Unchain Your Students and Watch the Magic with Listening!

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Some students see their learning process like this.

Image credit: charliehr.com

                                                   While others see it in this way.                                                

       Image credit: neuroleadership.com


Whose decision is it in this case? Is it the teacher's or the learner's? 🤔

Thinking about these questions, I think that the key word is autonomy. There is a consensus among ELT experts and theorists that the decision of autonomous learning is both the teacher's and the learner's. However, without the teacher's understanding, motivation and facilitation, there may be many blocks in the student's road to autonomy. Both the teacher and the learner work on parallel lines to achieve their aim for autonomous learning. The less authoritative role the teacher will play, the more accountable and independent the learner will be as Gerald Grow shows in his Staged Self-Directed Learning Model (SSDL) (1991). 

(Image credit: Gerald Grow, 1991)



There isn't still any problem with understanding the importance of autonomy, the characteristics of an autonomous learner and the steps the teacher should follow to help the learner pave the road to better autonomous learning process. I think the challenge many of the ESL/EFL teachers face is how to put these principles into practice. When it comes to the skills and the systems a learner will improve on his own, the teacher can find interesting readers and novels to improve their reading. They can also depend on collaborative learning and project-based approach to enhance their learner's productive skills. Yet, what about listening?

Teacher kept wondering about a platform that provides different interesting listening examples for different levels and with tasks that evaluate the learner's comprehension. It seems that you ask for a part of the heaven. 😂 So, I think this post is for you!

TubeQuizard is your tool to discover your learner's door to magic. 

1- In TubeQuizard, your learner can find listening activities for different levels.

2- You will find a variety of tasks for them to focus on grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling and believe it or not, pronunciation. What a surprise?! 😃

3- TubeQuizard covers different listening tasks types such as films' scenes, songs, series' scenes, Tv. shows, animation and TED talks.

4- What's more, TubeQuizard helps your learner with different topics, for example, business, entertainment, education, IT, news, society, culture and music.

5- It offers two language varieties and aims to add more, so your students will not focus on one variety.

6- You can also add your video for your students and find similar ones.

7- Last but not the least, It is FREE 👌👋👏

So, if your learner enjoys Ed Sheeran's songs, Lion King and Lord of the Rings, or if they are into inspiring speeches and presidents or celebrities' talks, or if they can't stop watching Guardians of the Galaxy or Avengers or if they are nerds and into TED talks and scientific programs, you find your and your students' treasure.

What you should do is to give it a start and think about the project or the approach you will follow with the help of TubeQuizard You can even differentiate according to your learners' intelligences. It's your call.

For me, I don't find drawbacks. Just shoot.

Don't forget, I would like to see your experience or your students' with TubeQuizard in the comments.


References:

Grow, G. (1991). Teaching learners to be self-directed. Adult Education Quarterly, 41, 125-149.

Comments

  1. SFebruary 18, 2022 at 6:01 PM

    Hi Yumna, it's a thoughtful review showing you, as a teacher, have thought of autonomy a lot and how to apply this to the practice. It's always hard for me to have a balance between students' freedom and teacher control :P TubeQuizard is definitely a tool allowing users to have freedom, so I thought teachers would need to think about how to guide learners to focus on learning (not just listening to songs). Still hard, right? :P Thank you for the useful information!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyFebruary 19, 2022 at 4:36 AM

      Hi Suji,

      Happy to see your nice comment.

      Yes, you are definitely right. We always think about songs and movies and forget about other sources that can help.

      And yes again;) It is still hard....But, believe it or not, I tried it before with my students using project-based learning and flipped classroom and it worked. When you assign the task and relate it with a discussion or a presentation they do in class, they love it and it becomes a routine for them to have.

      Delete
  2. BolapeFebruary 25, 2022 at 12:54 AM

    Hi Yumna, I love the images you used to describe how students feel during the learning situation. I believe this is very true. I also love how you introduced autonomy as a solution that would encourage a better learning situation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyFebruary 25, 2022 at 4:51 AM

      Thanks a lot, Bola.

      Hope we all can promote autonomy in our classes

      Delete
  3. Ika JuniastutiFebruary 25, 2022 at 1:21 AM

    yumnaaaa, what an interesting way to describe our students learning experience! the pictures reminds me to an article which describes how pictures can be used as linguistic sources. TubeQuizard is a very interesting learning tool! I wish I knew this tool earlier, I love to learn from movies and song!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyFebruary 25, 2022 at 4:53 AM

      Thanks a bunch, Ika.

      Yes, it is a nice tool and it is not too late. You still can use it in your context as well

      Delete
  4. NikoMarch 4, 2022 at 3:28 AM

    What a great blog Yumna! love the pics of how students see the learning process! You also have a really nice way with words - "Nerds into Ted talks" amazing :D:D. really good summary of TubeQuizard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyApril 27, 2022 at 7:55 AM

      Thanks a million, Nik.
      So let me tell you a secret, I am one of these people into TED talks ;) And when the presenter spices it up with unique way or idea, I find it an amazing tool for our classes.

      Delete
  5. JannatApril 13, 2022 at 5:05 PM

    Hi Yumna, the images in the post provide a strong signal of the learning process, very well utilized. I have also come to know about TubeQuizard and the role of autonomy linked to this tool. Well done, dear!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyApril 27, 2022 at 7:53 AM

      Thanks a lot, Jannat.
      I am a visual learner, but keep it a secret ;) That's why I love images.
      TubeQuizard is one of the tools that I can describe as "one size fits all" but as "one site fits all", so it helps all levels, all students' interests, all topics, all kinds of listening...etc.

      Delete
  6. Siyu MaApril 15, 2022 at 1:52 PM

    I like your organisation highlighting the crucial advantage of the tube quizard, that is, motivating students. The theory of self-directed theory is also helpful to support your idea. It is an excellent blog!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yumna M. AlyApril 27, 2022 at 7:49 AM

      Thanks, Siyu
      Self-directed theory is really an engaging area to discover while improving learners' autonomy. It really helps me and I am sure it will help you as well.

      Delete

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