Web resources for speaking assessments

The logics of carrying out speaking assessments are often a headache. For example:

• How do you keep the rest of the students in a class occupied when you've separated out a couple of them to listen to?
  
• How do you concentrate on the students you are testing when you've got one ear on the rising hubbub coming from the rest of the class?
  
• How can you keep a record of your students' speaking capabilities and measure their advances during the course?
  

Using web resources may well be your answer.

There is a variety you can choose from according to your needs:

VoiceThread is an ideal candidate for use with Cambridge exam-based classes.





And here's one on the VoiceThread site where a whole class talks about a set of photos.

VoiceThread is quite simple to use:

1. Register yourself as a user. (VoiceThread is very teacher friendly and once you've registered yourself as a normal user, you can take advantages of the extended facilities of VoiceThread Pro. When you're on the Browse, Create, or Myvoice pages click the button up top that says Go Pro and then click the link that says K-12 classroom educators.)
2. Upload some photos using Google's image search or, if you want a choice of better quality photos, use FlickrStorm (I'll do a separate posting on using this interesting resource later).
3. Write or record instructions for you students. You can either upload a previously recorded sound file or record directly onto the site using a mike connected to your computer.
   
4. While still in Create, click on the To Go button and a window opens. Copy the HTML code and paste it in the Edit HTML tab of your blog posting to add your VoiceThread to your class blog.
5. Give your students your login and then they can record their comments directly into your VoiceThread from the blog using a mike connected to the computer.
   

I've made quite a lot of use of Vaestro which is like an oral forum. You start a topic with an oral posting and your students reply, creating a thread.
Here's an example of a Post FCE group talking about Bilbao.

1. Again, register yourself with the site
2. From Menu select Create Channel
3. Using a mike plugged directly to the computer, make a recording.
4. Vaestro will email you with the URL of your topic thread which you can then link to on your blog.
5. Students click on the link and can record their posts without having to log in.

If you want to record a class discussion, it's best to use an MP3 recorder and one of the podcasting sites. I've used both Odeo and Podomatic. Podomatic is perhaps is bit more user-friendly.

Here's another example of a Post FCE group talking about the positive and negative features of living in Bilbao using this method.

1. Again you need to register in order to use the site.
2. Record your group discussion using an MP3 recorder.
3. Use a freeware program like Audacity with the LAME MP3 encoder to export your sound file as MP3.
4. In Podomatic (Odeo is similar), click on My Podcast then Create an Episode
5. Give your podcast a title, and then click on Import.
6. Find the file on your computer and then click on Upload.
7. Finally, click on Post Episode.
8. Drag the Play icon into your blog to access your podcast directly from there.
   

You can use Voki to have fun with your students while assessing their language skills and pronunciation.

Create an account with Voki beforehand and get your students to use your login.

Then give them the following instructions:

• Go to www.voki.com and sign in.
• Click on My Voki and then on create a Create a New Voki
• Click on Create New Scene
• Choose a character
• Customize your character
• Give it a voice using the model:
  

"My name is ... (think of a name).
They call me .... because ... (think of a reason).
I love ... (think of something your character loves doing).
I hate ... (think of something your character hates doing)."

• Make sure you save your recording
• Choose a background and a player
• Click on Save
• Choose embed in: Blogger and size: small
• Click on Get Code and copy the code
• Now create a new posting on the blog
• Paste the code in the Edit Html window to embed your Voki character in the posting

Here are the results from some of my Junior Intermediate students:
Ashley Timbelton
James Mooh
Mary Kate

In the next session, your students can create a conversation between their characters.

• Get them to work in pairs and listen to what their partner's character said about him/herself.
  
• Ask them to think of one or two good questions to ask them.
  
• Tell them to take turns in recording their characters' questions and answers
• Get them to create a new posting on their blog and paste the code for the questions and answers so they form a conversation
  

Here are some examples from the same group of students.

Conversation - Hilary + Wonder

Conversation - Michael + Yogi




Animoto is my next pending blog assignment. Here you can make slick videos super fast.

In the example I used FlickrStorm to find good photos and selected the music from what was on offer at Animoto. However, you could record your students speaking or making comments and then use Audacity to mix them with their choice of music.