Tag Archives: video

Downloading , Cutting or Editing Audio : Everything you need is here!

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It is the beginning of the school year and there are some tools that I need to make sure are working properly. You know how everything works on the Internet. Some sites close down, others that promised to be free are now charging you and some others are still there but they don’t seem to work anymore.

Anticipating these problems that I may encounter, I am almost sure, one of these days when I am up to my eyes with work I have searched the net for some new tools that I know are working right now and therefore won’t let me down.

♥First of all, a much needed video downloader, free and easy to use. I never know when the already weak Internet connection in my school is going to crash.

The name of this site is CatchVideo.net and the only thing you need to do is paste the url, choose the format you want  -or even just download  the audio- and off you go! Your video is downloaded into your computer and ready to carry with you in you Flash drive. Here’s a snapshot

♥Still working and overused at home by both me and my children to download the audio from youtube is my Listentoyoutube.com. Post here

and then there this 123.apps which  is incredibly helpful when you need to cut or edit audio and  the audio of a video. It offers, “online”, everything you could possibly need  for free and you don’t even need to register.It offers six different audio or video related tools

♥Online Audio Cutter: It is an online application for cutting audio. It supports mp3 or other formats. If you open a video file, then the audio will be extracted. How do you cut the audio? Easy: 1.Open the file (video or audio), 2.adjust the interval and click Cut. 3.Save the track
There is also a Fade-in and Fade-out function, in case you need something a bit more sophisticated.

♥Online Audio Joiner: To join multiple audios into a single one. It supports all media formats and it can combine them, but it works better and faster with mp3 than with any other format.You can choose between the two modes of sound merger. If the “Crossfade” function is enabled, one track will gradually fade into another: the first track will gradually vanish, while the second will grow louder. This allows smooth transition when combining music tracks. Click here for more detailed information on how to merge audio

♥Online Voice Recorder: Records sound from a microphone. After the recording you can trim the sound and then download it.

♥Online Audio Converter. Converts audio into a wide range of major formats such as mp3, wav, ogg, m4a, m4r, flac… You can also convert several files at a time which will be compresses into a zip-archive to ease the download.

♥Online Audio Extractor: extracts the audio from videos and saves them as OGG, MP3, Wave or FLAC files.
To extract audio tracks from video files, just open video from your computer, select proper output format, and click the “Extract audio” button.
The application supports all major video formats (AVI, FLV, MP4, MPG, MOV, RM, 3GP, WMV, VOB and other).

♥Online Video Cutter: Once you have downloaded your video with CatchVideo.net you might need to cut the videos to remove an unwanted part. Well, this is just the tool you need. Open the application and just follow the instructions – It is fairly simple but I have to say that I have tried with a youtube video and it hasn’ t worked. Still, I think it is worth a try.

♥Online Video Converter : free tool that converts almost any media format to MP4, AVI, MPEG, FLV, 3GP. It also extracts sound from video and can correct video resolution

So, here you are! Honestly, this post is more for the sake of my memory than for any other reason. If… it can help anybody..it’s killing two birds with one stone!Keep posted!!!! 🙂

VOA Learning English: Interesting Site to Read and Listen to American English

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Voa Learning English really needs some serious exploring. Though I have to say that, in my opinion, the site is a bit of a mess, it could be a great help to some autonomous learners.

What does it offer? The site provides interesting articles based on news and information. The stories are read slowly, or at least at a slower speed and it allows you the possibility of reading the story and listening to the audio at the same time. The mp3 audio can be downloaded, which is also very helpful.

What about the level? Difficult to say  because although the stories are read quite slowly, the vocabulary is quite advanced. You’ll just have to try and see.

Stories are divided into Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 and very often there are exercises following the audio.

if you further explore the site, you will find a section “Learning English TV” with captioned videos that will allow you to watch a story while reading the rolling script.

But there are two sections that I absolutely adore that deal with idioms and expressions:

♥ Words and their Stories and English in a Minute where each week idioms and expressions that many learners of American English find difficult to understand are explained. Don’t miss them!

Another interesting feature in this site is that it has a built-in dictionary. You just have to click on any word to get its meaning. You really need to give a go to this interesting site, especially if you like reading the news and are interested in American English.

9 Useful Websites to Help you Improve Pronunciation and Listening

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The speaking test is already knocking on your door and you still need to improve your pronunciation? Don’t rest on your laurels ! Time to do something about it!

This a selection of some of the posts I have been publishing over the years where you can find not only listening activities but also the tapescript of the recording.  The school year is almost over  but it is maybe not too late to give a little push ,in the right direction, to your pronunciation. Remember, we learn by imitation so let’s get down to some serious parroting !

To make this image interactive I have used a tool called ThingLink, that  allows you to turn your images into a multimedia launcher. Click on the icons and start practising.

I hope it is useful!

Listening: How to Clean your Teeth in Space

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Dead tired after a long day, I finally sat down and turned on the telly .I took my ipad to  see what was going on on my facebook while, at the same time, talking to my husband about  my afternoon meeting, which I’m sure he only pretended to be interested in, when a man singing on TV caught my attention (This is called “multitasking”, in case you’re wondering, and it’s something we, women, are very good at).

Anyway, apparently the man was singing a version of David Bowie “Space Oddity” but the amazing  thing was that he was floating . I soon learned he was an astronaut and he was singing it from the International Space Station. Wow!!  And I’ve always thought astronauts were very serious people! I went to Saint Google, looked up this man and found that his name is Chris Hadfield, Canadian, and who among other things has become” the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave the Earth” (source wikipedia)

I got quite curious about this man and found in YouTube several videos he recorded while in space. I have chosen the one below for my Elementary students, which I’m sure they will enjoy. By the way, have you ever wondered how astronauts manage to  clean their  teeth in space?

LISTENING TASK

WATCH THE VIDEO AND THEN COMPLETE THE SENTENCES BY PROVIDING THE RIGHT WORD OR CHOOSING THE MOST APPROPRIATE ANSWER.


1. You need a _______ of water from the water bag

2. Then, get your toothbrush w_____

3. Grab some t_______

4. He says you have to brush your teeth for as long as you sing  __________

5. After cleaning his teeth, what does he do  with the toothpaste in his mouth?

a. he swallows it      b. he spits it     c. he reuses it

6.To clean his toothbrush, he gets w_____ in his mouth.

7. According to the astronaut, is the toothbrush…?

a. clean   b. quite clean     c. not so clean

Follow Up: If you could travel to the moon or to Mars, what would you take with you and why?

Listening:What are the best ways to memorise new vocabulary?

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Have you ever asked yourself how you acquire new vocabulary? Have you ever wondered if things such as sticking post-its on the walls of your bedroom (or bathroom) really help you memorise new words? Well folks, I should say it might work when your aim is just passing a written test – I have tried this little trick plenty of times, especially when trying to learn long lists of irregular verbs,  but when your target is learning to speak a language, trust me , this little trick won’t work.

For example, what’s the point of learning the word “listen” if you don’t know that it collocates with the preposition “to”? I’ll tell you what, you’ll end up writing or saying things such as “I’m listening you”; does it ring a bell?

I could try to explain what has always worked for me but I’ve found this useful video where an expert, Michael McCarthy from Cambridge University Press, pretty much sums up what I wanted to write  and gives you tips about the best way to learn new words. Stick to it! It really works!

Listening Task: Listen to the video and write down the four tips the expert gives about the best ways to learn new vocabulary. Play the video and stop when you get to 2.20 . Play it again if necessary. Check your answers ; you’ll find them at the end of the video.

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