At first, I was wondering how teachers could help students to be better speakers and, after giving it some thought, I came up with several solutions. And what I found out made me devised new ways of helping students with new apps (at least, they were new to me). I hope you will find this useful. So, we want students to get rid of words such as “like”, “hum”, “ok”, etc. We would like them to be aware of what they say and how they say it. To do that, I suggest we ask students to use Flipgrid, Google Docs or Otter. ## Flipgrid 1. Ask students to record themselves using [Flipgrid](https://info.flipgrid.com). 2. Then, they can create a transcription (using another app. More on that down below). 3. They edit the transcript (spelling, punctuation…) 4. They remove filler words such as “like” or “ok”. 5. Then, they redo the recording following the script. 6. Finally, they should be able to record a video without the script (optional). ![](veed.png) ### To convert a video to text, you may want to use * [Video to text converter](https://www.360converter.com/conversion/video2TextConversion?type=v2t) (It’s free but the website doesn’t accept the .mov format you get when you make a screen recording with the iPad. If you need to convert your video so that it is accepted by [Video to text converter](https://www.360converter.com/conversion/video2TextConversion?type=v2t), visit [Online Converter](https://www.onlineconverter.com/video)). * [veed.io](veed.io) (this is not entirely free but there is a free plan: you can import a video of ten minutes and the transcription can only be exported to the srt format. See [Pricing](https://www.veed.io/pricing/)). * Or you can try the powerful [Speech to Text](https://speech-to-text-demo.ng.bluemix.net/) from IBM. ![](watson.png) ## Google Docs Alternatively, students could record their voice using Google Docs (with Google Chrome only: `Tools > Voice typing`) and then delete all the filler words they are using when speaking orally. ![](google-docs.png) ## Otter Or you can use [Otter](https://otter.ai/) which makes a very good job at transcribing your voice. > Otter turns your voice conversations into smart notes that you can easily search and share. You can use it to take notes at your meetings and interviews, capture your thoughts and ideas while you’re driving in the car, and transcribe your existing recordings and podcasts. You can even snap photos (e.g. of a whiteboard, a speaker, or presentation slide at an event) during a recording and they will be inserted inline with your transcripts. The possibilities are endless! > [What is Otter?](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360035266494-What-is-Otter-) Indeed, you could use Otter to record your Zoom meetings so that students who struggle to understand a foreign language can find some extra help. > Having a Zoom videoconference with your students? Consider using [Otter](https://otter.ai/) which provide a real-time transcript so students don’t have to take notes and can keep focused on what you say. Transcribing your Zoom meeting can also help those that are deaf or hard of hearing. If you want to know how to use Otter, please watch [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXGPexmXcDI) . Basically, you just launch Zoom and Otter simultaneously and you will get a pretty accurate transcript of your meeting. Unfortunately, students can’t do the same with their iPad because of iPad OS limitations. One would have thought you could use both Zoom and Otter thanks to Split-View on your iPad but you can’t (in fact, you can but it won’t record your Zoom meeting). But maybe, if you are an English teacher (Otter works only in English), you could do the work for your students. Provided you are working with a laptop or any computer, you can record your meeting. Then, the magic appears. Students can listen to the recording, get the transcript, edit the text, highlight some excerpts they find important, insert images, share the document. In addition, Otter adds a date and useful tags showing the most important notions. In fact, you could also ask students to watch a YouTube video and to generate a transcript with Otter. And that is feasible on an iPad. I tried several times with [this video](https://youtu.be/iWo4OrGhGxI) and [this other one with Yuval Noah Harari](https://youtu.be/hfbI14Mr3wQ) and it works perfectly well. ![](otter-youtube.png) You can even get a shared link and [share the recording with your classmates](https://otter.ai/u/v6opngTQ3MpyeHpTMt9tIMwKCCk). And of course, you can add comments! So convenient! ![](Documentation/Images/One%20way%20to%20improve%20your%20students’%20oral%20skills%20&%20Otter,%20a%20lovely%20app/otter.png) - - - - -> [Zoom for Otter](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360048787653) * Option 1: [Real-time transcription and live captions](https://blog.otter.ai/zoom/) with Otter Live Notes (⚠️ only with the [Otter Business](https://help.otter.ai/hc/en-us/articles/360048233554) plan) * Option 2: Sync Zoom cloud recordings to Otter Guides * [Transcribe Zoom recordings automatically](https://blog.otter.ai/zoom-sync/) ## Essai de conversion de ce texte Et je voudrais justement affirmer l’importance de cette assistance. Je voudrais pour citer, Daniel Bougnoux, rappeler que « l’homme seul ne pense pas » (La condition médiologique). Le célèbre penseur de Rodin, « nu, concentré sur lui-même, sans le secours d’aucun livre, clavier, écran ni artefact quelconque » ne pense pas. Peut-être qu’il songe, qu’il rêvasse ou même délire ? Mais pour penser, pour organiser, développer, noter, structurer, diffuser, communiquer, nous avons besoin d’outils. Pense-t-on même seul ? Cf Yuval Noah Harari « Humans rarely think for themselves. Rather, we think in groups » (21 lessons) Voir aussi The knowledge Illusion: why we never think alone ![](video-to-text.png) ![](converter.png) ### Avec Video to text converter venez donc assister en permanence par une machine et je voudrais justement affirmé l'importance de cette assistance je voudrais pour citer daniel bourdon rappeler que l'homme seul ne pense pasle célèbre penseur de rodin nus concentrés sur lui-même sans le secours d'aucunaucun livre clavier et chroniques artefact quelconque ne pense pas peut-être qu'il songe qui face au rêva pardon même déliremais pour penser pour organiser et développer noter structuré diffuser communiquer nous avons besoin d'outilspose ton mêmeseul pose tout de même seulselon yu noir harry les les les individus les êtres humains pensent rarement par eux-mêmesou plutôt il pense en groupe c est ce qu il dit en tous cas dans vingt-et-une leçon pour le verreet unième siècle s'appuyant sur un livre qui s'appelle dole et edge et le jeu ### Avec Veed.io 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,200 On est donc assister en permanence par une machine, je voudrais 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:07,200 justement affirmer l'importance de cette assistante, je voudrais 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,300 pour citer Daniel rappeler que l'homme seul ne pense pas 4 00:00:10,300 --> 00:00:15,000 le célèbre pont de Rodin concentré sur le mail sur le secours. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,800 Donc un livre clavier est premier artefact quelqu'un qui 6 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,300 ne pense pas peut-être qu'il se rend compte qu'il avait pas 7 00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:25,300 pardon même délire mais pour qu'on fait pour organiser développer 8 00:00:25,300 --> 00:00:27,200 notre structure est diffusé communiquer. 9 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:37,100 Nous avons besoin d'outils les individus les êtres humains, 10 00:00:37,100 --> 00:00:42,200 pense rarement par même plutôt il pense en groupe ce qu'il 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,400 y a en tout cas dans 21h sans pour le XXIe siècle s'appuyant 12 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:49,600 sur un livre qui est le jeune. Voir également (générer sous titres) https://mashable.com/article/best-closed-captioning-tools/ - - - - ## À réutiliser (provient de Google Advanced training) > There are a few tools to assist students practicing a presentation to help deliver the desired message. One useful tool for self-practice is the closed captioning option within Google Slides. Students can practice presenting their Slides presentation while it uses the computer’s microphone to record the student’s voice and then Slides transcribes the voice in real time to appear as captions on the slides so students can visualize what they are actually saying. This tool is very useful for editing filler words such as “like”, “um”, “okay”, etc. > Additionally, video recording can be used for both self-practice and interactive practice. Once students have video recorded their presentation, they can upload it to Google Drive. Through Google Drive, not only can the video be easily shared with viewers, but students can receive targeted feedback by viewers adding comments and questions as they watch the recording. Another tool that allows students to post videos and receive easy feedback is YouTube. When using YouTube students can send their video to viewers that they want feedback from and they can post feedback in the comments section. When using Google Drive and YouTube to post videos online, be sure to teach students how to set videos to unlisted and to only share with the people that are going to be providing feedback.