Short version, including Integrating Technology for Real English®www.real-english.com : 1 Short version, including Integrating Technology for Real English®www.real-english.com An introduction to
The Basics Part 1 : 2 The Basics Part 1 Real English is primarily an online program for learning English as a Second of Foreign Language,
used by teachers in the classroom who project from their computers, and by
students working on their own.
The Basics Part 2 : 3 The Basics Part 2 The entire Real English site, including all videos and lessons, are both free and free-access.
It has a long history, begun in 1992.
New videos and lessons have been added every year since its creation.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ESL – EFL learning sites on the web, for both students and teachers.What makes Real English different? : 4 There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ESL – EFL learning sites on the web, for both students and teachers.What makes Real English different?
The originality is in the nature of the 2 types of content: : 5 The originality is in the nature of the 2 types of content: We will look at some Real English EFL videos to illustrate their spontaneity.Beginning in 2003, I began to change the exercises for the videos. All the lessons now have unique characteristics, as we shall see in a few minutes…
The Real English videos, all original creations of a private language school, do not include any actors. I suppose pedagogical arguments can be made for slow, artificial speech, but our first keyword is spontaneity. : 6 The Real English videos, all original creations of a private language school, do not include any actors. I suppose pedagogical arguments can be made for slow, artificial speech, but our first keyword is spontaneity.
Our street interview campaigns are always fun, but they are also complicated affairs which deserve a separate presentation. In the next slide we will look at some of the final results of these interview campaigns. : 7 Our street interview campaigns are always fun, but they are also complicated affairs which deserve a separate presentation. In the next slide we will look at some of the final results of these interview campaigns.
What do you like to do for fun?An example for this presentation Link to RE Lesson:Let’s look at lesson 29, Exercise 1: : 8 What do you like to do for fun?An example for this presentation Link to RE Lesson:Let’s look at lesson 29, Exercise 1: As you can see in the video, Joe speaks normally. So, he’s hard to understand. We want to facilitate oral comprehension. We don’t want to test students, especially not at this point. The additional audio file is a summary of what Joe says, i.e., Joe’s first and simplified reply to What do you like to do for fun?
29 - What do you like to do for fun?An example for this presentation Link to RE Lesson 29:Let’s look again at the video only on the same pagelesson 29, Exercise 1 : 9 29 - What do you like to do for fun?An example for this presentation Link to RE Lesson 29:Let’s look again at the video only on the same pagelesson 29, Exercise 1 Joe’s interview, the first one in lesson 29, is 32 seconds long. However, a total of 6 exercise pages are necessary to cover the new vocabulary and grammar he uses during those 32 seconds.
Therefore, in the next 5 pages of this presentation, we will look only at the exercises necessary for understanding Joe’s 32 seconds. There simply isn’t enough time during this presentation to look at other exercises in Lesson 29.
Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 2 Lesson 29, Exercise 2: : 10 Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 2 Lesson 29, Exercise 2: In other words, we want to be sure the student understands the more difficult, natural language that Joe uses during his interview.He begins with this reply: That’s a great question. I was just asking myself that the other day. Since this is the first time we hear a reflexive pronoun in Real English, we include a relevant grammar page. (link to Exercise 2b)
Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 3:Lesson 29, Exercise 3: : 11 Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 3:Lesson 29, Exercise 3: In the third part of his interview, Joe introduces us to a lot of new vocabulary. What’s the best way to teach vocabulary online?
I prefer to combine a traditional, but simplified dictionary type of definition, along with pictures.Pictures are used in the videos and on the exercise pages in order to convey meaning. This one is from the video: Notice that the picture shows Joe doing what he says he likes to do. This technique of cutting out interviewee’s heads, and putting them in relevant situations, is used in almost all the lessons. (We met Joe on 57th St. in NYC, not while hiking in the woods).
Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 4:Lesson 29, Exercise 4: : 12 Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 4:Lesson 29, Exercise 4: In this particular case, the the picture in the video helps define movies. I also added an audio file using my own voice, so that the student can hear a love doing sentence without Joe’s “mistake” or false start.
Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 5:Lesson 29, Exercise 5: : 13 Next Exercise : What do you like to do for fun? Link to Exercise 5:Lesson 29, Exercise 5: In Joe’s final exercise, we define Joe’s favorite activity i.e., "sittin’ around with folks talking" with pictures as usual, but we also introduce the verb "socialize", and we define “folks". The HotPot exercise used here is a hybrid. IOW, if the student is wrong typing X times (I chose 3 times in this case), the exercise transforms itself into an easier Multiple Choice quiz. There are 36 correct answers for what the student can type, including socializing and sitting around talking, etc. Sometimes there are over 100 possible correct answers that a student can type.
The New Player - and a Real English Principle : 14 The New Player - and a Real English Principle I am using a new player from EnglishStar which you can see at most of my Lesson home pages. I constantly suggest to students that they watch the entire video WITHOUT subtitles before watching with subtitles. I believe it improves pronunciation, especially if they watch and listen to English only many times. ?Subtitles OFFThis is the complete “like to do/like doing“ video at lesson 29 home. After the student watches the video without subtitles, and after he does the exercises, he is encouraged to watch the entire video with English subtitles before watching the video in his native language. 5 languages are available for the moment, and more are coming.
Conclusions : 15 Conclusions Spontaneous street speech defines the course organization of Real English to a large extent.
Elements which help make the (difficult) videos accessible and useful include the addition of explanatory pictures and additional audio files.
The record/compare technology enables students to practice their pronunciation. We thereby attempt to cover all 4 skills in our lessons: speaking, reading, writing (keyboarding), and of course listening, hopefully lots of listening before all else.