The other presentation, by Susan Earle-Carlin at UC Irvine, was about creating online listening quizzes. This is her class website, where you can see examples of listening comprehension quizzes she has made for her students. One nice thing she does is put the time, in minutes, for each clip, so students know how long they will be listening.
Here are the authentic websites she lists:
Columbia University News Brief Archive
National Public Radio
Living on Earth
Science Today
UC Davis Agriculture and Natural Resources
Journalism Net Audio Archives
Science Friday
Family Health Network
Harper Audio (readings of famous authors)
University of Milwaukee Extension � tips
The Brookings Institute (economics/politics)
Stanford Business School
Syracuse University School of Management
US Labor and Industrial History
Historic Audio Archives
The History Channel Speech Archives
E history � A moment in time
He uses a feature on NPR called Morning Edition Returns. These are usually short humorous news stories that last only 30 seconds. There is a lot of variety and humor in the stories. This could be a good way to start off a lab session.
Frank says, it takes about 10 minutes to transcribe it and then a few minutes to make some questions about it. I usually ask some global questions about the listening, do a cloze exercise (first without listening if they can, and then with listening) and then focus on vocabulary or a grammar point. Students have to fold the paper each time so they don't look at the next section. There are lots of stories (689 at last count) so there's no danger of running out.
Go to http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/ and search for Morning Edition Returns (it doesn't have it's own separate page).
Here is a sample lesson
1. What is the story about?
2. Where does the story take place?
3. What company is involved?
4. Name 3 things involved? Boots, Passenger seats, cigarettes, control panels, house, boat, a leather wine carrier, tires , nose cone, airbags
5. When is the auction?
6. Who will get the money from the auction?
Good morning, I�m Bob Edwards. Just in time for Christmas ________, give someone a piece of the Concord. British Airways is ______ ___ one of its now out of service supersonic transports, piece by piece. _________ seats, control panels, indicator lights, china place settings, a leather wine carrier, _____ the signature nose cone. There�ll be an _______ in London on December 1st, with the _______ donated to a number of __________. You�re listening to Morning Edition from NPR news.
Good morning, I�m Bob Edwards. Just in time for Christmas shopping, give someone a piece of the Concord. British Airways is selling off one of its now out of service supersonic transports, piece by piece. Passenger seats, control panels, indicator lights, china place settings, a leather wine carrier, even the signature nose cone. There�ll be an auction in London on December 1st , with the profits donated to a number of charities. You�re listening to Morning Edition from NPR news.
7. out of service means a) on vacation b) not used c) old
8. china is a) a country b) cup and dish c) food
9. signature means a) special b) your name c) my name
10. auction is a) a store b) a way to sell something c) party
11. donate means a) buy b) sell c) give away
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1493502