VOA (Voice of America)

VOA (Voice of America)

http://www.voanews.com/english/index.cfm

Today I want to recommend a website called Voice of America. The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people.

I am first contacted with this website in the interpretation class. The teacher introduced me about the website with abundant news and other resources which are good materials for interpretation and English learning. And we also take download the news to interpret. I found out that I not only learned many vocabulary and phrases from the VOA news, but also I absorbed international news which can broaden my global vision.

I strongly recommend for language learners to download the VOA news and save it in your computer or iPod for listening as many time as possible to improve your listening ability. Also, you can read the scripts of the news and check the vocabulary, phrases and usage in the news by yourself. Gradually, I believe that your English ability will be improved. Also, VOA news provides the latest news for us to know what happened in the world and broaden our global vision. You can know what is going on in Europe, Asia, Africa, Mid-East and other countries with various topics.

Next I want to recommend something about language learning. There is portion in VOA which is called Learning English. The articles provides in Learning Language are special selected articles which is aimed at ESL and EFL learners. I have listened and read some articles, and I found out that the articles here are shorter and simpler than the normal VOA news. And the speaker speaks very slowly in order to let the listener feel secure and confident, increasing their interest and self-confidence in learning English. I think that VOA is concerning its audiences with care and attention.

Another related resource I want to recommend is VOA Podcast. It is also divided into two parts; one is for language learning and the other is the normal one. The Podcast here is different from the VOA news. It’s more like a talk show or a discussion. You can know more about others’ opinions and viewpoints toward an important issue, such as food crisis or election.

There are some hot issues right now and VOA news has arranged the related, important and up-to-date news of each issues. Taking examples from VOA, the hottest issue here is “The Road to the 2008 Us Elections”; VOA news provides abundant news and analysis about US politics. And another important issue in VOA right now is “Food crisis”, advocating the news about feeding a hungry world.

How to evaluate a web resource?

Evaluation of the Web Sources

When we are surfing the internet, sometimes we are not sure about whether the website we find has validity or not. We are wondering about the credibility of the website, and it could make us feel unsafe. So the following two sites give some suggestions and guidelines on website evaluation. When we surf the Internet, we could evaluate the website by these guidelines.

Let’s see what the professors said:
1. Evaluation Sources by Deborah Healey.
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eli/july1996.html

2. Evaluating Internet Research Sources by Robert Harris.
http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm

3. Rubrics for evaluating websites:
(a) for early primary grades
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/rtrieger/rubric.htm
(b) for 2nd and 3rd graders
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/rtrieger/rubric2-3.htm
(c) for intermediate learners http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/tbarcalow/490NET/EvalRubric.htm#Primary

PBS Kids: Barney and Friends

The website is called “Barney and Friends” and it comes from PBS Kids, a website that is designed for children. The website of Barney and Friends is really cute and colorful. It is obvious that it is designed for children. It can be mainly divided to four parts which are Storytime, Coloring, Music and Games. In Coloring part, you can download and print out the pictures, and paint it with color pens. And in Music part, I listened a song about manners: Please and Thank you. It is really cute and cheerful! The lyrics are created by them and they are really interesting. In the storytime, I read a story “Hugs”, and it is a warm story.

Here is PBS Kids: http://pbskids.org/

Here is Barney and Friends: http://pbskids.org/barney/

The sample of Coloring:

Here is one of the music called Please and Thank You, containing with lyrics:

Here is a story in Storytime:

Introduction of Phonetics

Introduction of Phonetics

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

About the Phonetics Flash Animation Project:
This site contains animated libraries of the phonetic sounds of English. Available for each consonant and vowel is an animated articulatory diagram, a step-by-step description, and video-audio of the sound spoken in context. It is intended for students of phonetics, linguistics, and foreign language.
The project was a collaborative effort of the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, German, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Academic Technologies at the University of Iowa.

My using experience


http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html

I think the website is really good for the English-majored students, especially when we are studying linguistics. I am confused by the phonetics for a long time and I cannot pronounce every vowel and consonant in a correct way sometimes. I feel a little bit frustrated sometimes, and I believe that most of the students might have the same experience just like mine. But don’t be upset! Here is a good website for you to learn to pronounce vowel and consonant which is the basic stone of approaching good English speaking! The website provides the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants by animation and also by real person. I think it’s really clear and could help ESL and EFL learners a lot.

My Experience of Using MyET

My Experience of Using MyET
Until now, I have finished a lesson which is about introducing oneself. I listened carefully to the dialog spoken by teachers once. And it provides vocabulary explanation in order to let students know more and clear about the text. Then, I practice the text by repeating every sentence. Meanwhile, the software would evaluate my speaking and let me know my problem of intonation, pronunciation and fluency. In the next step, I did the role-play. I chose to be a male character and continued doing my role. The overall performance of my speaking is good and I got over 80. I felt quite proud of myself. Last, I did the final test. I had to repeat the sentences after the teacher in 10 mins. And I also did a great job. In addition, I did the cloze test which was not so difficult at all. However, you need to be very familiar with the text, or you might have no idea about the words you should put in.

During the speaking quizzes, I found out that some short vowels I pronounced were not correct, such as /ı / and /ε/. I am suprised because the software can really help me to find out the trivial mistake for me. Thus, it could remind me that I need to pay more attention to it!!

There is one thing which is really confusing. Sometimes when I repeating the sentences, the software gave me a really low score. But I think I did a good job. Why did it give me low score? In my opinion, I think the machine is too ossified sometimes. Perhaps it is just a kind of scoring way of MyET. So I just need to accept the results.

MyET – My English Tutor

MyET – My English Tutor
http://www.myet.com/MyETWeb/PersonalizedPage.aspx

MyET is like a personal tutor that can help you learn English through speaking practice. MyET's unique and award-winning technology, "Automatic Speech Analysis System" (ASAS©), can analyze your English speech on pronunciation, pitch, timing and emphasis, and even pinpoint problems to individual sounds. After you speak, you receive a score and specific feedback on how to improve. Whether you're a beginner or advanced learner, MyET is like a one-on-one tutor who can make speaking English a comfortable experience!

Key Features:
1. Like a personal tutor, gives you one-on-one feedback on your speech
2. Evaluates the level of your speech capabilities
3. Ensures you learn the correct accent
4. Helps you express yourself in English
5. Provides an online community
6. ives you a choice of content, the freedom to learn what you like

Reflection of ESL Podcast Blog

Reflection of ESL Podcast Blog

The podcast I chose is ESL Podcast 53: Understanding Men and Women. The total length of the podcast is 18:47. Tags: Relationship.
http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=151#

The dialog is between a man and a woman. And they are discussing the differences between men and women. Lucy thinks that men are not romantic; instead, they are too practical. Man could send wife a vacuum cleaner as a anniversary gift. However, Jeff disagrees with Lucy. He thinks that it’s man’s job to protect his wife and family. And it represents a good husband. They reach a conclusion that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.

I think the conversation is quite interesting. And the explanation by teacher is really clear. He gives a lot of paraphrases of sentences in dialog. I learn a lot from complete transcript and vocabulary explanation. Also, I learn how to explain the sentences to others in different ways. The only place I do not like is the speed of the dialog. I think it is too slow when the teacher is explaining the whole dialog. This is due to the purpose of the website is for ESL learners.

English as a Second Language Podcast

English as a Second Language Podcast
http://www.eslpod.com/website/

ESL Podcast Blog
In ESL Podcast Blog, it provides everyday dialog with complete transcript. We can download the audio file from the Internet. After we download it, we can listen to it on the computer, on an iPod or MP3. There will be a podcast each day with a certain topic, and we can listen to it as many time as we like in order to practice listening. The ESL Podcast Blog provides the complete transcripts of each podcast. First, the dialog will play slowly. Then after listening to the dialog, the teacher will explain the meaning of each sentence with vocabulary explanations. They paraphrase the sentences in many ways which is really clear and understandable. In last part of the audio file, the dialog will play again with normal speed.

Related English Learning Websites for English Study

Some related English learning website for ESL or EFL students:

(1) Activities for ESL Students
http://a4esl.org/
Quizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL). This project of The Internet TESL Journal (iteslj.org) has thousands of contributions by many teachers.

(2) English Club: Learn English and Teach English
http://www.englishclub.com
About English Club: Welcome to EnglishClub.com, an ESL web site designed for YOU, whether you're a student or a teacher of English. It's your club, where you can:
study English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation
play ESL games and do ESL quizzes online
discuss anything with other students and teachers around the world
find English schools worldwide where you can learn ESL at home or abroad
find pen pals to email in English
find ESL learning aids to improve your English
test your level in English
get help on English grammar and other issues

(3) English Through Stories
http://www.englishthroughstories.com/scripts/scripts.html
English Through Stories is for advanced speakers of English wishing to improve their listening and speaking skills. These scripts may be copied by teachers for classroom use, but neither the scripts nor the files may be posted to another website. All scripts and audio files are copyright 2005 by the Center for Educational Development.

(4) ELLLO
http://www.elllo.org/
What is ELLLO? ELLLO is a free online listening resource of over 1,000 listening activities designed especially for ESL and EFL students and teachers. Most listening activities include images, an interactive quiz, transcript of the audio and downloadable MP3.

(5) Englishpage.com - Free online English lessons & ESL / EFL resources
http://www.englishpage.com/
Englishpage.com is the premier Internet resource for intermediate and advanced English learners around the globe. Visitors are typically well-educated business people and professionals between the ages of 18 and 35 looking to improve their English for career advancement. Every month, Englishpage.com receives millions of visits from over 180 countries worldwide.

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab --- "Flower Shop"

I did a quiz in General Listening Quizzes; the topic I chose is “Flower Shop”.
The level is medium. The topic is about ordering flowers. And it is a conversation between a man and a woman. The length is 02:15.


I. Pre-Listening Exercises
On what occasions do people buy flowers for others (e.g., marriages, funerals, etc.)? Where can you buy flowers in your area? What types of flowers (and colors) are given for different life events?
Ans: (1) People buy flowers for others when they attend a wedding or funerals. Or they send flowers to friend as a birthday gift. Sometimes, people bring flowers when they are visiting someone in the hospitals. (2) I can buy flowers in flower shop in the night market. (3) Usually, we give roses to someone we love to express our affection toward lovers. Or we give white flowers when we are attending a funeral.

II. Listening Exercises
I listen to the conversation between a husband and a flower seller in a flower shop. The conversation is quite easy and funny. The man forgets the anniversary, so he wants to buy some flowers for compensation. And the flower seller is telling the man what he should do to compensate his wife.
I did the quiz and got them all right. Also, I have learned some useful vocabulary and phrases in the quiz script. For example: It looks like you need to face the music and just talk to her. "Face the music" means accepting punishment or consequences of certain events. The rate of conversation is normal, not too fast or too slow. I think it is practical and realistic.

III. Vocabulary Activities
I practiced the vocabulary in matching game. It is convenient to use these kinds of activities to memorize the vocabulary. However, sometimes I feel bored about these tests.

IV. Post-Listening Exercises
In the situations below, would you give flowers, and if so, what colors and types would you order?
(1) Your sister is getting married.
(2) A close friend passed away.
(3) Your father is in the hospital.
(4) A friend is graduating from college.
(5) A neighbor just had a baby.
Now, write your opinions on a related topic at Randall's ESL Blog

Ans: I would give flowers to my friend who is graduating from college. It is because I think the moment is important, and the flowers can represent my most sincere blessings to him or her. I probably would choose sunflowers, since sunflowers are bright and colorful. In my opinion, sunflower is the symbol of persistence. It means "Never give up". I want my friend to be strong and courageous even when he or she is facing some obstacles.

Overall, I think most of the teacher might like to use Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab to give students some listening quizzes. It is because the website provides many quizzes and it's quite convenient for the teacher. And I think it is useful for Enlish-majored students to practice listening by themselves.

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab
http://www.esl-lab.com/

The website provides a lot of listening quizzes for us to practice, such as General Listening Quizzes, Listening Quizzes for Academic Purposes, 20-Minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons, Language Learning and Life Tips, and Long Conversations with RealVideo. When we choose a topic and click into the quiz, the topic of each quiz is clearly showed on the top with other information, like the level of the quiz, type of the quiz, speakers in the conversation and the length of the quiz. Each quiz mainly contains four parts: pre-listening exercises, listening exercises, vocabulary activities and post-listening exercises.
In the pre-listening exercise, it asks some questions about our former life experiences. It also gives a helpful tip to let us know something related to the quiz.
In listening exercises, you could listen to the conversation on-line or download the file in your computer to listen. Then do the exercise and submit the answers. You could also listen to the conversation again with the script. It provides the script of conversation as well as vocabulary explanation.
In vocabulary activities, there are three kinds of exercises in order to practice: Multiple-Choice and Short-Answer Questions, Mixed-up sentence and sentence and vocabulary matching.
In the last part, post-listening exercise is related to the skill of writing. It advances a question and asks for your opinion. And you could express your own thought at Randall’s ESL Blog.

EJEE: Electronic Journal of English Education 英語教育電子月刊

EJEE: Electronic Journal of English Education 英語教育電子月刊

http://ejee.ncu.edu.tw/

This Website provides one-line journal of English education, including numerous features and articles. The latest journal was issued on-line in February, 2008. If you want to read the articles, you have to be the member first.

The content of each journal includes “Feature”, “Articles”, “On-line Teaching” and “Forthcoming”. Taking Issue 040 as an example, in Feature part, it is about the international seminar of applied foreign languages. It also provides some abstracts of some speeches. In Articles part, it provides 10 articles discussing from the basic vocabulary learning to college English education. Besides, it also provides 2 reflection of English teaching for giving teachers some inspiration.
In On-line Teaching part, it provides six English songs with explanation and background introduction.

There are also some related cooperating websites of English education which can be linked. For some reason, it would not issue next journal. However, I think we can still get some ideas from it.

Introduction of Google searching syntax

Introduction of Google Searching Syntax

1.
撿索語：「+」or「空格」
語意：And
語法：「Keyword1」+ 「空格」or「+」+「Keyword2」
注意事項：使用「+」時不可以有空格
2.
撿索語：「-」
語意：“淢去“、“刪除“
語法：「Keyword1」+ 「空格」 + 「-」 + 「Keyword2」
注意事項：在「-」號之間要先空一格
3.
撿索語：「OR」
語意：“或者“
語法：「Keyword1」+ 空格」+ 「OR」 +「空格」+「Keyword2」
注意事項：OR一定要大寫
4.
撿索語：「””」
語意：查詢符合引號間的語句全文的網頁資料
語法：「”Keyword”」
5.
撿索語：「+」
語意：強制查詢被Google忽略的常用字
語法：「+Keyword」
注意事項：Keyword前面的「+」要與前一個Keyword空一格
6.
撿索語：site:
使用時機：查詢單一網站中的資料
語法：「Keyword」+「site」+「:」+「網站名稱」
注意事項：使用「+」時不可以有空格
7.
撿索語：site:
使用時機：查詢限定網域、國別的網頁資料
語法：「Keyword」+「site」+「:」+「網域國別」
注意事項：使用「+」時不可以有空格

Google's searching syntax

We often use the search engines to find the information we need. However, I believe that most of us have the same experience of getting stuck or lost on the Internet. It is because the Internet is so messy and unorganized, so we often get the information that is useless or unrelated to us. In addition, we often encounter the situation that the keyword we type in the search engine is not good enough. So the finding results are sometimes irrelevant or not good enough.

After I learned the Google’s searching syntax, I found out that it helps a lot, especially if we want to find some information which is more formal, convincing and academic. I also learn how to use better keywords to find the information I need. Also, I could find the file types I want, the information in certain region or the academic works in Google Scholar.

Recently we watched a movie called “Wuthering Height”, adapted from the novel by Emily Brontë. I use the searching syntax to find some deeper information about “Wuthering Height”. In order to know more about the background information and some deeper analysis of the story, I therefore typed “filetype:PDF + Wuthering Height” in Google. And the results are quite useful and relevant for me! And it’s clear at glance.