English Central – www.englishcentral.com 

Listening AND Speaking

The device must have an external or built-in microphone to practice speaking.

Web-based, iOS, Android

 

It may not look like it at first,  but  students can use this site for free! However, you need to teach students never to click on the “Upgrade” messages or to schedule a “free” private lesson. 

You will probably want to register for a free account and do at least one of the activities as a whole class activity before having students register for the site and use it independently.  

Once students register, they will be asked for their level. The levels used are those used in Europe, so they range from 1 to 7. Use the following chart to choose the levels that students should select for their activities:

 

NRS Level (oral)

English Central Level

Beginning Literacy (1) to Low Beginning  (2)

Level 1 - Beginning 1

High Beginning       (3)

Level 2 - Beginner 2

Low Intermediate  (4)

Level 3 - Intermediate 1

High Intermediate (5)

Level 4 - Intermediate 2

Advanced                   (6)

Level 5 - Advanced

These may be too difficult for some advanced students to work on independently.

Level 6 - Advanced

Level 7 - Advanced

 

Navigating the Site

At the top, you will see tabs for Videos, Courses, Vocabulary, and Speaking. 

 

Videos. Click on Videos. Select the topic of your choice: Media, Social, Travel, Academic, Kids, Grammar, Pronunciation, or Useful Expressions (use the 3 vertical dot “more” button to access additional topics).

 

 

Particularly useful for listening and speaking are the pronunciation videos.
Select Pronunciation, and then make sure you have the right-side filter set
on Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced.

 

 

 

Courses. There are several courses to choose from. Each course has 5 to 12 units, and each unit has 4 to 6 videos.  The types of courses listed on the web page are Business, Media, Social, Travel, Academic, Kids, Test Preparation, Grammar, and Useful Expressions. The number of units in courses vary; each unit has between 4 and 6 videos. Once you select a course type, ensure you have the filter set for the level you need. The chart below lists the type of course and the number of units available for all 7 English Central levels (Note that General English courses are listed under the Social tab.)  

 

Course

Number of Units in each Course Level

General Level

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Specific Level

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

General English 

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

Social English

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

Useful Expressions

7

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grammar

 

9

9

9

 

 

 

Media English

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

Academic English

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

Business English

12

5

12

12

5

5

5

Travel English

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

 

Lessons. Each lesson has 4 parts: Watch the video, Learn the Words, Speak the Lines, and Chat about Video.

Watch the Video: The video by default has captions, which can be turned off if desired using the CC button. The video playback can also be slowed down using a turtle button. Any word in the caption that is clicked on brings up a box with the word spoken in isolation, its pronunciation, part of speech, definition, and a sentence with the word used in context.   

Learn the Words:  The program by default selects words or phrases to learn from the video, but students can select additional words if desired. There is actually no learning phase included, so students need to be taught how to write down the words on their own paper to refer to for this exercise. They are asked to listen and spell the word or phrase in the video. Students can slow down the video and also repeat as many times as they need to. 

Speak the lines: Students listen to and then record themselves speaking the lines that use the words from the previous activity. By default, the target word is hidden in the transcript, but they can change this to show the transcript of the entire line using the options (gear) button on the top left of the screen. Advanced students can also turn off the transcript entirely using the options. The program analyzes their speech and gives a percentage correct. The program shows them the words they missed and asks them to record again until they are at least 80% correct.

Chat about Video: Students are asked a question about the video and record their answers. Their speech is transcribed. Students can change any errors in the transcription or redo their recording.
 

USA Learns – www.usalearns.org

Listening AND Speaking

The device must have an external or built-in microphone to practice speaking.

Web-based, iOS, Android ( I do not know if official DL hours can be earned using a phone app).

 

Already familiar to most teachers and many students, this website offers both listening and speaking practice to learners. If you have students use USA LEARNS, go over the information on the following pages to ensure they get the most out of the program’s activities for listening and speaking:

 

 

Voicethread – https://voicethread.com

Voicethread – https://voicethread.com

Listening AND Speaking

The device must have an external or built-in microphone to practice speaking.

Web-based, iOS, Android

 

Voicethread is a great tool to use for practicing authentic speaking and listening skills. Unless you have an educator or institutional license, students will need valid email addresses and register for a Voicethread account in order to comment on or add to voicethreads you post online. Students can create user accounts with any email and password, but they can also choose to login with an existing Google account.

 

A voicethread is at its simplest an image, video, or document that someone posts online as a voicethread, comments   on, and then and invites others to comment on as well. What makes it unique is that comments can be typed or recorded live with a video camera or microphone on your device.  There is even an option to get a call to your phone to record audio. Voicethreads can have several slides but it’s easier to begin with just one that students can comment on.  

 

Example Voicethreads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyAH01tOLGM (a single student’s voicethread comment) 

  • Class Introductions

https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/9458/66065/51814 (many students & teachers)

 


 

 

Voicethread Tutorials:

 

Padlet – www.Padlet.com

Listening AND Speaking

The device must have an external or built-in microphone to practice speaking.

Web-based, iOS, Android

 

In many ways, Padlet is very similar to Voicethread. Padlet is not as sleek as Voicethread and only allows students to comment on or add to one screen of content. However, Padlet includes special features that make it very easy to use with students who have no email addresses and access only to smartphones (more on that later).

 

A teacher can create a Padlet that asks a question prompt and asks for answers. Web links to web pages, images, or videos can be inserted, and users can upload images or documents from their local device. 

 

What’s fun and especially useful for ESL listening and speaking is that you can also record live video and take live photos to post within the app. So instead of posting a question to answer, the teacher can post a link to an online document to read or a video that students can watch and respond to. 

 

What I love about Padlet is that a teacher can create a Padlet, create a class password, and post a QR code for students to grab with their smartphones. Students can download the Padlet app on their smartphones and enter Padlets as guests rather than creating a username and password. That makes Padlet easier to use for students who don’t have email addresses or may have them but don’t know what they are. 

 

Like Voicethread, Padlet is great practicing speaking and listening as well as reading and writing skills through classroom discussion. However, it works very well as a collaborative tool for group projects. Finally, Padlet lends itself well to serving as an online, collaborative graphic organizer. There are hundreds of free Padlet templates online that teachers can copy and use for their own classes.

 

Padlet Templates

  • Padlet’s Official Gallery

https://padlet.com/gallery

  • Padlet Graphic Organizer Templates 

https://www.thetechieteacher.net/2016/10/how-to-customize-padlet-walls-plus-free_12.html

Padlet Tutorials

  • My Big List of Padlet Tutorials

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2021/01/my-big-list-of-padlet-tutorials.html

  • 30 Creative Ways to Use Padlet for Teachers and Students

https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2017/08/30-creative-ways-to-use-padlet-for-teachers-and-students

 

 

Flip (formerly Flipgrid) – www.flipgrid.com

Listening AND Speaking

The device must have an external or built-in microphone to practice speaking.

Web-based, iOS, Android

 

Flip is another free resource that supports authentic speaking and listening. It is free to use and has a management system to make it easy to use with the same groups of students (i.e., classes). Although Flipgrid was originally geared for K-12 education students, the new Flip remake takes Flip to everyone and everywhere. 

 

I must admit I had a little bit too much fun on Flip with its new backdrops and optional music and sound effects. If you already use Google classroom, you are really in luck because students can use existing Google accounts to login. You can also post your topics directly to your Google classroom. 

 

Other ways to directly share include Remind, a popular communication app already used by many adult education programs and classroom teachers, Microsoft Teams (and users can use Microsoft accounts to log in), and Twitter. Of course, you can always copy a link and use it to email your students.

 

Teachers will love the Discovery section that has showcases over 30 topics with brief lesson plans. They provide an easy way to start discussions with your students. 


Document shared from Denise Guckert's PD Portal presentaion