Now that most of us are giving classes virtually, how can we adapt our listening activities to an online format? Even if you are presenting it LIVE as a class over a video Meeting, it’s always best to provide an option for those who were absent or whose connection dropped.

Google Forms is great option – you can upload an image to a survey and turn it into a quiz to automatically grade. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any integration with audio. The only workaround I’ve seen is putting the url of the audio file from google drop into the question that students need to click on which will open a new tab. Yuck! Inserting an audio into Google Slides is easy– but it does need to be an MP3, so if you have it saved as another file, you will need to use a converter site or you can use Online-Voice-Recorder.com to easy record and save audio files to then upload to your Google Drive. Watch our video tutorial below to find out how to create these drag-and-drops on Google Slides.

Anyway, let’s get to the pedagogy of it all. How can I use this in my World Language class?

1. StoryTelling Listening: Have students listen to the audio and fill in the blank with the missing word.

2. Hacked Audio: If we have already gone over a story in class and students are familiar with the story, I try to find a novel way to get the necessary repetition of the story without it

being the exact same thing. That’s where “hacked audio” comes into play. Record an audio of the story where you have changed key words of the story. Students need to listen to determine the new word.
I like doing this with a written text too where students read a text of the story and have to cross out the wrong information and re-write the correct word.

In this video tutorial, we show you how to create a “Hacked Audio” and also how to make a “Drag and Drop” activity where students are not able to move/click on the actual text. [Don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel]

The one downside of the google slides with audio is if you click off of the audio (onto the slide) the audio stops playing. If it is a short audio, it shouldn’t be a HUGE issue, if students can just click reply if they need to. Otherwise, for long or more intense audio, the only work around is to include a link to the audio on the slide and have students open that in a new tab and have it playing in another tab/window so they can manipulate the text on the slide. 

If you are looking for a TPRS story and are looking for digital activities, we’ve just added a Hacked Audio and a Match the Caption to Illustration to our “Erika Quiere un Unicornio” story. [If you already own it, redownload it!]This lesson comes with an illustrated storyboard, 3 embedded readings, an editable text, and more!