You'll see controls just like on "old timey" cassette recorders. Left click on the button with the red dot (record) and you are set to record. Just speak into the microphone clearly. When you are finished, left click on the button with a square (stop). Just remember that you can only record 60 secondes at a time. If you want to record something longer than that, just click on the stop button and then on the record button again. You can watch the indicator slide along the bottom of the box to see how much time you have left. When you are finished (or anytime in the middle) left click on file and you can save your recording as a wave file. That can now be stored on a flash drive and transfered to another computer, or you can email it to your student. Once you've done that, your student has the chance to re-listen to the exact materials that you used in your lesson. Your student will open the file and then left click on the play botton and/or rewind button and listen to his or her heart's content.
Have fun!!!
Catherine
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