Creating Audio Guides

In working with students, and especially EAL students, I have noticed that pronunciation and unseen words can sometimes cause the biggest problems for accessing content and material. As a way of counteracting this problem, I started to make audio guides for different texts using the free program called Audacity. It’s a simple program for recording, editing and then exporting audio files.

Sometimes I’ll add extra commentary for particularly harder words or expressions, like explaining what “diaspora” means, or I will draw attention to ideas and content that we might have covered in other units earlier in the year.

Overall, I have found that even the students who did not need it as a scaffold still found it a valuable tool.

Sample Audio Guide & Core Reading

Text Source: Burvill-Shaw, Sue. Jacaranda World History Atlas for Australian Curriculum. Milton, Wiley, 2012.