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The joy of recording!

This simple device is becoming a "staple" in my lessons. I plug it to my computer, open Audacity (a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds) and I start recording my students. they usually have a conversation with a partner or they do a little presentation about themselves. They love it because for some reason they love listening to their own voice. So the magic happens: once they have recorded themselves, they listen to their performance and most of the time they want to do it again
because they have spotted a pronunciation mistake or a grammatical error! I mean, how often do you hear students wanting to repeat themselves when they speak in another language??? The recording exercise allows this magical phenomenon to happen! And even better, students love it when they know their recordings will be embedded on the school blog and therefore available for the world to listen to.

This week I have decided to try to use it as often as I can in an attempt to make my students visit the blog and leave comments. I have noticed they do visit the blog but they have not yet stepped into the commenting phase. Do you have any suggestions to make students comment on a blog?

If you haven't tried this yet, please do. You can find microphones at a very affordable price and they are so easy to use with Audacity. You can then save your recordings as .wav or.mp3 files and easily embed them onto your blog or website. You will see your students being motivated to SPEAK ;)

What about you? what do you do to make your students speak in another language?

Adding your Twitter feed to your Posterous sidebar

Posterous a simple and elegant blogging solution. That's why I use it. And.. because I'm too lazy to install, maintain and customise my own Wordpress site (other blogging engines are available).

Reflecting on the Rob Michael/ Damian Erskine Ustream Clinic

This past week, I had the great fortune to be able to share my Ustream Show with bass player extraordinaire Damian Erskine. 

Fast Mind Maps with Creately

What is your Posterous profile/blog URL?

My Second Post, Now from Email

This is my second post. If the first one posted from the Posterous
posting page, this post ws sent from my Gmail account. Herewith I grab
an image from my friend's blog to spiced up my post :)
 
Bellow is en embed code from youtube. not sure whether it will be
shown as a video or still in the code. Let see.

Google mint video lejátszó

Google keresőből videó lejátszóba vált át. Nem átviszi a találati oldalra a kereső embert, hanem ott helyben lejátsza a tartalmat.

VUVOX Embed Tricks

The following are some tips for Embedding the VUVOX player, including many of the parameters to update or change the functionality of the player. Object height= This is the height that is necessary to display in the DIV or Table cell being pasted into. Most often measured in number of pixels. Object width= This is the width of the collage. Most often is presented at 100%, as this will work best when presented inside variable DIV or table widths. This can also be explicit, allowing a specific pixel width to be set as well. Param Values: the following values can be set to "True" or "False" -- "allowFullScreen" --> will enable the full screen button, allowing the player to be seen Full Screen -- "showHeader" --> show/hide title -- "controller=autohide" --> this will automatically hide the control bar on VUVOX players that contain slideshows. -- "bgcolor=" --> this changes the letterbox color of the player when it is embedded. See embed code sample below.

Q: Can I remove the 'VUVOX' logo from the Player?

A: Yes, but we usually ask that you ask for permission. You can remove the logo from the player by inserting a variable value  into the embed code. See example below:

------------ < begin embed code > < Your object height="400" width="550"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"/><param value="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" name="FlashVars"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/><param value="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#" name="movie"/><embed height="400" width="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" src="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#"/>< end your object tag > < end embed code > -------------------

Q: Can I change the color of the Player?

A: Yes, but only on collage only. You can change the color of the Letterbox by inserting a parameter into the embed code: see example below

------------ < begin embed code > < Your object height="400" width="550" bgcolor="cccccc"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"/><param value="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" name="FlashVars"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/><param value="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#&marginColor=0xcccccc" name="movie"/><embed height="400" width="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" src="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#"/>< end your object tag > < end embed code > -------------------

Embedding VUVOX Collage: FAQ

Frequently asked Questions about Creating, publishing and embedding a VUVOX Collage. For additional help, visit our Online Video Tutorials on Lynda.com.

Q: Can I embed Collage in my blog?

A: We support many existing blog formats, but there is a known issue if Wordpress hosts your blog, it will not be able to be embedded. If you have a specific blog where it does NOT work, please tell us.

Q: Can I embed a VUVOX Channel in my website or Blog?

A: Yes, Channels are supported in the embed code. All you need to do is replace the path of the URL from a presentation ID to a Channel ID. See example below. <object width="100%" height="450"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="flashvar" value="controller=autohide"/> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vuvox.com/channels/YOURCHANNEL#.swf"/> <embed src="http://www.vuvox.com/channels/YOURCHANNEL#.swf" flashvars="controller=autohide" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%" height="450"></embed></object>

Q: Can I defer Collage from playing automatically?

A: Yes. Collage will not play *any* background music until the end user presses the 'play' button. You can also defer the player from playing by embedding collage with a width smaller than 320 pixels. anything below 320 pixels width will put the player into a mode where (when clicked) it will start the presentation and go full screen.

Q: Can I update my Collage after it has been embedded?

A: YES. Emphatically, yes! This is a great advantage of the publishing workflow. You can evolve your piece after it has been placed on a site. This is great when you want to make updates & changes to a collage without involving any additional technical pushes or updates to your site. Alternatively, you can not hurt an existing collage by using the 'save as' button in VUVOX collage to create a new version. Any additional changes will only be reflected in the new version.

Q: Can Collage be modified to something other than horizontal format?

A: We currently don't support other stages other than Horizontal. We'd like to support other stage sizes and aspect ratios soon.

Q: Is there a White Label version of Collage?

A: VUVOX is willing to work with select companies to develop custom variations of the tool. Send us a note via Feedback form with attention to 'Business Development'... it'll be routed to the correct person.

Q: Can I remove the 'VUVOX' logo from the Player?

A: Yes, but we usually ask that you ask for permission. You can remove the logo from the player by inserting a variable value  into the embed code. See example below:

------------ < begin embed code > < Your object height="400" width="550"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"/><param value="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" name="FlashVars"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/><param value="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#" name="movie"/><embed height="400" width="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" src="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#"/>< end your object tag > < end embed code > -------------------

Q: Can I change the color of the Player?

A: Yes. From VUVOX Collage, you can select the 'Settings' button. This allows you to change the background color as well as the color of the Letterbox when it is published & embedded. Below is the interface used to change the color:

NOTE: you can also change the color of the Letterbox by inserting a parameter into the embed code as well: see example below

------------ < begin embed code > < Your object height="400" width="550" bgcolor="cccccc"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"/><param value="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" name="FlashVars"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/><param value="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#&marginColor=0xcccccc" name="movie"/><embed height="400" width="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" FlashVars="showHeader=false&showMenu=false" src="http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/collage.swf?collageID=YOURCOLLAGEID#"/>< end your object tag > < end embed code > -------------------