Hi fellow teachers from around the world!
Thanks very much for your interest in Nice Talking with You. This page is for you if you’re an English teacher. You can use the free material here with your students. It will give them experience listening to the global varieties of English.
Students can hear the audio directly at http://nicetalkingwithyou.com/global-voices-text1/ On that page, students can find the activity that goes with the audio, which they can download. The answers are at the bottom of the page so that they can check the answers for themselves.
That’s for the students. For you teachers, I’ve added a couple of bonus extras for you!
1. audio/video slideshow of each Global Voices segment.
These HD videos are terrific for showing in class. They feature photos of the speakers to help learners follow who is speaking. These are not available for student download — only for classroom demonstration.
2. Slideshow with transcript of each segment.
These HD videos feature a scrolling transcript of what the Global Voices’ speakers say. Teachers sometimes like to show “the script” to aid them in teaching the spoken word as discourse. These are not available for download — only for classroom use.
SO, please don’t share the link to this page with your students.
People ask, “Why not just put all this up on YouTube?” I’ll tell you two reasons why not:
1. Learners don’t benefit from reading a transcript of a listening activity BEFORE performing a listening activity. Learners need listening comprehension practice, and in our video-consuming world right now, listening comprehension practice is often ignored. An examination of a script to aid in comprehension should come after the listening. Otherwise, it’s just another “let’s read along” activity.
2. I think, because of the way we teachers learned and were taught, that most learners believe that the written word is somehow more correct than the spoken word. Spoken English is NOT an imperfect form of written English. It’s just governed by different rules of style. The content of Global Voices was completely unscripted. No one is reading anything. They’re saying what’s on their minds, and that’s worth listening to, because they’re people reaching out to communicate. It may be worth studying it as a formal text, but that’s not how it was intended.
I hope you’ll find these extras fresh, useful and visually pleasant! A LOT of care went into their production. Please join me in celebrating the SPOKEN language by sharing with your students the international sound of English found in Global Voices!
Tom Kenny
Nagoya, Japan
