VoiceThread in a First Semester Class

I’ve been using VoiceThread throughout the semester. I use this tool for a number of reason with my beginning German class: It’s easy, free, and allows the students to express themselves despite their level of language competence. I introduced the tool by making new vocabulary items from the book available to them. Students told me they find this very useful, as the book does not provide them with any audio resources for the vocabulary displays and items. Here’s an example":

The next step was to comment on a picture of a dorm room. They each had to leave a voice comment for homework. This was pretty easy for them to do and didn’t take much time, but this way they would get a little bit more familiar with the tool and sign up for an account.

The third step was for students to create their own narration. The task was to create a multimedia collage about themselves (in the past this was a poster, but I like that the students narrate their story rather write). Here’s an example of a finished VoiceThread, created after about 4 weeks of beginner’s instruction:

What’s next? It’s great that now that the students are familiar with the tool, it can be very easily used during the coming semester and in the intermediate and advanced stages.