List 7. WEB pages. A heap of (user-friendly) listening resources
List 7.1. www.english-trailers.com 3-4-5 levels 20 min
GOAL. To learn by doing. Become a member and rate the films you like by rating them (1--3).
WARM UP
TASK1. Explore this web page answering these questions.
Q1. What is the film offered on display? ...........................................................
Q2. In the right bottom corner there is the list of films. How many are in store? .................
Q3. How many are graded (easy, medium or hard)? ..........................
Q4. Click on “medium”. How many are graded ‘medium’? ..........................
Q5. Copy the last two films you found in this category: ...........................................................................
TASK 2. Click on the upper right corner “the site menu”. Answer these questions.
Q1. Who is the webmaster? . .............................................
Q2. How can a teacher contribute to the website? ....................................................................
Q3. Where did he link almost all the trailers you can watch? ..............................................
Q4. Select 'Trailer List/Advanced Search'. Choose “by date”
A. How many where added in January 2007? ..........................
B. Copy the last two tralers added: ...................................... ..............................................
TASK 3. If you are interested in a particular film, say, The Queen or Bridget Jones, you can find them alphabetically. Do these searches:
Q1. How many Spiderman films could you find? ..........................................
Q2. What Harry Potter’s films are available? ......................................................
Q3. What Bridget Jones’s films are available? ................................................................
Q4. Which level is The Queen? easy—medium --hard
TASK 4. Change the film on the lower right corner, choose the Queen on the screen and then browse what you can do with it.
Q1. Write the other options offered on the top front part:
summary –cloze – ................ - talking ideas for partner - ............................ - ............................
Q2. In web links you are offered three sites. How many questions can you find? ………………
Q3. How was it rated (from 1 to 3)? ................
TASK 5. Choose the film Ratatouille (a Pixar-Disney film). How was it rated (from 1 to 3)? ...
LANGUAGE PRACTICE
TASK 5. Press play button on the screen to see Ratatouille . Fill in the waiter’s words in 2 attempts:
Waiter (with French accent): “Tonight before the dessert 1............... we present for your 2................... the traditional cheese trolley. To 3............... ....... .......... an excellent - creamy, very nice, very light. Next a hearty, a surprising 4............... I think you'll find. And finally the piece de resistance, a very special, very 5 .................... ...”
TASK 6. Click on the Cloze option and there you have a script from Ratatouille (a Pixar-Disney film). Fill in the quizz with three attempts. (The tasks are printable as seen here)
Waiter (with French accent): Tonight [.........] piece de resistance, a very special, very rare ...
Woman: Rat!!!!
Cook: It's a rat!
Remy: This is me. I think it's ..................... that I need to rethink my ..................... a little bit. I can't help myself. I like good food. OK? And good food is hard for a rat to find.
Dad: It wouldn't be so hard to find if you weren't so ........................
Remy: I don't want to eat ....................., dad. What is that?
Big rat: I don't really know.
Remy: You don't know and you're ..................... it.
Big rat: You know if you can sort of muscle your way past the gag reflex, all kinds of ...........................
Woman: Rat!!!!
Cook: It's a rat!
Remy: This is me. I think it's ..................... that I need to rethink my ..................... a little bit. I can't help myself. I like good food. OK? And good food is hard for a rat to find.
Dad: It wouldn't be so hard to find if you weren't so ........................
Remy: I don't want to eat ....................., dad. What is that?
Big rat: I don't really know.
Remy: You don't know and you're ..................... it.
Big rat: You know if you can sort of muscle your way past the gag reflex, all kinds of ...........................
possibilities open up.
Remy: This is what I'm ....................about. I don't think any of this would have come up, but we happen
Remy: This is what I'm ....................about. I don't think any of this would have come up, but we happen
to live in Paris, France. And it's so ........................ to find good food in Paris... it's just ..................
Big rat: You got to rethink your life.
Dad: He's right you know.
Remy: Let it .................., dad!
Big rat: You got to rethink your life.
Dad: He's right you know.
Remy: Let it .................., dad!
TASK 7. Click on the Cloze option. Check your answers and see the meaning of the new vocabulary (picky, garbage). And finally rate it (easy-medium-difficult)
FOLLOW UP.
Choose another films of your choice and vote.
Listen 7.2. Univ. of Houston www.uh.edu/engines 3-4-5 levels 20 min
GOAL. To learn content by listening to short passages (4 minutes).
WARMING UP
TASK 1. Read the introductory passage of a short radio program. No. 1930:
DURABILITY OF WRITING.
Today, the durability of writing. The University of Houston presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
The words we read every day are formed from ancient letters. And that same writing, our Latin script, is used by countless other languages as well -- even by whole other language groups. The languages that use this three-thousand-or-so-year-old writing have undergone relentless change, while the script has hardly altered.
LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Listening procedure. Find the webpage and select the size of the text at medium or large. Do NOT read the wghole text before answering the questions.
Q1. Besides most European languages say two languages mentioned in the passage taht use it.
...................................., ...................................
Q2. A Science magazine article talks about a conference held at Oxford university. When they discussed the durability of the scripts, what did they find? ............................................................
Q3. Which script was a rare case being used for only one language? ………….......... ....
Q4. Why the Sumerian Cuneiform writing survived the pictorial script? …..........……….......... ....
Q5. How many years was Cuneiform in use? a) four hundred b) a thousand c) three thousand
Q6. Which is the explanation for the GH in ‘sight’? ...................................………….......... ....
Q7. The incas created the khipu, a strange form of writing. How did it work? …………........ ....
Q8. Does the narrator gives more importance to the spoken or to the written word? …….......... ....
TASK 3. Listen to the whole passage again and read simultaneously the text going the scroll down and correct your answers.
TASK 4. Listen to eat and take notes on nine interesting lexical expressions, such as:
machines taht make our civilization run - a conference held at Oxford – script stays tied to a single language - it died out only B.C.- created a means (noun) for preserving ......
TASK 5. Think of your favourite inventor (mone, Edison). For more on him, click the Search function.
TASK 6. Read about Edison in the introductory passage of a short radio program. No. 793:
EDISON'S GOLDEN YEARS
Today, Edison gives us his season in the sun. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.
No one should go through life without enjoying one season in the sun. If you're lucky, you've had one. Remember what it was like. Thomas Edison had a season in the sun, and nothing has been the same since, for any of us.
TASK 7. Listen to the episode ans answer the questions below. Click here for audio of Episode 793.
When he was 1)………….. he found work as a 2) ……………… …..…..….. That led him to study electricity. At 3) …………, he filed his first patent.
By 4) …………………. he was able to set up his 5) …………… company
In year 6) ………, Edison put a complete electric lighting system on a ship;
in year 7) ………., Edison was providing New York City with DC electricity;
in year 8) ……… , his wife died of scarlet fever;
in year 9) ……… , he moved into a much larger laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey
TASK 8. Listen again and answer the questions below.
Q1. Which of this inventions was not his? …………………………….an electric vote-recording machine. – telephone - incandescent light - phonograph
Q2. Which of the mentioned was his first patent? …………………………………………..Q3. Season in the sun, refers to his first period of work at a famous laboratory, where was it?
……………………………………………………………………
Q4. to make light bombs work, Edison revealed another kind of inventive genius. Which one?
……………………………………………………………………
TASK 3. Listen to the whole passage again and read simultaneously the text going the scroll down and correct your answers. Take notes on nine interesting lexical expressions.
FOLLOW UP.
About writing and culture we recommend episode 719, QWERTY keyboard or No. 797:
ALCUIN AND CHARLEMAGNE and enjoy its content.
ALCUIN AND CHARLEMAGNE and enjoy its content.
For Edison, listen to the oposite side of the genius: No. 523: EDISON'S BIG FAILURE
Listen 7.3. Tobacco & smoke from CBC archives 4-5 levels 30-40 min
GOAL. Being able to contrast a current issue in my country to the situatiuon in Canada.
WARM UP
TASK1. Surf http://archives.cbc.ca on two of your favourite topics.
How many audio/video clips did you find: Topic 1. ................................. Topic 2. :.........................
TASK2. Fill in the blanks with these words: even- puffed - peaked- nearly-virtually
Not too long ago, Canadians could smoke ........................ anywhere they pleased: at work, in theatres, restaurants and ........................ hospitals. Smoking rates ........................ in the early 1960s, when ........................ half of all adults ........................ away.
TASK3. Search for “butting out" there or in Google [cbc “butting out"]. Click on the webpages found and you will find some audio/video clips. Answer these questions:
Q1. How many did you find? ............................
Q2. Copy the title of the file: Butting Out: The Slow ............... ...... .................. ... .................
Q3. What kind of language material do they offer? to read .................... to listen....................
LANGUAGE PRACTICE
Q1. Which restrictions did the government introduce on workplace smoking? ........................
...................................................................................................................................................
Q2. And in tobacco advertising? ..........................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
TASK4. Listen to 3 of these passages. Take notes on their content (about 70 words each).
1- Canadian tobacco makes a fine cigarette An expert talks about varieties of the tobacco plant and says the habit can be hard to break. (Radio; runs 6:59)
5-Trouble in tobacco country Disturbed by attacks on their industry, Ontario tobacco farmers try growing varieties lower in tar. (TV; runs 2:49)
7-The myth of the 'light' cigarette Smokers are increasingly turning to "light" cigarettes, even though they're just as dangerous. (TV; runs 6:18)
8- A new danger: second-hand smoke There are over 3,800 toxic compounds in a burning cigarette – and even non-smokers suffer the effects. (TV; runs 5:04)
12- 'Cigarettes cause cancer' Every package of smokes will soon feature hard-to-ignore warnings about the risks of smoking. (TV; runs 2:17)
FOLLOW UP. Write an essay comparing the situation in Canada with the one in your country.
Listen 7.4. LearnOutLoud.com 3-4-5 level 10-15 min
GOAL. To explore a website where content is paramount.
If we are going to be listeners in this century, autonomous content is imperative.
TASK 1. Browse the characteristics of this website and become a subscriber for a a month. Free downloads are available and rare pearls will visit your storaged files.
Here is what you could find there:
At LearnOutLoud.com we've been offering our Free Resource of the Day Email for one year now (March 2007) highlighting the best free audio & video you can learn from. So we felt it was time to point out the top 25 free resources which we've covered in our daily emailings in the last year.
I copy here 4 choices of a faithful listener.
“First, a classic (as the saying goes: “classics in class”), second, History where I may have lessons to be learnt, thirdly, some practical things to the citizen I am, and last but withoud odoubt not lest, food for thought with an west-meet-east mind: Allan Watts.”
1. I Have a Dream Audio and Video From our very first edition of the Resource of the Day e-mail, we wanted to start out with a special one. One of our favorite free titles in the directory is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s classic "I Have a Dream" speech. Delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King's passionate call for justice and equality was the battle cry for the civil rights movement in America. Choose from an audio version of the speech from American Rhetoric or watch the streaming video.
6. History According to Bob Podcast For two years, Bob Packett has serviced the world with his podcast, History According to Bob. This retired history professor operating out of Kansas explores a large canvas - from the smallest historical artifacts to decade- spanning cultural upheaval- with the sort of down- home, approachable style that is the earmark of a great teacher.
12. 50 Things I'm Going To Do Today One of our all-time favorite audio downloads is 50 Things I'm Going to Do Today. Written and narrated by Brian Johnson, CEO of Zaadz, Inc., "50 Things" is a great collection of tips to live your life by. Ranging from "Hit The Rock" and "Pay Your Bills with a Smile" to "Act 'As If'" and "Embrace Opposites," you're in for a real treat if you haven't listened to this already. And if you have it's probably time for another listen. Enjoy!
14. Alan Watts Podcast We're highlighting the Alan Watts Podcast which features recordings of one of the great western interpreters of Eastern religion: Alan Watts. If you've never heard Alan Watts lectures before, please do yourself a favor and listen to this podcast.
TASK 2. Keep tracks of your listening activities with a chart of your own.
FOLLOW UP.
Write a report of your monthly activities: what you listened, what you downloaded. See Listen 7.5.
Listen 7.5. Librivox.org 3-4-5 level 10-15 min
GOAL. To explore a website where literary pieces are provided and it is creating its own community.
TASK 1. Browse the characteristics of this website and become a supervisor for a month.
The quality of the content is amazing.
TASK 2. Make choices and write a review on 6 items. Take the box as an example
Here is what you could find here: www.learnoutloud.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-534.html -
“So I've gone down the list of LibriVox listening to the first MP3 of each title and I've written some short reviews on just the solo narrators mostly[...] So far the one that sounded the most interesting to me was "Ten Days in a Madhouse" by Nellie Bly.”
1. Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger, Jr. http://librivox.org/ragged-dick-by-horatio-alger-jr/
Alice gives a fun reading here. She does a lot of different voices sort of like she's reading a kids story. The audio quality is good. She may be a little too dramatic for some tastes but she puts a lot of energy into it.
2. Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier: http://librivox.org/tristan-and-ise...-joseph-bedier/
Joy Chan has an awesome British accent that is perfect for reading this audio book. The audio quality is average, but her narration is top notch.
3. Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly: http://librivox.org/ten-days-in-a-m...-by-nellie-bly/
Stellar narration by Alice and this sounds like a really interesting audio book. I was captivated.
4. American Indian Fairy Tales: http://librivox.org/american-indian...wbridge-larned/
Chip sounds like a professional narrator. I was very impressed with this recording. There's nothing amateur about this audio book.
Alice gives a fun reading here. She does a lot of different voices sort of like she's reading a kids story. The audio quality is good. She may be a little too dramatic for some tastes but she puts a lot of energy into it.
2. Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier: http://librivox.org/tristan-and-ise...-joseph-bedier/
Joy Chan has an awesome British accent that is perfect for reading this audio book. The audio quality is average, but her narration is top notch.
3. Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly: http://librivox.org/ten-days-in-a-m...-by-nellie-bly/
Stellar narration by Alice and this sounds like a really interesting audio book. I was captivated.
4. American Indian Fairy Tales: http://librivox.org/american-indian...wbridge-larned/
Chip sounds like a professional narrator. I was very impressed with this recording. There's nothing amateur about this audio book.
5. The Wisdom of Father Brown (G. K. Ch.): http://librivox.org/the-wisdom-of-f...g-k-chesterton/
6.China and the Chinese by Herbert Allen Giles http://librivox.org/china-and-the-c...rt-allen-giles/
6.China and the Chinese by Herbert Allen Giles http://librivox.org/china-and-the-c...rt-allen-giles/
TASK 3. Read the comments below and use them to express your own views.
a/ Good reading by British accented P. Yearsley. Not terribly exciting, but fitting for the text. Decent audio.
b/ Bravo Joy Chan! She narrates this audio book wonderfully. Her accent continues to be the coolest on the LibriVox scene. Recording quality is good, not great.
c/ Good amateur narration by Kara Shallenberg. Maybe not dynamic enough to keep the constant attention of children, but still high quality narration.
d/ The audio quality on this one is not the greatest. There's a constant fuzz in the background and the edits in the audio are audible. The narration by Brit Martin Clifton is fine but it doesn't overcome the weak audio.
e/ It's good technically but it lacks passion. Denny Sayers narration is a little dry for this adventure novel. The audio recording is well done.
f/ David Barnes delivers these lectures on China in fine fashion. They were originally delivered in 1902, and depending on your interest level in China, may or may not hold you full attention.
c/ Good amateur narration by Kara Shallenberg. Maybe not dynamic enough to keep the constant attention of children, but still high quality narration.
d/ The audio quality on this one is not the greatest. There's a constant fuzz in the background and the edits in the audio are audible. The narration by Brit Martin Clifton is fine but it doesn't overcome the weak audio.
e/ It's good technically but it lacks passion. Denny Sayers narration is a little dry for this adventure novel. The audio recording is well done.
f/ David Barnes delivers these lectures on China in fine fashion. They were originally delivered in 1902, and depending on your interest level in China, may or may not hold you full attention.
g/ Marian Brown's narration is fine for these O. Henry short stories. The audio quality is very good, but the narration could use a little more dramatic flare.
FOLLOW UP. Feed your Oral portfolio with your monthly activities. See oral worksheet 8.
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