To help pupils revise for the GCSE speaking exam, some language teachers are recording model questions for their pupils to download and listen to on a computer or mp3 player. Others are recording both the question and answer to make revision even easier.
This is all well and good, but of course it could be argued that it would be better to leave suitable gaps between questions so that pupils can record their own answers instead of just listening to their teacher answer for them. To do this in Audacity is easy.
First record all the model questions from a given topic and save the file in a shared area that all pupils can access. Ask them to launch this file, click on the Edit menu, Preferences and then the Audio I/O tab. Next, they need to tick the box by Play other tracks while recording new one and click OK.
That done, they can then click the play button and record their answers after each question. If they need more thinking time, they can always click the pause button. Once they've finished, they can resave the file with a different name or just export their personalised recording as a mp3 file and transfer it on to a mobile device or email it to themselves as an attachment.
Combined with a transcript of their recording as a Word document or mobile friendly eBook to images version they can choose how and where they revise, either in front of a computer or on the move. They can decide how to personalise their own learning at a time that suits them. Sound good?
You can also use this technique for speaking, singing or rapping over a backing track from a site such as Flashkit. That way, you can ensure that you keep in time with the music.
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