Revising with Web2.0

Whilst trying to work out a way to embed some listening and speaking practice (Japanese) into our Yr9 class wiki, as their Yearly Examinations are fast approaching, I came across a link to Yodio in my delicious bookmarks. I had toyed with the idea of trying to add audio to google maps (I still have no idea if you can do it or not) and also creating another video like this one (with Windows movie maker) for listening comprehension but Yodio seemed to be what I was looking for.

Yodio is very simple to use. Once you've registered, it allows you to:

1. Upload images
2. Upload audio either from your computer or directly from your phone (to a US number, so best to only do this if you live in the US).
3. Combine the images and audio into "Yodios". Each yodio can contain several images with a separate recording on each.
4. Share your yodio via email, the website or embed them into your own website

Being able to add audio to images is a powerful tool for language learning. Not only can it be used to create simple listening revision tasks for students, as I have, but students could create all sorts of digital stories around particular themes. Voicethread is also a wonderful tool for this and has the added bonus of allowing for collaboration. I have not yet investigated the terms of use for yodio or fully examined implications for student use; however, a quick look at some of the yodios in the Education (Language courses) category, shows that there are students and educators out there using it.

Some ideas for using it:

• Describe your daily routine
• Take people on an audio tour of you school, house or neighbourhood
• Describe people / family members (physical description / what they are wearing)
  
• Describe what you did on your holiday
• Describe the weather
• .........
  

Here's one I prepared earlier...