Papers in PDF format

Timely Tricks for Web Language Teaching
P. Fawn Whittaker
Language, Literature & Communications
Brigham Young University Hawaii Campus
United States
whittakf@byuh.edu
How can you easily produce inexpensive interactive language learning materials? With expensive,
complicated software and limited budgets, most busy language teachers turn back to the traditional chalkboard
and perhaps an Overhead Projector. However, with low-cost educational internet and server access provided
by the school, a camcorder or other digital camera, basic html knowledge with free software, and some sound
and video freeware or shareware downloaded from the internet, the language instructor can produce endless
interactive language learning exercises for not only his/her local students but for students around the world.
Hardware Needs
The computing personnel of your school should provide part of the basic hardware needs: a computer
with server capabilities. This could be a PC, UNIX, or Mac with WEBstar. You should have remote access to
a folder on that server, at least 500 MB of space there, and a password into that folder on the server. And with
a browser such as Netscape Navigator, you can easily access the world of language teaching already available
on the WEB, to which you will soon be contributing via your server folder.
You will also need a computer from which to access the world’s WWW language pages and produce
your own pages. This computer should have A/V capabilities so that you can listen to and produce sound as
well as pictures. You should also have a microphone to connect to your A/V computer for sound production.
Another piece of hardware that will enhance your work is a digitized camera (averaging $650 at
present) or a camcorder. If you choose to use your personal, or the school’s, camcorder connect the cables
(usually provided at initial purchase) from the RCA, and possibly S-Video, ports of your camcorder into the
same of your A/V computer. Insert a blank video tape (any version is fine: VHS, beta, Hi-8, etc) to record.
Software Needs
Software requirements are also basic. For html (hypertext markup language) production, the basically
free software Simpletext (in any version) will suffice. Or you can download a myriad of other html editors for
free by accessing their titles via Net Search. The search engine Yahoo at offers
some good sources under “WWW” and “Authoring”.
For listening to and producing sound, you will need a sound editing program. When you try to listen
to a sound, but the program is missing on your hard drive, you will be informed what program to obtain. A
good quality freeware sound editor that you can download off the internet is “SoundEffects”. This, together
with several other commonly used sound programs, is found at the following location:
.
As for capturing pictures from your camcorder, you will need Apple’s Video Monitor (requires only
77K on your hard drive) or Avid Videoshop (which is commonly packaged with A/V PowerMacs and requires
1.5 MB on your hard drive). If you use a digitized camera, you will need the software which comes with the
camera. You will also need software to convert your PICT image into a GIF or JPEG image, which you can do
with shareware entitled “GraphicConverter” (which requires 629K) or with the more expensive Adobe
Photoshop, available at educational prices (which requires 8 MB). With this software you can capture and
convert images to use as illustrations in your WWW language lessons.