How Should We Record Tasks?

[Sharon Tonner]

It has been mentioned that it is difficult for schools trying to say the words of the other countries due to them not being clear. It was suggested that only one child says the words. Have a look various methods that could be used and let me know what you think will be the best way for all:

1. Only one child says the words.

2. All children say the words.

3. It is in two parts: first part has one child and second part has everyone. Part 2 is a repetition of part one but allows all children to be heard whilst part 1 allows others to pick out the words.

Which ever one is chosen please remember to say the words slowly.

Look forward to your replies.

Sharon

[Anna Karidi Pirounaki]

Indeed this is very helpful and the outcome can be the best..

This is the way Greek pupils worked last year: 1 or 2 ( most of the times was 2) recorded the tasks ..aiming to a clear recording and full 'understandable' by the others ..

of course we can 'change' each month the pupils who record and give other 'tasks' to the rest class..so that all the group to feel that participates in this project..

[Sharon Tonner]

This is fine for participants who are using the same class and the numbers are small. Some participating schools have over 30 children in the class and with only 7 tasks for the year this would mean some would not get to participate. Also, some teachers use different classes, I did when I was an ICT teacher as I selected the children suitable for each task to enable a whole school participation. I know many others do this too.

Whatever method we select, ensure that we cater for all participants.

[Jane Lowe]

I like the whole class to participate so maybe we could have one child say it first then follow up with the whole class if you want to. I also liked the idea on one of December's suggestions that we write the words on the slides or whatever we are using. It doesn't actually matter if they cannot be read but I think it is good to be able to see the words in the different languages.

[Vicky Sedgwick]

Wow that's hard because all the students want to participate so having only one child do it could be a problem in my opinion. For the tasks so far (and I will be sending November's link to you next week Sharon - the students have to put their final touches on their images) I've had everyone say the words but they are in English so it's easy for us.

If we want individual voices to make it clearer, what about having each student say one word clearly and then we could combine it into a single MP3 file? For example, if you took All For One and One For All, you could have 7 different students say one word each of the phrase. There's still the issue of which 7 children though. I have such a small class doing this - only 10 of them so I'd hate to leave out 3.

Are we going to require this in recordings and say only one child should say something?

If I have to vote for one of the above I'd have to say #2 because I want this to be a project that includes all the students in the class.

[Vicky Sedgwick]

Okay, I did reply to this but it's not here for some reason so I'll try again. My opinion is that all students should participate and say or sing whatever the song or phrase is. I am doing this as a class project to teach about the bigger world and building something (the wiki) with others not in our classroom. I don't want to leave anyone out or make someone feel bad that they can't say or sing whatever it is we are doing that month.

I do see the point of not being able to understand what's being said. Perhaps, one (or 2) children could say each word of a phrase so you could still have more than one child participate. Taking the Nov. task for example, All for one and one for all - if 1 child said each word, you would have 7 students participating, 2 children you'd have 14. You could have all the children say the school name and where the school is located and then have a different student or student pair say each word. It would be more work for the teacher to put this together into a single MP3 but might make it clearer for understanding. There could still be issues with which students get to say it that month but at least everyone could be involved every month.

Are you thinking of making this a requirement? So it might say only one child should say something in the task description. I hope not since I would have a problem doing a task like that since this project is for my whole class and not one student. Every month it's all students that are participating in my class and I would have a problem doing a task where that couldn't be the case.

[Cathy Francis]

I think the 3rd way is best. All children like to join in but you're right the words can become pretty incomprehensible. So third way is a good compromise. The speed is really important...probably the biggest factor in quality produced.
I have used teams of three or so each saying a part of the message/song or whatever. Does this make sense?
Cathy

[Anna Karidi Pirounaki]

Hi Sharon ... from Cordoba:-)

I noticed that 1 or 2 memebrs have replied here but can't see their posts?! please check it..one is Cathy..

greetings.. from a sunny Spain
CU soon from Kaparelli..with some good NEWS..

[Marilyn Doore]

My class enjoys hearing the kids voices from around the world more than they want to learn a particular word or language.

I like the third option you mention, do it in two parts. It seems that we try to make things so everyone can do the same thing, have the same chance and this is not possible.

A class can have different projects where different students can take part. While VOTW is important to our class there are other movies, podcasts and more that my class does so all students take the lead role from time to time.

In all cases speaking slowly is definitely important. Maybe on any given task the teacher can put the words on the ning on their page so we could find them to follow along if we want to?

[Sharon Tonner]

I agree that it is the hearing of other children from around the world rather than teaching a language. I created this project as an appreciation of languages and culture not to teach it.

I am making the decision that we still have all the class saying the words. If a teacher then wants to select an individual after that and record a second version it is up to them but not compulsory. This would not be a new product but tagged on to the end of the whole class one.

Sharon