Recording your students is a brilliant way to help them improve their speaking, drama and performing skills. My students all bring an iPad to school and they use the basic video or voice recorder on it.
How can I use recording effectively in lessons?
When a pupil has completed a piece of writing or if they are performing something, record them! I recently asked my students to write, for our World War 2 topic, letters home from soldiers to their mothers. They then had to read them aloud in pairs – voice recording each other. Here are 3 of my students’ pieces of work:
After they evaluated their speaking using these question prompts (click here to download a printable prompt card):
* Did you speak clearly?
* Were you loud enough?
* Did you vary the tone of your voice?
* Was your speech exciting?
* What were your weaknesses?
* What were your strengths?
It was a great exercise and allowed the students to review and assess themselves and their peers. In addition, the recordings can be shared on a class management tool such as Google Classroom – all the children can listen to each others if they wish.
Another good idea is to video your students performing. After, ask them to video a partner or even the teacher performing the same piece. Here is a video of me reading a child’s speech:
When finished, you can view both videos and discuss similarities and differences in both – writing down ways to improve. Here is one of my student’s evaluations:
Have you used video or voice record to support evaluation of work? Let me know by commenting below.
EDTECH 4 BEGINNERS 
Hi, I teach undergraduate students English in China. When I got the students to do an assignment on reviewing a movie or book I asked them to record it as if it was a podcast. The students enjoyed doing something different and were able to be creative.
I like your idea of getting students to peer our self evaluation – next time I’ll get my students to do that as well.
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Thanks Jen ☺
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