Week #3 Oral/Aural Skill-Building Websites and Bookmarks with Delicious

It has been an extraordinary week!   Using technology to enhance aural and oral skills was the topic of the week.   I loved the two wonderful lists of best speaking and listening sites compiled and recommended by Larry Ferlazzo.   I checked out most of the sites on the lists and was wowed by their contents!

I have become fascinated by the idea of using technology to enhance students' oral skills; something I have never realized ever existed.   I have checked out and registered in some sites, such as Voicethread, Voxopo and Livemocha. Other classmates recommended Audio Pal and Voki and I would like to check them out as well.   I am still acquainting myself with these sites and have not made up my mind about one in particular.   However, my preference will be influenced by the ease of use and most importantly the cost.

I wonder if phone applications, such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Google Hangouts could be used to reach the same goal.   With these Apps, students can communicate with each other using voice and video recorded messages to enhance their oral and aural skills.

Among the many sites classmates recommend, I like Ted Talks and Breaking English News Lessons.   Ted Talks especially offers authentic video presentations for engaging discussions and Breaking English News provides audio recordings of daily news with so many integrated skill activities that help students develop their language. 

Creating a Delicious account was very yummy! With Delicious a person can add links of favorite sites to an online account which enables him or her to access this list from any computer worldwide.  Sounds good, isn't it?   However, I have not realized the value of this site until I viewed my classmates' favorite sites on Delicious and was able to add more links to my list.  Seeing my Delicious page expand in a matter of minutes, I realized how invaluable this site is.  Not only can a person add favorite links to Delicious with a click of a button, but he or she can share the links with others.

I spent my time productively reading, sharing ideas and interacting with other professionals feeling that there is nothing equal to the intellectual stimulation this course provides.

Looking forward to reading your comments which are always welcomed and appreciated!