Activity 5: Dialog Minus One — helping students build dialogs using a podcast

Aim: Help students participate in a dialog

Moodle modules: Mediacenter (Inwicast)

Extra programs: Audacity

Ease of setup: **

How can we use Moodle to help students prepare themselves for dialog work? Well, one way is to set up a recording where they hear just half the dialog and they have to provide the other half, using prompts that they can listen to independently. Let's call it Dialog Minus One. This sort of activity can help students listen carefully and get used to new words or expressions and practice new language functions such as interrupting, inviting, asking questions, and refusing. The big advantage of Moodle is that they can listen in their own time as often as they want.

Tip

Other ideas

You could also consider producing a video podcast, sometimes called a vodcast. The only disadvantage might be that they're bigger in size and so take up more of your and your students' storage space. The advantage would be...