Working with audio

Audio material is regularly used when teaching speaking and listening in foreign languages. Therefore the teachers and the students should be able to edit and modify audio as well as texts.
Probably the best freeware available for editing sound is called AUDACITY.


Audacity Basics - you should be able to
- install Audacity and the lame library which enables export to mp3
- open a file in Audacity
- edit the file: cut and paste, fade in/out, change speed, delete, add silence
- create a new file
- combine two files (e.g. speech + background music)
- inserting silence (e.g. as a space for an answer)
- changing the speed or pitch (carefully!)

TASK 1 - TEACHER'S JOB - THE SEARCH

Browse Youtube for videos suitable for teaching adult beginners English.
View, listen and choose; consider the topic, level, speed, quality of language, accent...
Convert the video to mp3 using an online convertor.
Cut out a part of the recording, and publish in your webpage - it is almost the same process as inserting an image.

You can use Free YouTube to MP3 Converter to get audio from youtube easily, or find free online converters. Be careful what you click on, this type of software often brings unwanted installations or even viruses!

TASK 2 - INTERVIEW OR DRAMATISATION (A CREDIT PROJECT)

• to be done in groups of 3
• output: original, self-recorded audio, cca 10'
• a simulated interview with a famous English writer about his life and books
• OR a dramatisation of a part of a book or a play

Aim: to be able to find relevant and interesting facts online, and transform them into one’s own text; practicing language and pronunciation

Tips:
Communicate online within the group, decide who wil record what.  Using audacity, you can even create a dialogue!
Record, listen, re-record, listen, re-record... focus on quality!
Edit the recording in Audacity. Record and add appropriate sounde effects if suitable.
Finalise the file, export it and save as mp3, and add to your personal webpage (each member of the group).

TASK 3 - EXAMPLES OF GOOD TEACHING PRACTICE
Choose an online audio resource - a podcast or TED. Listen, and share the link and your opinion in the comments to this blog entry.

What does the word "podcast" mean? Go to Podomatic, create an account and browse the site. How can we use it in teaching English?

Good examples - Teacher Luke, Splendid Speaking for advances learners
Podcast on podcasting in ELT

More online podcasts and streams
Ted Talks on Education - free online lectures!
Paramind
Oxford University Podcasts

Free text to audio:
http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/



EXTRAS
Sound files extensions:
wav -  Standard audio file container format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size—around 10 MB per minute. Wave files can also contain data encoded with a variety of (lossy) codecs to reduce the file size (for example the GSM or MP3 formats). Wav files use a RIFF structure

mp3 - compressed, MPEG Layer III Audio. Is the most common sound file format used today

flac - Free Lossless Audio Codec
ape - Monkey's Audio lossless audio compression format
ogg - A free, open source container format supporting a variety of formats, the most popular of which is the audio format Vorbis; compression similar to MP3

webm - Royalty-free format created for HTML5 video
aiff - Standard audio file format used by Apple. It could be considered the Apple equivalent of wav

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format



Sluchové pole (nebo oblast slyšitelnosti) je rozsah všech zvuků, které dokáže lidské ucho vnímat. Vnímání zvuku je u člověka omezeno slyšitelnými frekvencemi (přibližně 16–20 000 Hz). U každé frekvence je odlišný rozdíl intenzit, jež slyšíme. Lidský sluchový orgán je nejcitlivější v oblasti frekvencí 1–5 kHz.

http://www.wikiskripta.eu/index.php/Pr%C3%A1h_sluchu_a_sluchov%C3%A9_pole

Organisational issues

Dear students,
extreme situation brings up extreme measures :) Nevertheless, the CR for this specific subject remain virtually identical. Please see the first blog entry for details. I believe we can manage to communicate and work on the tasks online. Please feel free to contact me by email with any troubles or questions concerning this course.

I will add the most important chapters and resources to the blog. A new entry is already available at
https://pcskills-ujep.blogspot.com/2020/03/working-with-images.html
You should use the links and instructions to make your hoax image (a part of the hoax page). Lots of inspiration available around, nowadays!
And please, write your name into the comment to the new entry, for me to know this message got through.

Next task coming on Thursday March 26, stay tuned!

Take care. Best regards,
Jana Pavlikova

Working with images

HOMEWORK

1. Take some pictures at your current location.

2. Make a collage of two or more chosen photos form your set of pictures - as if creating a hoax image. Insert the final photo with a suitable comment into your Homepage (index.html) and publish online. 
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Visual support is vital in any teaching situation. As English teachers, we use pictures of objects to teach vocabulary, photos of situations to stimulate communication, authentic visual materials to teach realia and culture...

What characteristics of an image influence its effect on remembering the vocabulary?

• context or the absence of context
• vivid colours
• contrast
• golden ratio
• the size of the target object

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Making a hoax in Photoshop:

1. ^A^C^V inserting img2 into img1

2. ^T for transformation - shift, rotate... place img2

3. Mask  - cover all (a black mask)

4. B - brush - paint into the mask (white brush) and uncover img2

5. X - switches between black and white brush (undo)

experiment with the brush settings (krytí, hustota)

inspiration Martin Stranka

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 WHAT ARE THE KEY SKILLS IN THE FIELD OF PHOTOGRAPHY FOR  THE ENGLISH TEACHER TO MASTER?

My suggestion:
1. Basic knowledge of the electronic image formats and their specifics.
2. Basic editing abilities: crop, contrast, colour adjustment
3. Basic photo-making skills and knowledge (to be able to prepare original materials, and to document school events, projects, students'activities and products).

4. Advanced editing abilities - collage (to create more original materials, and to be resistant to hoax), inserting text to the image...

Typical Viral :D

Any other suggestions?
____________________________________________________

What shall we know?

1. How to compose a photography

The basics of compositionand more practical tips (in Czech)

Golden ratio - zlatý řez

Practical tips:

concentrate on a single idea, object, feeling

get closer, fill almost the whole field with the target object/situation

2. How to save an image

raw - full data

jpg - compressed (lossy)

tiff - for print, usually lossless; can handle CMYK

bmp - full data (bitmap)

gif - small (and animated); saves only used colours; 8bit

png - lossless, successor of gif, 8-24-48 bit

For web, an image with the longer side of 1600px is big enough, Let's say the size limit is cca 50KB - to save space.

When reducing the size, always keep the original untouched! Save the small version as a new file, say, IMG2345_Small.jpg. 

JPEGS reduce the size exponetially, so if you reduce the original at 80%, the amount of data may be reduced form 12MB to 1,5 MB. 

More in Wiki (in Czech)

and Wiki (in English)

Formaty pro ukladani fotografii

3. The basic editing skills you should master:
1. Compressing, saving in various formats (with different extensions) and size
2. Crop (ořez)
3. Changing brightness, sharpness, hue and other basic features
4. Making a part of the image transparent

Collage in Photoshop - tutorial in Czech
List of  Photoshop Hotkeys - EN
List of  Photoshop Hotkeys - CZ

Useful Photoshop Hotkeys
B - Brush
C - Crop
H - Hand
J - Healing brush
L - Lasso
S - Stamp
W - Wand

TIPS
How to make things transparent in Photoshop:
New Image - Background transparent
Import the image into a new layer
Magic wand - choose parts which should be transparent

Layer - Mask - Hide the choice (Vrstvy - maska - skrýt výběr)

How to make things transparent in GIMP:
Layers – Transparency – Add alpha channel
Choose the background using the magic wand.
The simplest method is to use Edit → Clear

You can also test transparency in Word - add the image into text and choose Formát obrázku - pozice - před textem.


Want a top quality image legally?
Visit Getty.
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... want to know more?

http://digineff.cz/

http://www.digimanie.cz/

http://www.fotoradce.cz/

http://fotoroman.cz/

"Kreativní fotografie si neklade za cíl zobrazit realitu (takové to tam Mařenko bylo) ale zobrazit 
něco víc. Zobrazit emoce (pocity, nálady ...), které autor na místě cítil a chce vám předat.

Když se díváte na fotografie z vaší dovolené obvykle si vybavíte pocity, jaké to tam bylo (jé podívej - tady jsme byli ...). Díváte-li se ale na fotografie z cizí dovolené, vidíte jenom obyčejné pláže, hrady, zámky atp. Prostě emoce spojené s místem a zážitkem vám chybí a proto vám často tyto fotografie připadají obyčejné. Dobrá fotografie vám dokáže předat pocity a zážitky i z míst, kde jste nebyli. A o tom to je...

Když stojíte v lese, vidíte široko okolo sebe, vnímáte vítr, šumění lesa, vůni jehličí a do zad vás pálí slunce. Toto vše na fotografii však chybí. Je tam jen obrazový výsek a to ještě ve 2 rozměrech (3 rozměr prostoru / perspektivy chybí). A proto je to tak těžké. A proto je pokoušet se o to taky tak krásné!"

http://fotoroman.cz/

What's wrong with this photo?

Hot Potatoes: Basic e-learning formats

Focus on Hot Potatoes

• make a list of 10 vocabulary items you want to teach
• define the target group (age + proficiency)
• prepare the "T's book" - html file (see below)
• create 3 different HP exercises practicing the same vocabulary set

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HotPot Index or Teacher's book:
a page which basic information:
1. Target group (proficiency, age)
2. Topic (preferably a list of new vocabulary items you are teaching)

You can create a whole  HotPot site, combining and connecting various task formats. This is the suggested order of exercises (Can you guess why?):

1. Matching
- 10 items (target vocabulary)
- if using pictures, set the same height for all of them  (e.g. 100 pixels)
- find out how to set the timer, shuffle questions, show a limited number of questions

2. Multiple choice (MC)
- 10 questions
- 4 distractors (no mistakes!)
- use sentences, not isolated words
- feedback - additional information, input

MC tasks mus offer a high quality feedback: motivating, positive, informative.

How do I make a good feedback in multiple choice?
Just follow these simple tips:
- DO NOT use capitals, exclamation marks, "NO!" "Unfortunately..." etc.
- be positive :) - do not start the feedback with "Sorry, no..."
- add extra information, eg.
Where do lions live? Chosen answer: "India"
Feedback: "Tigers live in India, but lions live in Africa."

3. Gap fill
- 10 gaps
- context (e.g. a story)
- choose the gaps wisely  :)

Tips:
+ Create feedback which is interesting and informative; do not hesistate to include facts from our real life.
+ Do not skip determiners, e.g. articles:)
+ do not hesitate to include images, links, or audio!


HP exercises can be interonnected using the menu Configure - Buttons.
Suggested course of actions:

1. Create HP matching exercise Ex1. Connect it to the index.html. Make sure you have all the files, including images, in the same folder as the exercise. Save, export.
2. Create a HP multiple choice exercise Ex2.Connect it to the index.html. Carefully fill in the feedback! Save, export.
3. Create a HP gap fill exercise Ex3. Connect it to the index.html and Ex1.html. Save, export.
4. Connect Ex1 to Ex2, and Ex2 to Ex3. Save, export.
5. Open your index.html in NVU. Add links to all three HotPot exercises. Save.
6. Upload all files (index.html, Ex1.html, Ex2.html, Ex3.html, all images) to the web.