“For intermediate Hindi students, I use VoiceThread to tell a story. I show students a picture and one person starts the story and then they take turns adding events to create a full story. This is a very good way to practice speaking.” –Kusum Knapczyk, Ph.D
Kusum Knapczyk, Ph.D, a lecturer in the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies department uses VoiceThread in her Elementary Hindi 101 and Intermediate Hindi 203 classes to engage students in a multimedia-rich foreign language learning experience. In this post, Knapczyk shares her teaching strategies and approach.
Peer-to-Peer Learning Experience
Knapczyk explains how VoiceThread creates an engaging language learning experience:
“I started using VoiceThread in Fall 2016 when I joined Duke. It is very easy to use compared to other software I used previously. The big advantage I feel is that each VoiceThread is separate and students can listen to each other’s comments. I use this software with elementary Hindi students for speaking and reading practice.”
A benefit of using VoiceThread in a large class is that the professor does not have to use precious lecture time to practice reading with each student. VoiceThread allows Knapczyk to “record dialogues and then have students listen to and record their own version of the dialogues.”
Student Feedback
Students have reacted positively to this teaching approach, as we learn from this learner’s story:
“VoiceThread is a good way to improve our speaking skills and having an example is helpful. I think VoiceThread has been helpful in teaching me how to read better, and it also helped me immensely with my pronunciation. It also allows time to speak and cancel when I make mistakes. It lets me practice reading Hindi over and over to [improve] speaking and comprehension.” –Hindi student
Knapczyk gives her students a time limit to record the dialogues so they practice before recording their VoiceThread. She states “I am very glad to see my students’ progress in speaking and reading.”
VoiceThread is a useful tool to help students practice and develop their active oral skills outside of the face-to-face classroom. Students can practice a foreign language orally, and engage in a conversation exchange with their classmates. It’s a great collaboration and peer-to-peer learning approach.
Knapczyk hopes to use more VoiceThread features in the future and experiment with innovative teaching approaches. VoiceThread has recently announced new features, including collaborate with commenters, find comments, and YouTube imports.
Great efforts made by kusum Ma’am…Its a wonderful learning approach really helpful for students to learn and understand international foreign language…I hope this voice thread method is practiced in every classroom and is helpful for every student..Great work done by Kusum Ma’am and hope all your students belonging to intermediate spread this method of practice wherever they pursue their education…and make teachings easier to learn and understand…Thanks for making us aware of this method by posting this article…
This is a new way of teaching method and this is really giving a strong response in a positive way. the students are understood clearly and they are able to execute it in a well manner.
Voices like Voice Thread are helpful for Hindi speaking students. They can overcome the difficulty of pronouncing English words. Kusum ma’am, it’s nice thing that you take care of your students.