WEEK 6: A Podcast Review

Hi guys. How are you doing? I hope you are fine and well. For this week, i need to review a podcast from any platform such as spotify or youtube and others. Since I am using Youtube to find the podcast, in this review I will explain and give my opinion regarding the visual, music and sound, and also the content of the podcast.

The title of the podcast that I chose is ''Learn English Podcast - FOOD'' by St George International School of English. The podcast was uploaded on 29th March 2016. Here is the link to the podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUE2GH5cZeo 

First and foremost, the first thing that you listen in this podcast is the background music. I really like the background music. It is very exciting. Thus it is good to attract the attention of the learners to learn English. The beginning of the podcast it tells us about what does the Youtube channel provide. Basically their Youtube podcast is a learning English podcast for upper intermediate and advanced learners. What will learners get from this channel? They can learn new vocabulary, they can listen to native English speakers accent and learn about the British culture all in a natural conversation. Thus, all the podcast they uploaded were informal and casual conversation. 

The teacher for this podcast were Melissa and Bren. The first question Bren asked to Melissa was, "What was the best food that you have eaten?''. Melissa explain that she once had a chocolate fudge cake with ice cream when she was eight years old. As Melissa was explaining, I was a bit distracted by the squeaking chair noise at the back. For me it was a bit unprofessional for a well establish English learning podcast. Melissa also said that she would normally order the food on regular basis. As for Bren, he said that his favorite dish was a fish that he cook for his breakfast. It was a simple dish yet delicious as Bren claimed. I really like how Bren briefly explain regarding the best food that he ever eaten. His voice was clear and precise. It would be easy for the learners to listen and understand. 

Then, they talked about Melissa hate for fish. Bren asked for Melissa clarification. It was really funny when she said that she do not hate fish because it is an animal as she happily eat other meat. But Melissa actually hates it because of the smell. I like how she explain her experience of eating a fish pie and got a bone stuck in her throat. It actually makes sense to hate eating fish if you experience something like that. Meanwhile Bren was allergic to eggs. He will get seriously ill if he ate eggs. He also said that some people judging him about that matter. In my opinion, if someone have a food allergy, we cannot judge them because different people have different preferences and allergies. Lastly, they talked about Melissa having a sweet tooth. She said that her meal would not be complete if she does not end with something sweet like ice cream or chocolate. Dessert is a must! Their conversation ended just like that without any farewell. I think it was inappropriate because they did greet the learners in the beginning. So it would be nice to bid goodbye to end their conversation. The podcast ends with SGI logo and credits with a cute background music. All in all, I really enjoy listening and watching this podcast. They did excellent job with the visuals and pictures in the video. They just put simple and clear pictures of all the food that they mention in the podcast. It is good because you do not need to show an abstract or complicated pictures to the English learners. I think that is all for my review for this podcast. Thank you for reading my post for this week. xoxo

Week 5: Podcast

Hello there, for this week we learn about podcast. Podcast can provide information in a fun and entertaining way that can increase student participation. Podcast require students listening skills. Some of the recording tools need for podcasting are online voice recorder or a smartphone. Meanwhile, the audio editing tools are Audacity or any online audio editor such as Bandlab.

We learnt how to use Audacity in order to make a podcast. Audacity is a free digital audio editor. It is available in application software for Windows and others.

First and foremost, of course you have to record your voice or podcast using a proper mic or just using your phone. Then, you need to transfer the recording and export to Audacity. By using Audacity, you can add as many tracks as you want into your podcast. You can also delete any background noise in your recording.

That is all for this post. Take care everyone. See you soon!

Week 4 : CMC

For this week we learned about CMC. What is CMC? CMC stands for Computer Mediated Communication. 

There are two types of CMC:
A) Synchronous
B) Asynchronous 

Synchronous CMC is where the communication that happened between participants is synchronise. It means that the messages can be exchanged immediately. Meanwhile asynchronous CMC is not a synchronise communication. It means that the messages are not exchanged immediately. The easiest example would be emails. 

Basically CMC education started in the late 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of Communicative CALL. It widespread globally with the use of Email and Forums. It is created for long distance teaching or learning. 
These are the advantages of CMC:

A) No distance barrier

B) Mitigates time as a second barrier

C) Make collaborations much easier

Meanwhile these are the disadvantages of CMC:

A) Inhibitions related to the use of technology

B) Problems with access to technology

C) Lack of socio-emotional and nonverbal cues

D) Lack of real human contact

We use CMC to communicate and connect with the people all over the world. CMC is a form of communication or interaction that happen between two or more people by using separate computers with network connection. CMC is also known as a process of interaction that happen between people. By using CMC, people exchange, perceive information, culture, thought, ideas, history, knowledge with each other.

That is all for this week. Thank you for reading my post. See you soon, bye!

Week 3: Powtoon

Hi everyone. This week we learn how to create a video using powtoon. The tittle of our video is what will happen to us in the next five years. This is the first time I use this application. I think it is easy to use but as usual you have to pay if you want full access of the application. I log in to this application using my google account. This app have many interesting feature. My favourite feature is that yoi are able to put a character that have many cute reactions. You can also put your own existing picture or video in the app. You can also adjust the timing and speed of your video. You can choose the free music that are available in the app. I think this app is absolutely great for beginners to start off their video editing skills. This is my final result of my video.  

I hope you enjoy watching my video. You can go and check it out yourself and have fun with it. See you peeps!

Week 2: CALL and Canva

Hi everyone.

For this week on Wednesday we learn about CALL which stands for Computer Assisted Language Learning. Basically CALL is a range of processes and activities that employ computers in the teaching and learning activity. There are four types of CALL programme. The first one is CALL specific software (such as CD-ROMSs). The second one is web based-learning such as websites and blogs. The third one is Generic software such as software presentation, word processors or spreadsheet. Last but not least Computer mediated communication which divided into two. The first one is synchronous (online chat) and the other one is asynchronous (email and discussion forum).

I also learnt how to make a blog header using Canva. I really enjoy using this website. It also have an app if you wish to edit anything from your phone. I sign into this website using my google account because it is much easier. What is interesting about Canva is that you are able to custom any design in this website. So let me share my final design for my blog header.

That is all for this week. Do not forget to check out Canva and try the website yourself. See you soon. Bye!